"The novelist who claims to give us an accurate picture of life," mentions Maupassant in the preface to his novel Pierre and Jean (1888), "must diligently avoid any sequence of events that would seem like an exception. He has no intention of telling us a story, entertaining us, or sweetening our experiences, but rather forcing us to think, to understand the hidden and profound meaning of events."

There is, therefore, a narrative reality, composed of a multitude of seemingly small and insignificant events that, on a second level, introduce us to the secret stratifications of each story, of each individual meaning and feeling. It is the reality in which the author wishes to keep us captivated, for this alone is the measure of its value or worthlessness.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]