Mademoiselle Fifi (Electronic book text)

Mademoiselle Fifi is a short story by French writer Guy de Maupassant, published in 1882 in a collection of the same title. Like many of his short stories, such as Boule de Suif and Deux Amis, the story is set during the Franco-Prussian War and explores themes of class barriers, contrasts between the French and German participants, and the pointlessness of the war. The story takes place in Normandy in the winter of 1870, in a fictional chateau which is being used as a headquarters by Prussian officers. The main characters of the story are quickly introduced: the Major, a dignified and cultured German aristocrat; his Captain, a boorish and lecherous minor Prussian landowner; two lieutenants from the Prussian bourgeoisie; and the title character, a handsome but arrogant and extremely unpleasant German captain known to his comrades as "Mademoiselle Fifi" due to his effeminate manner.