Guy de Maupassant, whose full name was Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant, was born on August 5, 1850, near Dieppe, France. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, Maupassant volunteered and served in the field and in the quartermaster corps—an experience that may have shaped his depiction of the war’s miseries in “Boule de Suif.”

Through his mother, Maupassant developed a relationship with Gustave Flaubert, who helped guide Maupassant’s writing. Under Flaubert’s tutelage, Maupassant also met the Naturalist pioneer Émile Zola. Naturalism, which evolved from 19th-century Realism, sought to apply a scientific lens to human society and behavior, examining the underlying pressures—environmental, psychological, evolutionary, etc.—that caused people to act in certain ways. This tendency toward determinism gave much Naturalist literature a bleak tone, and Maupassant, who is most closely associated with the Naturalist school, often explored the darker side of human nature in his writing.

In 1880, Zola led Maupassant and five other writers in contributing to a volume called Les Soirées de Médan, which featured stories that centered on the Franco-Prussian War. “Boule de Suif” is considered the best story in the volume and solidified Maupassant’s presence as a popular writer.