Session 3 · Introduction to comparative literature: La Parure and The Necklace

Sessions 1 · Structure 2 · The Necklace 3 · Comparative literature 4 · The Gift of the Magi 5 · The Interlopers 6 · The Cask of Amontillado Evaluation Teacher

Worksheet of this session
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Recap check · marked · starts as you come in

Sit down, take your notebook and answer on paper at once. 3 students are drawn at random and marked.

What does Mathilde borrow?
How many years do the Loisels work?
Explain the twist in one sentence.

Marking scale	Points
Each correct answer	1
Full sentence in English	bonus 1
Total	3 + 1

Corrigé

a diamond necklace
ten years
the necklace was paste, worth five hundred francs

Introduction to comparative literature

Comparative literature studies texts across languages and cultures. Here we compare a text with its translation: the same story, two languages. What is kept? What is lost? What is gained?

You studied La Parure in French class. Today the same extracts come back, side by side with the English translation.

1. Key notions

Notion	Definition
Original	the text as the author wrote it, here Maupassant's French (1884)
Translation	the text rewritten in another language, here English (Project Gutenberg)
Translator's choice	each word the translator selects among several possibilities
Loss and gain	a meaning, a sound or a rhythm that disappears, or a new effect that appears
Cultural reference	a detail that belongs to one culture: francs, the Ministry, a dowry
Rhythm	the length of sentences and paragraphs, punctuation, repetition
Twist in both languages	does the final surprise strike as hard in English?

2. Side by side

Maupassant (French original)	English translation	French course reference
« C’était une de ces jolies et charmantes filles, nées, comme par une erreur du destin, dans une famille d’employés. »	The girl was one of those pretty and charming young creatures who sometimes are born, as if by a slip of fate, into a family of clerks.	Français 2de, séquence « Le roman : personnages et intrigues », séance 2 « L'intrigue et la chute : La Parure » ; Bac pro 1re français, semaine 10, leçon 1 « La Parure : la situation initiale »
« Elle n’avait pas de dot, pas d’espérances, aucun moyen d’être connue, comprise, aimée, épousée par un homme riche et distingué ; et elle se laissa marier avec un petit commis du ministère de l’instruction publique. »	She had no dowry, no expectations, no way of being known, understood, loved, married by any rich and distinguished man; so she let herself be married to a little clerk of the Ministry of Public Instruction.	Bac pro 1re français, semaine 10, leçon 1 « La Parure : la situation initiale »
« Elle n’avait pas de toilettes, pas de bijoux, rien. Et elle n’aimait que cela ; elle se sentait faite pour cela. »	She had no gowns, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that. She felt made for that.	Français 2de, séquence « Le roman : personnages et intrigues », séance 2 « L'intrigue et la chute : La Parure »
« Et cette vie dura dix ans. »	This life lasted ten years.	LettresPro, méthode « Lire le rythme d'un texte »
« Elle était devenue la femme forte, et dure, et rude, des ménages pauvres. »	She had become the woman of impoverished households, strong and hard and rough.	LettresPro, méthode « Lire le rythme d'un texte »
« Comme la vie est singulière, changeante ! »	How strange and changeful is life!	LettresPro, méthode « Lire le rythme d'un texte »
« Et elle souriait d’une joie orgueilleuse et naïve. »	And she smiled with a joy that was at once proud and ingenuous.	Français 2de, séquence « Le roman : personnages et intrigues », séance 2 « L'intrigue et la chute : La Parure »
« Oh ! ma pauvre Mathilde ! Mais la mienne était fausse. Elle valait au plus cinq cents francs !… »	“Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste! It was worth at most only five hundred francs!”	Français 2de, séquence « Le roman : personnages et intrigues », séance 2 « L'intrigue et la chute : La Parure » ; LettresPro, méthode « Lire le rythme d'un texte »

French text: Guy de Maupassant, « La Parure », Contes du jour et de la nuit, C. Marpon et E. Flammarion, 1885, p. 73 to 93, Wikisource, link. English text: Project Gutenberg eBook #3090, link. The dialogue dash of the French and a long dash of the English are not shown.

3. Word choices

French	English	Comment
erreur du destin	slip of fate	“error” becomes “slip”: lighter, almost accidental
commis	clerk	social rank kept; « petit » becomes “little”
dot	dowry	exact equivalent, a cultural reference to marriage customs
toilettes	gowns	false friend avoided: elegant dresses, not bathrooms
naïve	ingenuous	a learned word chosen instead of “naive”
fausse	paste	technical word for imitation jewels: the reader must know it
singulière, changeante	strange and changeful	two adjectives kept, order of the sentence inverted
La Parure	The Diamond Necklace / The Necklace	« parure » also means finery, adornment: the double meaning is lost

4. False friends

French word	Looks like	Means
toilettes	toilets	elegant dresses, gowns
naïve	naive (exists, but)	the translator prefers “ingenuous”
dot	dot (a small point)	dowry
commis	committed	a junior clerk
misère	misery (sadness)	extreme poverty

5. Rhythm and punctuation

Remember the LettresPro method: a short sentence stops the reader, a long one slows him down.

French	English	Kept or changed?
« Et cette vie dura dix ans. » 6 words, a paragraph alone	“This life lasted ten years.” 5 words, a paragraph alone	kept: ten years in one short sentence
« forte, et dure, et rude » : et repeated	“strong and hard and rough”: and repeated	kept: the heavy repetition shows the weight of work
« rien. Et elle n’aimait que cela ; elle se sentait » : one sentence with a semicolon	“nothing. And she loved nothing but that. She felt…”: two sentences	changed: the English is more abrupt
« !… » at the end: exclamation and suspension	“!” only	partly lost: the French leaves a silence after the twist

6. Cultural references and tone

In French	In English	Effect
francs	francs kept	the reader stays in Paris
ministère de l’instruction publique	Ministry of Public Instruction	literal; today we say Ministry of Education
louis	louis kept	old gold coins, an unknown word for English readers
Mme Loisel, Mme Forestier	Madame Loisel, Madame Forestier	French titles kept, foreign flavour

Tone. The ironic narrator of Maupassant stays ironic in English: “a slip of fate”, “proud and ingenuous”. The twist keeps its force, but the final « !… » loses its silence.

Guided comparison

Compare the first sentences: which word replaces « erreur »? Is the effect the same?
Why does the translator write “gowns” and not “toilets”?
Count the words of « Et cette vie dura dix ans. » and of its translation. Is the rhythm kept?
Is the twist as strong in English? Justify with the last line.

Corrigé

“slip”: the English makes fate look accidental, less tragic.
« toilettes » is a false friend: here it means elegant dresses.
6 and 5 words, both alone in a paragraph: the rhythm is kept.
Yes, “paste” is the key word, but « fausse » is clearer and « !… » adds a silence that the English loses.

Comparative writing

Write a comparative paragraph of 120 to 150 words: does the English translation keep the irony and the twist of La Parure? Use two quotations, one in each language.

Corrigé (model)

The translation keeps the ironic voice of the narrator: “as if by a slip of fate” echoes « comme par une erreur du destin ». It also keeps the short paragraph “This life lasted ten years.” But it loses the double meaning of the title, since « parure » means both a set of jewels and finery, and the final « !… » becomes a simple exclamation: the silence after the twist disappears.

For the teacher

Link with the French course	Use
Français 2de, séquence « Le roman : personnages et intrigues », séance 2 « L'intrigue et la chute : La Parure »	opening portrait, the « joie orgueilleuse et naïve », the chute
Français 2de, séance 6 (fait divers et nouvelle)	fait divers versus nouvelle: compare the neutral article and Maupassant's voice
Bac pro 1re français, semaine 10, leçon 1 « La Parure : la situation initiale »	the opening sentence and its negations
Bac pro 1re français, semaine 11 (du roman au scénario)	the final scene turned into a screenplay
LettresPro, méthode « Lire le rythme d'un texte »	short sentences and paragraphs: « Et cette vie dura dix ans. »

Recap check, how to run it	Detail
Before the bell	The questions are on the board or projected when students walk in.
Minutes 0 to 4	Everyone writes; no talking. The teacher takes the register meanwhile.
Minute 4	Random draw of three names (cards, app or dice), oral answers.
Marking	Marks on the scale given, noted in the gradebook; homework checked at the same time.
Why	Not one idle minute: the class starts the moment students enter, and homework is reinforced.

Homework · required

To do for next lesson. It is checked at the start of the lesson in the Recap check.

Exercise 1 · Translate into English, using the session: dot · toilettes · fausse · dix ans.
Exercise 2 · Find the false friend and give the real meaning: « toilettes », « misère », « commis ».
Exercise 3 · Write 60 words: one thing the translation keeps, one thing it loses.

Corrigé of the homework

dowry · gowns · paste (imitation) · ten years
toilettes: gowns, not toilets · misère: poverty, not sadness · commis: clerk, not committed
Model: The translation keeps the short paragraph “This life lasted ten years.” but it loses the double meaning of the title « La Parure » and the silence of the final « !… ».

Sessions 1 · Structure 2 · The Necklace 3 · Comparative literature 4 · The Gift of the Magi 5 · The Interlopers 6 · The Cask of Amontillado Evaluation Teacher

Reminder, the sequence online: https://short-stories-anglais.netlify.app