Guy de Maupassant

About Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) was a towering figure in French literature, widely regarded as a master of the short story. His compact, powerful narratives-often characterized by their stark realism and naturalistic themes-cemented his position as one of the most significant writers of the 19th century. MIT’s Pantheon project recognizes this impact, ranking him #930 in overall historical importance across global culture and time periods.

Despite this high standing, Maupassant's modern digital footprint is comparatively small. He garnered approximately 239K annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. This level of attention is notably lower than his contemporary and fellow writer, Jack London, who holds a similar importance rank (#952) but achieved over double the views at 654K. In fact, Maupassant receives nearly 20 times fewer views than Miyamoto Musashi, a writer of a comparable rank (#945).

Recent digital engagement suggests a slow fade, as his Wikipedia pageviews declined by 11.6% year-over-year and showed a further 11% drop between Q1 and Q3 of 2025. His Attention Gap sits near 1x, indicating his attention is almost perfectly proportional to his historical ranking, suggesting a stable, if modest, level of contemporary digital interest for a figure of his stature.