Maupassant’s Afloat: Why did this classic account of yacht cruising sink without trace?

摘要

Guy de Maupassant had become a well-known literary figure in England by the time his short yachting book Afloat was published (figure 1). Sur l’eau, a short text, was published in France in the summer of 1888, and translated into English by Laura Ensor, as Afloat, in January 1889, with drawings by E. Riou.1 It has the distinction of being almost the only account of yacht cruising written by a recognized major author of fiction. This note explores why it sank without trace, in terms of the Corinthian yachting philosphy and, then, in terms of Victorian codes of propriety, especially concerning women.