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Guy de Maupassant: En famille (Samedi noir / France Culture). Portrait of Guy de Maupassant Le Petit Parisien, 1892, Private collection • Credits: Leemage - Getty. “Samedi noir” program. Broadcast on France Culture on March 9, 2019. A scathing story that plunges us into the heart of questions of inheritance. Caravan received the cross of the Legion of Honor for his thirty years of service at the Ministry of the Navy. He has always led the normal life of a bureaucrat, invariably going to the office every morning by the same route, and returning the same way every evening to Courbevoie in the company of Chenet, a former health officer who calls himself a doctor. Then he returns home to his wife, their two children, and his ninety-year-old mother who lives in the apartment above. Nothing ever came to change the monotonous order of his existence, until the day when, when the grandmother was called for dinner, she did not come down. She was found lifeless in the middle of her room and Doctor Chenet, who had been rushed to fetch, announced that it was the end. Caravan wept profusely while his wife had a proper fit of grief, and the doctor was kept for dinner. Fairly drunk, Caravan went out to tell his misfortune at the Globe café near his home, but he met with only indifference. Back home, his wife was waiting for him. Furious that her mother-in-law had not made a will in their favor even though they had taken her in as a boarder for years, she intended to move the deceased's clock and chest of drawers into their apartment before the other members of the family arrived the next day... “En famille” was first published in La Nouvelle Revue on February 15, 1881, then included in the collection “La Maison Tellier” in 1891. Reading by Anne Benoît. Original music by Nacer Zerfaoui. Proposed by Marie-Louise Bischofberger Director: Cédric Aussir Literary advisor: Caroline Ouazana Production team: Mathieu Touren, Andréas Jaffre and Claire Chaineau Source: France Culture #GuyDeMaupassant #LeSémaphore #EnFamille #Short story #Writer #Literature #French #LaNouvelleRevue #Collection #LaMaisonTellier #Heritage #Satire #Reading #AnneBenoît #OriginalMusic #NacerZerfaoui #Director #CédricAussir #Show #SamediNoir #FranceCulture