Prosper Mérimée

September 28, 1803 (age 66)

Paris, France

Mérimée's initial writings were entertaining frauds, published as alleged translations. A more important work under his own name, Chronique du règne de Charles IX, brought him to serious public attention in 1829. The Chronique is a historical novel, but it differs from the contemporary romantic ones in its impartial stance in recounting the Protestant and Catholic positions during the Wars of Religion in 16th-century France. True to form, Mérimée refused to provide an ending and mockingly invited his readers to invent one for themselves. Like his friend Stendhal, he feared being mocked himself and never allowed himself to appear to take any of his writings seriously, posing usually as an amateur who happened for the moment to be writing a story. A very learned man, Mérimée was appointed inspector general of historical monuments in 1831. He performed major services by saving many ancient monuments from destruction, among others the church of St-Savin with its important 12th-century frescoes. He traveled widely through France, southern Europe, and the Near East, finding there the settings for many of his short stories (nouvelles). Mateo Falcone (1829) and the longer Colomba (1841) and Carmen (1845) are the principal works for which Mérimée is now remembered, typical in their settings in Spain or Corsica, their portrayal of primitive passions, and their clear, concise style. Each story is a new experiment in form. The author's position remains distant, and Mérimée usually prefers the concrete to the abstract, giving a character life by a gesture or pose alone. Carmen is the source for Georges Bizet's opera (1875). Mérimée ended his career as a writer in 1848, but he was a familiar figure at the court of the Second Empire, in part owing to his long prior acquaintance with the empress Eugénie. He was also among the first in France to appreciate Russian literature, translating Aleksandr Pushkin, Ivan Turgenev, and Nikolai Gogol.

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Works

book

La Venus D'Ille (French Edition)

( Je descendais le dernier coteau du Canigou, et, bien ...)

Colomba (French Edition)

(Colomba della Rebbia a vu périr son père assassiné par so...)

Colomba della Rebbia a vu périr son père assassiné par son ennemi, lavocat Barricini. Lassassin a su dérober son crime aux yeux de la justice, mais Colomba na pas mis lespoir de sa vengeance dans la loi. Elle a un frère, Orso della Rebbia, lieutenant en demi-solde dans la garde impériale, qui doit bientôt revenir en Corse. Cest lui qui est maintenant le chef de la famille, et cest lui qui, selon les idées de la Corse, doit venger son père : quand on a un ennemi, il lui faut choisir entre les trois S : « schioppetto, stiletto o strada » (fusil, stylet ou fuite, expression corse). Lorsque Orso si longtemps attendu revient enfin au pays, Colomba découvre que son séjour sur le continent lui a fait concevoir, de lhonneur et de la justice, dautres sentiments que ceux de ses compatriotes et surtout de sa sur : il déteste la vendetta. Colomba pousse alors avec un mélange damour fraternel et dardeur de vengeance son frère à un meurtre expiatoire, quelle aurait accompli elle-même si elle neût cru que lexécution de la vengeance appartenait à son frère comme chef de la famille. Craignant quil ne soit abattu dès son retour à Pietranera, le village ancestral, Colomba a soin de couvrir Orso de son corps lorsquil passe devant la maison des Barricini. Pour aviver sa colère et sa haine contre ses ennemis, elle le mène à la place où son père a été tué puis, de retour à la maison, elle lui montre la chemise couverte de larges taches de sang de leur père et la lui jette sur ses genoux, avant de poser dessus les deux balles qui lont frappé. Excité par sa sur et par lopinion de ses compatriotes, Orso nen continue pas moins de répugner à la vendetta lorsquil est attaqué dans la montagne par les deux fils de lavocat Barricini. En état de légitime défense, Orso les tue et accomplit la vengeance de Colomba. Forcé, dans les premiers moments, de se cacher dans les maquis impénétrables qui servent de retraite aux bandits corses, une ordonnance de non-lieu sera rendue en sa faveur lorsque lexamen des cadavres et la déposition du colonel démontreront quil était seul au moment du combat et quil na fait que riposter à ses attaquants.

Carmen and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics)

(One of the earliest exponents of the short story, Prosper...)

Prosper Mérimée

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archaeologist dramatist historian pioneer author

Background

Prosper Mérimée was born on September 28, 1803 in Paris, France.

Education

Mérimée first studied law but was more devoted to learning the Greek, Spanish, English, and Russian languages and their literatures.

Career

Mérimée's initial writings were entertaining frauds, published as alleged translations. A more important work under his own name, Chronique du règne de Charles IX, brought him to serious public attention in 1829. The Chronique is a historical novel, but it differs from the contemporary romantic ones in its impartial stance in recounting the Protestant and Catholic positions during the Wars of Religion in 16th-century France. True to form, Mérimée refused to provide an ending and mockingly invited his readers to invent one for themselves. Like his friend Stendhal, he feared being mocked himself and never allowed himself to appear to take any of his writings seriously, posing usually as an amateur who happened for the moment to be writing a story.

A very learned man, Mérimée was appointed inspector general of historical monuments in 1831. He performed major services by saving many ancient monuments from destruction, among others the church of St-Savin with its important 12th-century frescoes. He traveled widely through France, southern Europe, and the Near East, finding there the settings for many of his short stories (nouvelles).

Mateo Falcone (1829) and the longer Colomba (1841) and Carmen (1845) are the principal works for which Mérimée is now remembered, typical in their settings in Spain or Corsica, their portrayal of primitive passions, and their clear, concise style. Each story is a new experiment in form. The author's position remains distant, and Mérimée usually prefers the concrete to the abstract, giving a character life by a gesture or pose alone. Carmen is the source for Georges Bizet's opera (1875).

Mérimée ended his career as a writer in 1848, but he was a familiar figure at the court of the Second Empire, in part owing to his long prior acquaintance with the empress Eugénie. He was also among the first in France to appreciate Russian literature, translating Aleksandr Pushkin, Ivan Turgenev, and Nikolai Gogol.

Achievements

The French author Prosper Mérimée was known as a prose writer of the romantic period in France, important for his short stories, which mark the transition from romanticism toward the more objective works of the second half of the century.

Works

$La Venus D\'Ille (French Edition) La Venus D\'Ille (French Edition)$ Colomba (French Edition) Colomba (French Edition)

$Carmen and Other Stories (Oxford World\'s Classics) Carmen and Other Stories (Oxford World\'s Classics)$

book
- La Venus D'Ille (French Edition)
  ( Je descendais le dernier coteau du Canigou, et, bien ...)
- Carmen and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics)
  (One of the earliest exponents of the short story, Prosper...)
- Colomba (French Edition)
  (Colomba della Rebbia a vu périr son père assassiné par so...)

Membership

Académie française, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

Interests

Music & Bands

Carmen is the source for Georges Bizet's opera (1875).

Connections

Mérimée never married.

References

THE LIFE & TIMES OF PROSPER MERIMEE

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