Prosper Merimee, whose biography and work are presented in this article, is one of the brightest novelists of the 19th century. Thanks to his education, he markedly differed from contemporary French writers. But the stereotypical life in the center of civilization could not seduce such an inquisitive and energetic person as Prosper Merimee was. The biography of the creator of "Carmen" contains several years spent away from his homeland. He dedicated most of his works to the inhabitants of the provincial towns of Spain and France.
early years
Prosper Mérimée, whose brief biography is set out below, was not only a talented writer and playwright, but also a researcher, wrote several works on the history of antiquity, made a significant contribution to the culture of France.
He was born at the very beginning of the nineteenth century. The future writer inherited skepticism and love of creativity from his father. As a child, I did not think about studying literature Prosper Merimee. His brief biography records the years of study at the Faculty of Law. After graduation, he was appointed inspector of historical monuments. But if you believe the biographers, it was as a student that he realized that his real vocation was philology. He studied English, Greek, Spanish. And in order to read Pushkin in the original, the French short story writer, being an admirer of the poet's work, also mastered the Russian language.
The beginning of the creative path
How did Prosper Merimee begin his literary career? His biography, as a rule, mentions the collection of plays "Theater of Clara Gazul", with which he allegedly began his career. In fact, the French classic created the first dramatic work earlier.
Prosper was barely nineteen years old when to the judgment of colleagues and friends (among whom was Stendhal), he presented a rather daring play for those times. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, French drama began to be weighed down by the rigid canons of classicism. But even in such conditions, the work of the novice playwright seemed to his colleagues extremely bold and unusual. They approved the play written by the young Prosper Mérimée. His biography still speaks of a later literary debut. The work, which Stendhal liked extremely, Mérimée decided not to publish, since he considered it far from perfect.
Inspector of Historical Monuments
Thanks to this position, Prosper Merimee, whose biography tells about numerous wanderings, had the opportunity to travel a lot around the country. But he learned to enjoy the provincial landscapes later, at a more mature age. And after graduating from the university, Merimee published a collection of plays called "Theater of Clara Gazul". But he published it under a pseudonym.
Clara Gazul
Who characterized the writer and playwright by the name of Prosper Merimee by his contemporaries? His biography says that this outstanding person stood out among his friends. Merimee loved not only travel and adventure, but also hoaxes. So, the first collection, published by him, was signed by a woman's name. And on the cover there was a portrait of Merimee, but in a female form.
Iakinf Maglanovich
What else unexpected can the biography of Prosper Merimee tell? Interesting facts relate to the early periods of his life. If Merimee published his first collection under the name of a certain Clara Gazul, then on the cover of the second book one could see the pseudonym Iakinf Maglanovich. It was a collection of Illyrian ballads called Gusli, about witches, vampires and other devilry. The book made a lot of noise in Europe, today it is considered a clever and witty imitation of the folk poetry of the Western Slavs.
Historical literature
Later, Merimee published books under his own name. He presented to the readers' judgment works on a historical theme - "Jacquerie" and "Chronicle of the times of Charles XIX". And then Merimee took his fans to distant lands. The novella "Matteo Falcone" is a cruel story from Corsican life. The Capture of the Redoubt is a work dedicated to the resistance of the Russians in the war with Napoleon. Finally, Tamango is an outrageous tale of the African slave trade.
At court
In 1830, Merimee traveled extensively in Spain, dear to his heart. Here he met the Comte de Teba and his wife. Their daughter - Eugenia - later became the French empress. From an early age, the girl had warm feelings for Merima. That is why the writer eventually became “his own” at court. By the age of forty, he was awarded the title of senator and enjoyed the full confidence of Napoleon III. Politics and career could not play a primary role in the life of Prosper Mérimée, but they took a lot of time. Perhaps that is why he wrote only three works in ten years.
Georges Sand
In 1844, the short story "Arsene Guillot" was published. In it, the author showed the moral superiority of a fallen woman over an aristocrat, which caused a big scandal in society. Merimee's romance with the writer Georges Sand became the reason for the gossip. He courted her for two years. And yet he was able to awaken feelings in the soul of an emancipated and disappointed woman in men. But this novel did not have a sequel. Subsequently, Merimee argued that the complete absence of bashfulness in his beloved killed all desire in him.
"Carmen"
In 1845, the most famous work of Mérimée was published. Carmen formed the basis of the famous opera of the same name. The novel is about the passionate love of a former officer, now a smuggler named Jose, for the cunning and cruel gypsy Carmencita. In the work, Merimee paid special attention to the morals and customs of the freedom-loving people. The girl who does not want to submit is killed by Jose. Novella Merimee has been filmed many times. According to literary critics, this theme inspired the French writer after reading Pushkin's poem "Gypsies". But it is worth saying that Merima managed to create an image that is not inferior in strength to Don Quixote or Hamlet.
Last years
For the last twenty years, Merimee almost did not create works of art. He devoted himself to literary studies. He was engaged in translations, wrote several works dedicated to Gogol, Pushkin. It is Merimee who owe French readers their acquaintance with Russian literature. In 1861 he published a publicistic work on the peasant uprisings in Russia. Among other books, the theme of which affects Russian culture: "Episode from Russian history", "Ivan Turgenev", "Nikolai Gogol".
Other works
Mérimée created six dramatic works and over twenty short stories. In addition, he published several travel essays. Novels by Prosper Merimee:
- Federigo.
- Backgammon Party.
- "Letters from Spain".
- Etruscan Vase.
- "Souls of Purgatory".
- "Double mistake".
- "Venus Illskaya".
- "Abbot Aubin".
- Colomba.
Among the works written by Merimee for the theater, it is worth mentioning "The Enchanted Rifle", "The Displeased", "The Debut of an Adventurer".
Lokis is the last work published by Prosper Merimee.
Biography (death)
In 1870, in Cannes, the great French writer Prosper Mérimée passed away. There is a plaque on his gravestone with the inscription: “With love and apologies. Georges Sand ". After the death of the writer, two more of his short stories were published: "The Blue Room", "Juman". And five years later, the world listened with admiration to the dramatic story of a gypsy woman, embodied by Meringue in music.
Prosper Mérimée was born on September 28, 1803, the son of an educated chemist and painter Jean François Leonore Mérimée. After graduating from a legal course in Paris, he was appointed secretary to Count D'Artou, one of the ministers of the July monarchy, and then chief inspector of historical monuments in France. In this post, he contributed a lot to the preservation of historical monuments. During his first trip to Spain in 1830, he became friends with the Comte de Teba and his wife, whose daughter later became the French empress.
Mérimée, as an old friend of the Countess Montijo's family, was a close friend of the Tuileries court during the Second Empire; Empress Eugenia had a heartfelt affection for him and treated him like a father. In 1853 Mérimée was elevated to the rank of senator and enjoyed the full confidence and personal friendship of Napoleon III. Service career and politics played, however, a secondary role in the life and work of such a writer-artist as Mérimée was by vocation. While still studying law in Paris, he became friends with Ampere and Albert Stapfer. The latter introduced him to the house of his father, who gathered a circle of people devoted to the sciences and arts. His literary evenings were attended not only by the French, but also by the British, Germans and even Russians. At Stapfer's, Mérimée became friends and became friends with Stendhal and Delecluse, who were in charge of the criticism department at the Revue de Paris. Mérimée's literary tastes and views were influenced by the Stapfers and the Delecluse circle. From them he borrowed an interest in the study of the literatures of other peoples. The versatility of Mérimée's literary education markedly distinguished him from among other French writers of that time. Mérimée was one of the first in France to appreciate the dignity of Russian literature and mastered the Russian language in order to read the works of Pushkin and Gogol in the original. He was a great admirer of Pushkin, in 1849 he translated his "The Queen of Spades". In 1851, his study of Gogol was published in the Revue des Deux Mondes, and in 1853, a translation of The Inspector General. Mérimée was also interested in Russian history: in the Journal des Savants he published several articles on the History of Peter the Great by N. G. Ustryalov and essays from the history of the Cossacks (Les Cosaques d'autrefois). The history of the Time of Troubles is reflected in Le faux Demetrius and dramatic scenes in Les Debuts d'un Aventurier (1852). Merimee was a great admirer of I. S. Turgenev and wrote the foreword to the French translation of Fathers and Sons, published in Paris in 1864.
In the literary field, Merimee made his debut very early, when he was only 20 years old. His first experience was the historical drama Cromwell. It earned Stendhal's warm praise as a bold departure from the classic rules of the unity of time and action. Despite the approval of the circle of friends, Merimee was dissatisfied with his first work, and it did not get into print. Subsequently, he wrote several dramatic plays and published them under the title Th ?? tre de Clara Gazul, stating in the preface that the author of the plays is an unknown Spanish actress of the itinerant theater. Merimee's second publication, his famous Guzla, a collection of folk songs, was also a very successful hoax.
In 1828-1829 the dramas Jacquerie and Famille Carvajal, the historical novel Chronique du temps de Charles IX and the short story Matteo Falcone were published. Mérimée at this time actively collaborated in the "Revue de Paris" and "National" and was in the closest relations with the editors of these publications. The Revue contains his story “The Taking of the Redoubt” (Prise de la redoute), the story “Tamango” and “Pearl Toledo”, the story “Le Vase Etrusque” and a number of letters from Spain. In the magazine "Artist" he published articles about the Madrid Museum, the story "Jacqueline" and the story "Double mistake" (Double m? Prise). In 1834 he transferred to the Revue des deux Mondes and published here the story “Souls of Purgatory” (Ames du purgatoire), testifying to the masterful study of the life and customs of Spain, and the story “Venus of Ills” (V? Nus d'Ille). At the end of 1839, Merimee undertook a trip to Corsica. The result of this trip was Notes de Voyage en Corse and the novel Colomba. The life of large cities, centers of civilization, polished according to a general template, was disgusting to Merima. He was always much more attracted by wild, original customs, which retained the original and bright color of antiquity.
One of the most famous works of Merimee was the short story "Carmen", where he succeeded so well in describing gypsy customs, as well as the image of the gypsy woman Carmen. The story is taken as the basis for the plot of the opera of the same name by Georges Bizet, the music of which is incredibly popular in our time.
Yu.M. Lotman in one of his last articles, referring to the work of Merimee, wrote:
Merimee published several works on the history of Greece, Rome and Italy, based on the study of sources. His story of Don Pedro I, King of Castile is respected even among specialists.
The last story published during Merimee's lifetime was Lokis. After Merimee's death, Derni? Res novelles were published, between them the best story, The Blue Room (Chambre bleue) and his letters. In 1875, Lettres? une autre inconnue ".
Died in Cannes, where he was buried in the Grands Jas cemetery.
Creation
Stories and short stories
- 1829 - "Tamango" (Tamango), short story
- 1829 - "Taking the Redoubt" (L'enl? Vement de la redoute), story
- 1829 - "Matteo Falcone" (Mateo Falcone), short story
- 1830 - "Etruscan vase" (Le vase? Trusque), short story
- 1830 - La partie de tric-trac, short story
- 1833 - "Double mistake" (La double m? Prise), short story
- 1834 - "Souls of Purgatory" (Les? Mes du Purgatoire), short story
- 1837 - "Illskaya Venus" (La V? Nus d'Ille), short story
- 1840 - "Colomba" (Colomba), a story
- 1844 - "Arsene Guillot" (Ars? Ne Guillot), short story
- 1845 - "Carmen" (Carmen), a story
- 1869 - "Lokis" (Lokis), a story
- "Juman" (Djouman), short story
- "The Blue Room" (Chambre Bleue), short story
Plays
- 1825 - "Theater of Clara Gazul" (Th ?? tre de Clara Gazul), a collection of plays
- 1828 - La Jacquerie, historical drama chronicle
- 1830 - "Discontented" (Les M? Contents), play
- 1850 - "Two Inheritances or Don Quixote" (Les deux h? Ritages ou Don Quichotte), comedy
Other
- 1827 - "Gusli" (Guzla)
- 1829 - "Chronicle of the reign of Charles IX" (Chronique du r? Gne de Charles IX)
- 1835 - Notes d'un voyage dans le Midi de France
- 1837 - "Study of Religious Architecture" (Essai sur l'architecture religieuse)
- 1863 - essay "Bogdan Khmelnitsky" (Bogdan Chmielnicki)
The first translations of Merimee's stories into Russian:
- "Illskaya Venus" ("Library for Reading", 1837)
- "Colomba" (ibid., 1840)
- "Double Error" ("Contemporary", 1847)
- "St. Bartholomew's Night" ("Historical Bulletin", 1882)
- Carmen (The Road Library, 1890).
Prosper Merimee, whose biography and work are presented in this article, is one of the brightest novelists of the 19th century. Thanks to his education, he markedly differed from contemporary French writers. But the stereotypical life in the center of civilization could not seduce such an inquisitive and energetic person as Prosper Merimee was. The biography of the creator of "Carmen" contains several years spent away from his homeland. He dedicated most of his works to the inhabitants of the provincial towns of Spain and France.
early years
Prosper Mérimée, whose brief biography is set out below, was not only a talented writer and playwright, but also a researcher, wrote several works on the history of antiquity, made a significant contribution to the culture of France.
He was born at the very beginning of the nineteenth century. The future writer inherited skepticism and love of creativity from his father. As a child, I did not think about studying literature Prosper Merimee. His brief biography records the years of study at the Faculty of Law. After graduation, he was appointed inspector of historical monuments. But if you believe the biographers, it was as a student that he realized that his real vocation was philology. He studied English, Greek, Spanish. And in order to read Pushkin in the original, the French short story writer, being an admirer of the poet's work, also mastered the Russian language.
The beginning of the creative path
How did Prosper Merimee begin his literary career? His biography, as a rule, mentions the collection of plays "Theater of Clara Gazul", with which he allegedly began his career. In fact, the French classic created the first dramatic work earlier.
Prosper was barely nineteen years old when to the judgment of colleagues and friends (among whom was Stendhal), he presented a rather daring play for those times. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, French drama began to be weighed down by the rigid canons of classicism. But even in such conditions, the work of the novice playwright seemed to his colleagues extremely bold and unusual. They approved the play written by the young Prosper Mérimée. His biography still speaks of a later literary debut. The work, which Stendhal liked extremely, Mérimée decided not to publish, since he considered it far from perfect.
Inspector of Historical Monuments
Thanks to this position, Prosper Merimee, whose biography tells about numerous wanderings, had the opportunity to travel a lot around the country. But he learned to enjoy the provincial landscapes later, at a more mature age. And after graduating from the university, Merimee published a collection of plays called "Theater of Clara Gazul". But he published it under a pseudonym.
Clara Gazul
Who characterized the writer and playwright by the name of Prosper Merimee by his contemporaries? His biography says that this outstanding person stood out among his friends. Merimee loved not only travel and adventure, but also hoaxes. So, the first collection, published by him, was signed by a woman's name. And on the cover there was a portrait of Merimee, but in a female form.
Iakinf Maglanovich
What else unexpected can the biography of Prosper Merimee tell? Interesting facts relate to the early periods of his life. If Merimee published his first collection under the name of a certain Clara Gazul, then on the cover of the second book one could see the pseudonym Iakinf Maglanovich. It was a collection of Illyrian ballads called Gusli, about witches, vampires and other devilry. The book made a lot of noise in Europe, today it is considered a clever and witty imitation of the folk poetry of the Western Slavs.
Historical literature
Later, Merimee published books under his own name. He presented to the readers' judgment works on a historical theme - "Jacquerie" and "Chronicle of the times of Charles XIX". And then Merimee took his fans to distant lands. The novella "Matteo Falcone" is a cruel story from Corsican life. The Capture of the Redoubt is a work dedicated to the resistance of the Russians in the war with Napoleon. Finally, Tamango is an outrageous tale of the African slave trade.
At court
In 1830, Merimee traveled extensively in Spain, dear to his heart. Here he met the Comte de Teba and his wife. Their daughter - Eugenia - later became the French empress. From an early age, the girl had warm feelings for Merima. That is why the writer eventually became “his own” at court. By the age of forty, he was awarded the title of senator and enjoyed the full confidence of Napoleon III. Politics and career could not play a primary role in the life of Prosper Mérimée, but they took a lot of time. Perhaps that is why he wrote only three works in ten years.
Georges Sand
In 1844, the short story "Arsene Guillot" was published. In it, the author showed the moral superiority of a fallen woman over an aristocrat, which caused a big scandal in society. Merimee's romance with the writer also became a reason for gossip.He courted her for two years. And yet he was able to awaken feelings in the soul of an emancipated woman and a woman. But this novel did not have a sequel. Subsequently, Merimee argued that the complete absence of bashfulness in his beloved killed all desire in him.
"Carmen"
In 1845, the most famous work of Mérimée was published. Carmen formed the basis of the famous opera of the same name. The novel is about the passionate love of a former officer, now a smuggler named Jose, for the cunning and cruel gypsy Carmencita. In the work, Merimee paid special attention to the morals and customs of the freedom-loving people. The girl who does not want to submit is killed by Jose. Novella Merimee has been filmed many times. According to literary critics, this theme inspired the French writer after reading Pushkin's poem "Gypsies". But it is worth saying that Merima managed to create an image that is not inferior in strength to Don Quixote or Hamlet.
Last years
For the last twenty years, Merimee almost did not create works of art. He devoted himself to literary studies. He was engaged in translations, wrote several works dedicated to Gogol, Pushkin. It is Merimee who owe French readers their acquaintance with Russian literature. In 1861 he published a publicistic work on the peasant uprisings in Russia. Among other books, the theme of which affects Russian culture: "Episode from Russian history", "Ivan Turgenev", "Nikolai Gogol".
Other works
Mérimée created six dramatic works and over twenty short stories. In addition, he published several travel essays. Novels by Prosper Merimee:
- Federigo.
- Backgammon Party.
- "Letters from Spain".
- Etruscan Vase.
- "Souls of Purgatory".
- "Double mistake".
- "Venus Illskaya".
- "Abbot Aubin".
- Colomba.
Among the works written by Merimee for the theater, it is worth mentioning "The Enchanted Rifle", "The Displeased", "The Debut of an Adventurer".
Lokis is the last work published by Prosper Merimee.
Biography (death)
In 1870, in Cannes, the great French writer Prosper Mérimée passed away. There is a plaque on his gravestone with the inscription: “With love and apologies. Georges Sand ". After the death of the writer, two more of his short stories were published: "The Blue Room", "Juman". And five years later, the world listened with admiration to the dramatic story of a gypsy woman, embodied by Meringue in music.
The life and work of Prosper Mérimée.
The talented novelist, famous writer and philologist Prosper Mérimée, was born in Paris at the end of September 1803. His father, Mérimée Jean François Leonor, was a distinguished scientist who studied chemistry. Both he and his wife, Anna Merimee, Prosper's mother, were seriously interested in painting. Due to the fact that Prosper grew up in a creative family, he had a desire to paint at a young age. The young artist's grandmother lived in England for a long time, and as a child, Merimee studied English and Latin. When Prosper entered the Imperial (Napoleonic) Lyceum, the teachers noted not only his high intelligence, but also his excellent drawing ability. After the interview, he was accepted as an external student immediately in the 7th grade.
Having brilliantly graduated from the Lyceum, Prosper, at the insistence of his father, who dreamed of his son becoming a lawyer, enters college with a degree in jurisprudence. While still in college, the young man realizes that he is not interested in the legal profession. After receiving a diploma in 1823, Merimee received the post of inspector of historical monuments, and began to study literature and philology. The very first work of Prosper is a small play, which he presents to his friends, including the famous Henri Marie Beyle, known to all under the pseudonym Stendhal, with whom they maintained friendly relations throughout their lives.
Merimee is fluent in English, Spanish, Russian and Greek. While still in college, Mérimée, with classmate Jean-Jacques-Antoine Ampere, translated from English into French the poem of Ossian by the poet James McPherson.
In the mid-thirties, Prosper wrote the famous Teatro Clara Gasul, which he claims to be the creation of an unknown Spanish poetess. Continuing the mystification, Merimee writes the collection "Guzla". He is seriously engaged in the study of South Slavic folklore, misleading Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin himself with his works, who takes them for folk.
Around the same time, the poet finds himself surrounded by established writers such as Victor Hugo, Eugene Delacroix, Franz Liszt. He meets a Russian writer living in Paris, Ivan Turgenev. And from that moment Prosper begins to create by signing works with his own name.
Such works as "Jacquerie" are born, it describes the peasant uprising of the 14th century, "Chronicle of the reign of Charles the Ninth". The works are performed in the form of memoirs. In writing these works, he came up with and used a new style of writing the adventure genre. Against the background of reliable historical events, he invented and wrote the adventures of non-existent heroes. Subsequently, this style will be used by the famous Alexandre Dumas. Prosper wrote Matteo Falcone describing the fate of the Corsicans, The Taking of the Redoubt, about the battles of Russian soldiers with the Emperor Napoleon III, and Tamango, an excerpt from the life of African slaves.
Arriving in Spain in 1830, Prosper met the Count de Teba and his wife Maria Manuela. Eugenia, their young daughter, from the moment they met, had warm feelings for Prosper, therefore, after her wedding with the Emperor Napoleon, Prosper received the title of "senator" and became an approximate of the royal court.
Working in the palace takes away all of Merime's free time, so in the next 10 years he was able to write only 3 works. In the late thirties, Prosper devoted himself entirely to the study of French history.
By the end of 1844, Prosper wrote his most scandalous novel, Arsene Guillot, describing the moral superiority of a fallen woman over a hereditary aristocrat, which causes a huge resonance in society.
Prosper's most famous work is the novel Carmen, written in 1845, which describes the life of freedom-loving gypsies. In 1875, on the basis of this work, Georges Bizet staged an opera of the same name.
Prosper believed that a thorough approach to the study of the history of the country was needed, otherwise it would be impossible to reliably translate and write works. His interest in Russia manifested itself during the translation into French of Nikolai Gogol's comedy The Inspector General. Shortly thereafter, Turgenev's stories were translated, and the works of A.S. Pushkin. Studying the materials of the reign of Peter the Great, Prosper planned to describe an episode of Russian history in the novel.
In the early 60s, Prosper Merimee began to get sick, and practically ceased to create works of art. He devotes all his time to translations and writing of works dedicated to N.V. Gogol and A.S. Pushkin. It was Prosper Mérimée who introduced the French people to Russian culture and life. In 1861, Merimee published a work about the peasants in revolt in Russia. Subsequently, books were written about Russian culture and life:
"Episode from Russian history",
"Ivan Turgenev",
"Nikolay Gogol".
The last work of Prosper Mérimée is the terrible story Lokis, written in 1869 a year before his death. The main idea of the story is that the events taking place in life do not always lend themselves to scientific explanation.
Unfortunately, Prosper Merimee's personal life did not work out, he was never married and had no children, but after his death, details of his adventures in the company of his friend Stendhal began to surface. Former mistresses began to publicize their relationship and correspondence. The longest in love with Prosper was Charlotte Marie Valentina Josephine Deleser, the wife of Gabriel Deleser, a famous banker.
Prosper's father died in 1837, after which he began to live with his mother, who died in 1852. At about the same time, relations with Valentina ended. Never before has a great poet felt so lonely. Prosper's health was getting worse, he was tormented by suffocation and limbs were taken away. Heart problems became more and more evident. In 1867, exhausted, he decides to move to Cannes, where he continues to live until his death. On September 23, 1870, the life of the most talented man was cut short.
The Frenchman Prosper Mérimée is known to us as a writer. His books have long been translated into Russian. Operas have been written and films based on his works. However, he was also a historian, ethnographer, archaeologist and translator, academician and senator. If the reader wants to plunge into the past, described in detail to the smallest detail, then the works of Mérimée are a good way to travel back in time.
Childhood and youth
The only son of wealthy parents was born in Paris on September 28, 1803. The common hobby of the chemist Jean François Leonore Mérimée and his wife, nee Anne Moreau, was painting. Artists and writers, musicians and philosophers gathered around the table in the living room. Conversations about art shaped the boy's interests: he looked at the paintings with great attention and enthusiastically read the works of the free-thinkers of the 18th century.
He was fluent in Latin and spoke English from an early age. Anglophilism was a family tradition. Prosper's great-grandmother, Marie Leprince de Beaumont, lived in England for seventeen years. His grandmother Moreau got married in London. Young Englishmen came to the house, taking private lessons in painting from Jean François Leonore.
Prosper spent several years of his early childhood in Dalmatia, where his father was under Marshal Marmont. This detail of the biography of the writer explains his deep and emotional perception of folk poetry, the motives of which Merimee weaved into his work. At the age of eight, Prosper entered the seventh grade of the Imperial Lyceum as an external student, and after graduation, at the insistence of his father, he studied law at the Sorbonne.
The father dreamed of a career as a lawyer for his son, but the young man reacted to this prospect without enthusiasm. After graduating from the university, young Merimee was appointed secretary of the Count d'Argu, one of the ministers of the July monarchy. Later he became the chief inspector of the historical monuments of France. The study of monuments of art and architecture stimulated the creative energy of the writer and served as a source of inspiration.
Literature
Prosper Merimee began his path in literature with a hoax. The author of the collection of plays was named the Spaniard Clara Gasul, who did not exist in reality. The second book of Merime is a collection of Serbian folk songs "Guzla". As it turned out, the author of the texts did not collect them in Dalmatia, but simply composed them. Merimee's counterfeit turned out to be so talented that it misled even.
The historical drama "Jacqueria" no longer set itself the task of misleading the reader, but painted a picture of the medieval peasant uprising in all unsightly details. The struggle for power between feudal lords and clerics is described in the same detail and realism in the Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX, the only novel of the writer. Novels brought Prosper Merime world fame.
Best known to the reader is "Carmen". The story of the life of freedom-loving Spanish gypsies was transcribed for the stage, supplemented with music and colorful dances, and filmed. The beautiful story of the tragic love of a gypsy and a Spaniard still excites readers and viewers. Images in the rest of the "folk" and "exotic" novellas are no less vividly written out. For example, the runaway slave at Tamango.
Traveling around Europe, Merimee subtly noticed the characteristic national features of peoples and endowed them with characters. The Corsicans inspired him to create Matteo Falcone and Colomba. The writer also conceived the plot of "Venus of Illskaya" during his travels. The creation of a mystical atmosphere was not easy for the author, but he coped with the work brilliantly. Prosper Merimee called this story his masterpiece.
Personal life
Prosper Merimee was not married and enjoyed the position of a bachelor all his life. Many details of the writer's love affairs were revealed to curious readers after his death. Friends and mistresses published the surviving correspondence, revealing secrets, which, however, Prosper never particularly concealed. The riotous adventures of the young rake in the company of Merimee created a bad reputation.
The longest love affair lasted with Charlotte Marie Valentina Josephine Deleser. The banker's wife Gabriel Delecer, a mother of two, endowed Prosper with her favor from the early thirties to 1852. Simultaneously with this relationship, an affair developed with Zhenya (Jeanne Françoise) Daken, who became famous thanks to the publication of the writer's letters that she retained.
The girl started a correspondence. Wanting to meet a famous writer, she wrote a letter on behalf of the fictional lady Algernon Seymour, who intended to illustrate the Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX. Merimee fell for the bait. Anticipating another affair, he entered into a correspondence with a stranger, along the way with his English friends trying to find out her identity.
After several months of correspondence, on December 29, 1832, Merimee met a mysterious stranger in Boulogne. Merimee hid his acquaintance with Jenny Daken. Only close friends, Stendhal and Sutton Sharp, were aware. On the one hand, he did not want to compromise a decent girl from a bourgeois family, on the other, he already had an "official" mistress. The fleeting affair between Prosper and Jenny eventually developed into a close friendship, which was interrupted by the death of the writer.
In the 50s, Merimee was very lonely. After the death of his father, he spent fifteen years alone with his mother. In 1852, Anna Merimee died. Relations with Valentina Deleser in the same year ended in a final break. The seething creative energy began to dry up. Old age has come.
Death
In the 60s, Merimee's health deteriorated. He is worried about asthma attacks, his legs are swollen, his heart hurts. In 1867, due to a progressive illness, the writer settled in Cannes, where he died three years later - on September 23, 1870. Dark forebodings overcame him before his death. On July 19, 1870, France declared war on Prussia, Mérimée expected a catastrophe and did not want to see it.
In Paris, his archive and library burned down, and the remaining things were stolen and sold by servants. Buried Prosper Mérimée in the Grand Jas cemetery. After the death of the writer, a collection of "Latest novellas" was published, the best of which critics call the story "The Blue Room". Personal correspondence has also become the property of readers.
Bibliography
novel
- 1829 - "Chronicle of the reign of Charles IX"
Novellas
- 1829 - "Matteo Falcone"
- 1829 - "Tamango"
- 1829 - "Taking the Redoubt"
- 1829 - "Federigo"
- 1830 - "Backgammon Party"
- 1830 - "Etruscan vase"
- 1832 - "Letters from Spain"
- 1833 - "Double fault"
- 1834 - "Souls of Purgatory"
- 1837 - "Venus Illskaya"
- 1840 - "Colomba"
- 1844 - "Arsene Guillot"
- 1844 - "Abbot Aubin"
- 1845 - Carmen
- 1846 - Lane of Lady Lucretia
- 1869 - Lokis
- 1870 - "Juman"
- 1871 - The Blue Room
Plays
- 1825 - "Theater of Clara Gazul"
- 1828 - "Jacquerie"
- 1830 - The Disaffected
- 1832 - "The Enchanted Gun"
- 1850 - "Two Inheritances or Don Quixote"
- 1853 - "Debut of an Adventurer"
Other
- 1827 - "Gusli"
- 1829 - The Pearl of Toledo
- 1832 - Ban of Croatia
- 1832 - "The Dying Haiduk"
- 1835 - "Notes on a voyage in the south of France"
- 1836 - "Notes on a Journey in the West of France"
- 1837 - "Study of Religious Architecture"
- 1838 - "Notes on the Journey to Auvergne"
- 1841 - "Notes on a voyage to Corsica"
- 1841 - "Experience of the Civil War"
- 1845 - "Studies in Roman History"
- 1847 - "The Story of Don Pedro I, King of Castile"
- 1850 - "Henri Bayle (Stendhal)"
- 1851 - “Russian Literature. Nikolay Gogol"
- 1853 - “Episode from Russian history. False Dmitry "
- 1853 - The Mormons
- 1856 - "Letters to Panizzi"
- 1861 - "The Uprising of Stenka Razin"
- 1863 - "Bogdan Khmelnitsky"
- 1865 - "Cossacks of Ukraine and their last chieftains"
- 1868 - "Ivan Turgenev"
- 1873 - "Letters to a Stranger"
