Prosper Mérimée (1803–1870)

Carmen, histoire espagnole? Pas dans l'esprit de Mérimée, qui contourne avec ironie l'hispanisme castillan des romantiques et montre les confins de la péninsule: en Andalousie, entre Séville et Gibraltar, l'amour fou d'un Basque déraciné pour une enfant de Bohème, sans patrie ni attaches. Passion des extrêmes: José, brigadier-brigand, et Carmen, actrice aux visages multiples.
Passion pour la liberté, qui en cache une autre, plus profonde, que révèle cette nouvelle édition show more critique. L'étrange fascination qu'éprouve aussi pour Carmen le narrateur, personnage oublié dans l'opéra de Bizet et que le mythe a du coup délaissé: un savant français, captivé par les sortilèges de cette femme qui parle une langue brûlante et brutale qu'il ne comprend pas. Carmen, incarnation de la littérature, magique et fatale? Si c'était cette autre histoire d'amour, cette corrida de mots cachée au cœur du texte, qui donnait au récit de la vie et de la mise à mort de Carmen sa vraie universalité? show less

Songs for the Gusle, newly translated for the first time into English, falls into a category of literature I find alternately fascinating and, at times, intricately frustrating. Dubbed "fakelore" by the publishing press, Frayed Edge Press, this work is a collection of prose poems, folktales, ballads, scholarly essays, and a number of other short pieces drawing from various genres which purport, at least in the context of the introduction, to be discovered folk literature from the Illyrian show more Provinces.

In reality, these "discoveries" are a frame narrative for author Prosper Mérimée's fictional creations, credited to an anonymous traveler from the Balkans explaining in great detail the historical and sociological context of literature and cultures he so clearly does not understand.

As translator Laura Nagle explains, much of the brilliance in this relies on Merimee's knowledge of his audience and assumption that they knew no more about the Balkans than he did, the realistic influence for the fictional "Illyrians".

While the overt brilliance is in the presentation itself, the underlying ability to create stunningly legitimate works of folklore in various forms to convincingly stage and frame this collection is where Merimee's true genius shines and, in turn, the work of the translator is given space to shine as well.

This collection is a conglomerate of genres and literary forms that create a realistic, if not largely tongue-in-cheek compendium of subtle storytelling for a fictional society, and in turn, speak to Mérimée's awareness of both himself and his surroundings, as his "translation" speaks to, what else, but a white man explaining the customs of a culture he has no authority on.

Author Prosper Mérimée might be better known to most of us as the author of Carmen, arguably one of his most famous and influential works which went on to inspire operas, ballets, and so on.

While Carmen is, in and of itself, a subtle commentary on the ways in which the power of the story is in the hands of the person telling it, Songs for the Gusle approaches this theme in a far more satirical and forthright manner, successfully pulling off what Philippe Met, Professor of French Studies at the University of Pennsylvania called, "one of the most brilliant literary hoaxes."

Translator Laura Nagle must be given great credit for her attentive work in bringing this collection to life for the first time in complete English translation. Because of the nature of the original text, there are a number of linguistic subtleties hidden within this deceptively simple text, a challenge that Nagle aptly rises to.

The voice here is conveyed with great brevity and wit, the satire is subtle and effective in nature, and Nagle shows great skill in translating across a number of literary formats, many in faux-fragmented form in order to create the illusion of "found" literature.

In my humble opinion, one of the truest indications of the merit of this enthralling work is the simple fact that, throughout its entirety, I would find myself forgetting again and again that the locations, characters, folklore, etc described amidst the pages, were not in actuality the long-lost musings of an over-eager explorer.

Nagle's translation far surpasses doing this work justice—she has given new life to a work lost to time and conveyed not merely the words on the page, but pays true homage to the overall satire and wit that first appeared in La Guzla.

There is much to be said for the merit of this work, from its status as a cultural investigative work, not of the fictional Illyria but of Mérimée's France and the attitudes of the explorers and academics that inhabited it, to its shining debut as a complete English translation, a vast 196 years after its initial publication.

I highly recommend this enthralling, scintillating work both for the genius of the translation and the vast cultural components of the original text, and I can't wait for its official release! show less

A novella set in Corsica just after the Napoleonic Wars, Colomba is apparently frequently assigned reading in French secondary schools. I can see why, as it's got plenty of themes with a capital T—revenge! family! identity! gender!—but it's also a fairly brisk action read. I didn't really buy the character of Colomba as a person, but did appreciate how Prosper Mérimée committed to her being committed to revenge right the way to the last page of the book.

Un notable corse qui n'hésite pas à tuer son fils coupable d'avoir dénoncé titi bandit aux gendarmes, un roi de Suède qui prophétise l'assassinat de son successeur, un jeune officier insouciant qui découvre les horreurs de la guerre, une révolte sur un négrier, un combat naval où l'on expie une déloyauté aux cartes, des matadors mourants. Dans les nouvelles de MosaicIzie, Mérimée fait le tableau de l'énergie individuelle poussée à son comble, en crimes et en vertus. Même show more les salons des gens du monde, dans le murmure banal des conversations, bruissent des tortures du remords et de la jalousie, s'illuminent de brusques envies de meurtre. Et pour dire tout cela, pour raconter au lecteur intelligent et complice les forces des passions et l'ironie du sort, une simplicité parfaite et continue, qui serre la vérité au plus près, un style dépouillé et bref, qui rend chaque trait essentiel. Mérimée sait que la bonne littérature ne se paie pas de mots. show less