Carmen suivi de Les âmes du purgatoire

by Prosper Mérimée

Carmen, don Juan.
Le mythe est universel. Mérimée lui donne sa propre dimension. Sauvage, effrontée, une fleur de cassis à la bouche, telle apparaît Carmen, fille de l'amour et de la liberté, toujours prête à mettre la rage au cœur, à pousser au crime. De ce jeu cruel elle est bientôt la victime, mais la mise à mort, ici, n'a pas lieu dans l'arène. Elle se tient à huis clos, pacte secret entre don José et sa gitane maudite.
Maudit aussi don Juan de Maraña qui, après une vie de scandales, ose, un soir, provoquer Dieu et lui soustraire une de ses nonnes. A l'heure du rapt, il croise an long cortège d'âmes du purgatoire qui accompagnent sa dépouille mortelle à l'église. Son imagination lui joue-t-elle un tour ou est-ce un signe du ciel ?

Genres: Roman, 19th Century, School, France

127 pages, Paperback

Published June 6, 2001

About the author

Prosper Mérimée was a French dramatist, historian, archaeologist, and short story writer. He is perhaps best known for his novella Carmen, which became the basis of Bizet's opera Carmen.

Mérimée loved mysticism, history, and the unusual, and may have been influenced by Charles Nodier (though he did not appreciate his works), the historical fiction popularised by Sir Walter Scott and the cruelty and psychological drama of Aleksandr Pushkin. Many of his stories are mysteries set in foreign places, Spain and Russia being popular sources of inspiration.

In 1834, Mérimée was appointed to the post of inspector-general of historical monuments. He was a born archaeologist, combining linguistic faculty of a very unusual kind with accurate scholarship, with remarkable historical appreciation, and with a sincere love for the arts of design and construction, in the former of which he had some practical skill. In his official capacity he published numerous reports, some of which, with other similar pieces, have been republished in his works.
He was also responsible for several translations of Pushkin and Gogol, when they weren't known in Europe yet.

Reviews

[Pavitx]

Lecture scolaire dont je ne me souvenais pas et qui semble tout à fait mal adaptée à des élèves de seconde (si je me souviens bien l'année). Carmen est pleine de couleur locale et pourrait être plus courte. Carmen est un personnage bien moderne, malgré toute la couleur locale dont elle est affublée. Je n'avais pas lu "Les âmes du purgatoire" qui est une histoire bien racontée, à l'ironie subtile, d'un des mythes de don Juan, celui de don Juan de Maraña, lequel n'est pas celui de Tenorio.

[Dan]

Ne dites pas à votre prof que vous trouvez que les personnages dans un livre sont fades et sans personnalité parce qu’iel va effectivement passer 3 heures à vous prouver que tel ou tel personnage est l’un des plus grands symboles de liberté qui existe! #faitvécu #nonmariepiersefairetuerparunhommeobsédén’estpassymboledelibertéças’appelleunféminicide!

[Rachel]

This little flash of a novella, the source of Bizet's far better known opera, is utterly gorgeous. Very reminiscent of Victor Hugo in its choice of emphasis, it tells the story of a soldier who falls in love with the enigmatic gypsy of the title. The story is told simply and without flights of poetry, but there is more to it than meets the eye, and Carmen is a kaleidoscope of a character who seems different every time you look at her. As an added bonus, this edition includes a foreword by Philip Pullman and another of Prosper Merimee's short stories, also fascinating.

[Danielle]

charming! thrilling! i gobbled the thing up after the first word. i'm fascinated with the Roma because of my own ancestry, and really enjoyed the drama of this story.
encore!