Prosper Mérimée, Carmen

Corry Cropper (Brigham Young University)

Ed. by Tim Unwin, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1845

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novella

Resources

Carmen, first published in 1845, is undoubtedly Prosper Mérimée’s best known work today. Ironically, many do not know he wrote it. Numerous adaptations – including Bizet’s 1875 opera and dozens of films – have led to some neglect of Mérimée’s original. This is unfortunate, since Mérimée’s narrative is darker, more nuanced, and more complex than the majority of adaptations that tend to look to Bizet’s opera as the model. These adaptations depict Carmen as an aloof femme fatale and don José as a pure young man, committed to the military and devoted to his mother. Carmen slowly steers him away from his values and to a life of crime and murder. In Mérimée’s original, however, …

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1391 words

Citation: Cropper, Corry. "Carmen". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 December 2006 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12333, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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