Prosper merimé in world culture. Brief biography of Prosper Merime. b) Merimee's "exotic" short stories
The Frenchman Prosper Merimee is known to us as a writer. His books have long been translated into Russian. Based on his works, operas were written and films were shot. 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 Merimee's works 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 passion of the chemist Jean-Francois Leonor Mérimée and his wife, nee Anna Moreau, was painting. Artists and writers, musicians and philosophers gathered at the table in the living room. Talking about art shaped the interests of the boy: he looked at the paintings with great attention and enthusiastically read the works of freethinkers of the 18th century.
He was fluent in Latin and spoke English from early childhood. Anglophilism was a tradition in the family. Prosper's great-grandmother, Marie Leprince de Beaumont, lived in England for seventeen years. His grandmother Moreau married in London. The house was visited by young Englishmen who took private lessons in painting from Jean-Francois Leonor.
Prosper spent several years of his early childhood in Dalmatia, where his father was with Marshal Marmon. This detail of the writer's biography explains his deep and emotional perception of folk poetry, the motives of which Merimee wove into his work. At the age of eight, Prosper externally entered the seventh grade of the Imperial Lyceum, 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 Mérimée was appointed secretary to the Comte d'Argoux, one of the ministers of the July Monarchy. Later he became the chief inspector of 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
The path in literature Prosper Merimee began with a hoax. The Spanish Clara Gasul, who did not exist in reality, was named the author of the collection of plays. Merimee's second book is a collection of Serbian folk songs "Guzla". As it turned out, the author of the lyrics did not collect them in Dalmatia, but simply composed them. Merimee's fake turned out to be so talented that he even misled.
The historical drama "Jacquerie" no longer set the task of misleading the reader, but painted a picture of a medieval peasant uprising in all unsightly details. The struggle for power of feudal lords and clerics is described in the same detail and realistically in the Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX, the only novel by the writer. Novels brought world fame to Prosper Merimee.
The reader is best known for Carmen. The story from the life of freedom-loving Spanish gypsies was adapted for the stage, supplemented with music and colorful dances, and filmed. The beautiful story of the tragic love of a gypsy woman and a Spaniard still excites readers and viewers. No less vividly written images in other "folk" and "exotic" short stories. For example, a runaway slave in Tamango.
Traveling around Europe, Merimee subtly noticed the characteristic national features of the peoples and endowed the characters with them. The Corsicans inspired him to create Matteo Falcone and Colomba. The writer also conceived the plot of the "Venus of Illa" while traveling. Creating a mystical atmosphere was not easy for the author, but he did an excellent job. Prosper Merimee called this story his masterpiece.
Personal life
Prosper Merimee was unmarried and enjoyed the position of a bachelor all his life. Many details of the writer's love affairs were revealed to inquisitive readers after his death. Friends and mistresses published the preserved correspondence, revealing secrets, which, however, Prosper never really hid. The reckless adventures of the young rake in the company of Merimee created a bad reputation.
The love affair with Charlotte Marie Valentina Josephine Deleser lasted the longest. The wife of the banker Gabriel Delecère, mother of two children, endowed Prosper with her favor from the early thirties until 1852. Simultaneously with this relationship, an affair developed with Genie (Jeanne Françoise) Daken, who became famous thanks to the publication of the writer’s letters that she had preserved.
The girl started a correspondence. Wanting to meet a famous writer, she wrote a letter on behalf of the fictional Lady Algernon Seymour, who planned to illustrate the Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX. Merimee took the bait. Anticipating another affair, he entered into correspondence with a stranger, simultaneously trying to find out her identity from his English friends.
After several months of correspondence, on December 29, 1832, Merimee met with a mysterious stranger in Boulogne. Acquaintance with Jenny Daken Merime concealed. 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 hand, he already had an “official” mistress. A fleeting affair between Prosper and Jenny eventually grew 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 lived for fifteen years alone with his mother. Anna Merimee died in 1852. 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 disturbed by attacks of suffocation (asthma), his legs swell, 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 premonitions overcame him before his death. On July 19, 1870, France declared war on Prussia, Merimee expected disaster and did not want to see it.
In Paris, his archive and library burned down, and the remaining things were stolen and sold by the servants. Prosper Merimee was buried in the Grand Jas cemetery. After the death of the writer, the collection "Last Novels" was published, the best of which critics call the story "The Blue Room". Became the property of readers and personal correspondence.
Bibliography
Novel
- 1829 - "Chronicle of the reign of Charles IX"
Novels
- 1829 - "Matteo Falcone"
- 1829 - "Tamango"
- 1829 - "The Capture of the Redoubt"
- 1829 - "Federigo"
- 1830 - Backgammon Party
- 1830 - "Etruscan vase"
- 1832 - "Letters from Spain"
- 1833 - "Double Fault"
- 1834 - "Souls of Purgatory"
- 1837 - "Venus of Ill"
- 1840 - "Colombes"
- 1844 - "Arsene Guyot"
- 1844 - "Abbé Aubin"
- 1845 - "Carmen"
- 1846 - Lane of Madame Lucretia
- 1869 - "Lokis"
- 1870 - "Juman"
- 1871 - "The Blue Room"
Plays
- 1825 - "Theatre of Clara Gazul"
- 1828 - "Jacquerie"
- 1830 - "The Discontented"
- 1832 - "The Enchanted Gun"
- 1850 - "Two Inheritances or Don Quixote"
- 1853 - "Adventurer's debut"
Other
- 1827 - "Gusli"
- 1829 - "The Pearl of Toledo"
- 1832 - "Ban of Croatia"
- 1832 - "The Dying Haiduk"
- 1835 - "Notes on a Journey Through the South of France"
- 1836 - "Notes on a journey through the west of France"
- 1837 - "Study on Religious Architecture"
- 1838 - "Notes on a Journey to Auvergne"
- 1841 - "Notes on a trip to Corsica"
- 1841 - "Experience about the Civil War"
- 1845 - "Studies in Roman History"
- 1847 - "History of Don Pedro I, King of Castile"
- 1850 - "Henri Bayle (Stendal)"
- 1851 - “Russian literature. Nikolay Gogol"
- 1853 - “An episode from Russian history. False Dmitry"
- 1853 - "Mormons"
- 1856 - "Letters to Panizzi"
- 1861 - "The Rebellion of Stenka Razin"
- 1863 - "Bogdan Khmelnitsky"
- 1865 - "Cossacks of Ukraine and their last chieftains"
- 1868 - "Ivan Turgenev"
- 1873 - "Letters to a stranger"
The name of Prosper Merimee in the minds of most readers is associated with the image of Carmen, the heroine of the opera of the same name. Meanwhile, he rightfully occupies a place in the gallery of the largest French writers and the collection of his literary works alone exceeds twenty volumes. The life of the author was bright and interesting, and therefore the biography of Prospero Merimee can be read as a fascinating novel.
Mérimée was born into the family of a successful French artist in 1803, and under the influence of his father took up drawing from an early age. Obviously, the boy not only adopted skills from his father, but he himself had good abilities, since when the nine-year-old Prosper entered the Napoleonic Lyceum, the teachers drew attention to his talented watercolors.
After graduating from the Lyceum, Merimee entered the College of Henry IV, but then became interested in jurisprudence and in 1823 received the title of licentiate of law. At the same time, Merimee began to engage in literature. In 1820, together with his school friend J. Ampère, he translated into French the work of the English poet J. MacPherson "Ossian's Poems", and the following year he wrote the first dramatic work - the romantic drama "Cromwell". Since then, Merimee has developed a passion for studying the history of different times and peoples.
The gifted young man attracted the attention of the famous French writer Stendhal, with whom he then continued to be friends throughout his life. It was under the guidance of Stendhal that Merimee developed the unique style of his stories and short stories.
In the mid-twenties, Merimee entered the circle of French romantic writers, met V. Hugo, E. Delacroix, F. Liszt, as well as the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, who lived most of his life in Paris.
It is curious that in his work, Merimee resorted to hoaxes several times, releasing collections of his works under the names of fictitious authors. So, in 1825, Merimee published a collection of plays "The Theater of Clara Gasul". In each of the books, he even placed a portrait of a fictional author, for whom he himself posed for the artist in a costume suitable for fiction. Merime even published one of his works under the assumed name of a Spanish actress. The writer needed this in order to carry out in plays, as if dedicated to Spain, caustic allusions to contemporary French reality. This hoax was not immediately unraveled even by such an attentive reader as Stendhal.
Merimee's next book - the collection "Guzla" ("Gusli" in Russian) - turned out to be an even more successful hoax. A deep study of the folklore of the South Slavic peoples allowed Merimee to create songs so similar to genuine folklore that even A. Pushkin was convinced of their authenticity and arranged several ballads written by Merimee as folk. Genuine considered the songs published by Merimee and another major writer - I. Goethe.
Interest in history soon becomes Merimee's profession, since in the late twenties he was appointed chief inspector for the protection of historical monuments of France. On duty, the writer makes several trips to various regions of the country, during which he visits archaeological excavations, city archives and supervises the work of restorers. These trips gave the writer material not only for several books of travel essays, but also for scientific works on the history of architecture and culture of the Middle Ages, as well as the history of Spain.
In his literary works, Merimee first of all refers to the events of the history of France. The dramatic chronicle "Jacquerie", which tells about the peasant uprising of the XIV century, and the novel "The Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX" Merimee wrote in the form of memoirs, which were then very popular. Using the memoirs of one of the writers as a basis, Merimee successfully entered the adventures of fictional characters into the historical background. This book laid the foundations for a new type of adventure genre. A few years later, Merimee's experience will be brilliantly continued by another French writer, A. Dumas.
Prosper Merimee wrote not only major works - novels and chronicles. He was a wonderful master of the short story and knew how to turn these small works into real art. In his short stories there is always a sharp dramatic conflict, they are filled with action, elegant in language. Merimee brilliantly builds the intrigue of each short story, the techniques he used later we will meet in the detective stories of Conan Doyle, and in the horror novel, and even in science fiction.
It is no coincidence that many of Merimee's short stories later became the basis for the works of composers and playwrights, and later screenwriters. So, already in 1875, the French composer J. Bizet created the wonderful opera Carmen.
Throughout his life Merimee was also interested in Russian literature and history. He not only knew the Russian language perfectly (a passion for learning languages had possessed him since childhood), but also translated the works of Russian writers. In particular, Merimee owns the first translations into French of A. Pushkin's poems, as well as N. Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector" and I. Turgenev's stories.
At the end of his life, Merimet even wanted to write a novel on a plot from Russian history, for which he collected materials about the uprising of Stepan Razin and the transformations of Peter I. The writer believed that without scientific development of the history of a foreign country it was impossible to write about it reliably.
For the last few years of his life, Merimee almost completely stopped writing, taking up political activities and was even elected a French senator. He later reflected his impressions of behind-the-scenes intrigues in the highest spheres of French society in the play "Two Inheritances".
One of the last works of Merimee - the play "The first steps of an adventurer" - was a dramatized story of the adventures of Grigory Otrepyev. Based on the plot of A. Pushkin's drama "Boris Godunov", Merimee created a fascinating story about the adventures of an impostor in Russia.
Prosper Merimee, whose biography and work are presented in this article, is one of the brightest novelists of the 19th century. Due to his education, he was noticeably different from contemporary French writers. But the stereotyped life in the center of civilization could not appeal to such an inquisitive and energetic person as Prosper Mérimée was. The biography of the creator of "Carmen" contains several years spent away from his homeland. He devoted most of his works to the inhabitants of provincial towns in Spain and France.
early years
Prosper Merimee, whose brief biography is given below, was not only a talented writer and playwright, but also a researcher, wrote several essays on the history of antiquity, and made a significant contribution to the culture of France.
He was born at the very beginning of the nineteenth century. From his father, the future writer inherited skepticism and love for creativity. As a child, I did not think about studying literature Prosper Merimee. A brief biography of him captures 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 novelist, being an admirer of the poet's work, also mastered the Russian language.
The beginning of the creative path
How did Prosper Merimee start 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 bold play for those times. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, French dramaturgy began to be weighed down by the rigid canons of classicism. But even in such conditions, the work of the novice playwright seemed extremely bold and unusual to his colleagues. They approved a play written by the young Prosper Mérimée. His biography still speaks of a later literary debut. Merimee decided not to publish the work, which Stendhal liked extremely, because he considered it far from perfect.
Inspector of Historical Monuments
Thanks to this position, Prosper Merimee, whose biography tells of numerous wanderings, had the opportunity to travel a lot around the country. But he learned to enjoy provincial landscapes later, at a more mature age. And after graduating from the university, Merimee published a collection of plays called "The Clara Gazul Theatre". But he published it under a pseudonym.
Clara Gazul
Who characterized the contemporaries of the writer and playwright named Prosper Merimee? His biography says that among his friends this outstanding personality stood out significantly. Merimee loved not only travel and adventure, but also hoaxes. So, the first collection published by him was signed with a female 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 Merime 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", telling about witches, vampires and other devilry. The book made a lot of noise in Europe, but today it is considered a clever and witty imitation of the folk poetry of the Western Slavs.
historical literature
Merimee later published books under his own name. He presented to the reader's 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 novel "Matteo Falcone" is a cruel story of Corsican life. "The Capture of the Redoubt" is a work dedicated to the steadfastness of the Russians in the war against Napoleon. And finally, "Tamango" is an indignant story about 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 - Eugene - later became the French Empress. From an early age, the girl had warm feelings for Merimee. 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 Merimee, but they took a lot of time. Perhaps that is why in ten years he wrote only three works.
George Sand
In 1844, the short story "Arsène Guyot" was published. In it, the author showed the moral superiority of a fallen woman over an aristocrat, which caused a big scandal in society. The reason for the gossip was Merimee's affair with the writer. He courted her for two years. And yet he was able to awaken feelings in the soul of an emancipated woman. But this novel did not have a continuation. Subsequently, Merimet claimed that the complete lack of modesty in his beloved killed all desire in him.
"Carmen"
In 1845 Mérimée's most famous work was published. "Carmen" formed the basis of the famous opera of the same name. The novel tells about the passionate love of a former officer, and now a smuggler named José, for the cunning and cruel gypsy Carmensita. In the work, Merimee paid special attention to the mores and customs of the freedom-loving people. The girl who does not want to submit is killed by José. Merimee's short story has been filmed many times. According to literary critics, this topic inspired the French writer after reading Pushkin's poem "Gypsies". But it is worth saying that Merimee managed to create an image that is not inferior in strength to Don Quixote or Hamlet.
Last years
For the last twenty years, Merimee has hardly created any works of art. He devoted himself to literary criticism. He was engaged in translations, wrote several works dedicated to Gogol, Pushkin. It is Merimee who owes French readers their acquaintance with Russian literature. In 1861 he published a publicistic work dedicated to the peasant uprisings in Russia. Among other books, the theme of which affects Russian culture: "An Episode from Russian History", "Ivan Turgenev", "Nikolai Gogol".
Other works
Mérimée created six dramatic works and more than twenty short stories. In addition, he published several essays on travel. Novels by Prosper Merimee:
- "Federigo".
- "Backgammon Party".
- "Letters from Spain".
- "Etruscan vase".
- "Souls of Purgatory".
- "Double fault".
- "Venus of Illia".
- "Abbé Aubin".
- "Colomba".
Among the works written by Merimee for the theater, it is worth mentioning "The Enchanted Gun", "The Dissatisfied", "The Adventurer's Debut".
Lokis is the last work published by Prosper Mérimée.
Biography (death)
In 1870, in Cannes, the great French writer Prosper Mérimée passed away. On his gravestone is a plaque that reads: “With love and apologies. George 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, embodied by Beze in music.
Merimee, Prosper (1803-1870), French novelist and short story writer. Born September 28, 1803 in Paris. From his parents-artists, he inherited a typical 18th century. skepticism and fine artistic taste. Parental influence and the example of Stendhal, with whom Merimee was friendly and whose talent he admired, formed an unusual style for the heyday of romanticism - severely realistic, ironic and not without a share of cynicism. Merimee was preparing for the lawyer's career, while seriously studying languages, archeology and history. His first work was the book Clara Gasul Theater (Le Theater de Clara Gazul, 1825), issued as the work of a certain Spanish poetess, whose plays were allegedly discovered and translated by Mérimée. Another literary hoax appeared next - the "translation" of the Illyrian folklore Guzla (La Guzla). Both books were of great importance for the development of early Romanticism. But the most significant contribution to French literature was made by masterpieces of a later time, incl. Chronicle of the reign of Charles IX (La Chronique du regne de Charles IX, 1829), the most reliable of all French historical narratives of the romantic era; the ruthlessly realistic story of Corsican life by Mateo Falcone (Mateo Falcone, 1829); excellent descriptive novel The Taking of the Redoubt (L "Enlevement de la redoute, 1829); an indignant story about the African slave trade Tamango (Tamango, 1829); an example of a romantic hoax Venus Illskaya (La Venus d" Ille, 1837); the legend of the Corsican vendetta Colomba (Colomba, 1840); and finally Carmen (Carmen, 1845), the most famous French short story. All these works are permeated with deep pessimism; they are also characterized by the cult of feeling and decisive action, close attention to detail and the cold dispassionateness of the story. Mérimée died at Cannes on September 23, 1870.
In the early autumn of 1830, an inquisitive scientist (Merime himself is guessed in him) hires a guide in Cordoba and goes in search of ancient Munda, where the last victorious Spanish battle of Julius Caesar took place. The midday heat makes him seek refuge in a shady gorge. But the place by the stream is already taken. Towards the narrator, a dexterous and strong fellow with a gloomy proud look and blond hair rises warily. The traveler disarms him with an offer to share a cigar and a meal with him, and then they continue on their way together, despite the eloquent signs of the guide. They stop for the night in a remote vent. The companion puts a blunderbuss next to him and falls asleep with the sleep of the righteous, but the scientist cannot sleep. He leaves the house and sees a crouching guide who is going to warn the uhlan post that the robber José Navarro has stopped in the vent, for the capture of which two hundred ducats are promised. The traveler warns the companion of danger. Now they are bound by bonds of friendship.
The scientist continues his search in the library of the Dominican monastery in Cordoba. After sunset, he usually walks along the banks of the Guadalquivir. One evening, on the embankment, a woman approaches him, dressed as a grisette, and with a bunch of jasmine in her hair. She is short, young, well built, and has huge, slanting eyes. The scientist is struck by her strange, wild beauty and especially her gaze, which is both sensual and wild. He treats her with cigarettes, finds out that her name is Carmen, that she is a gypsy and knows how to tell fortunes. He asks permission to take her home and show him his art. But fortune-telling is interrupted at the very beginning - the door swings open, and a man wrapped in a cloak bursts into the room with curses. The scientist recognizes him as his friend José. After a furious skirmish with Carmen in an unfamiliar language, Jose takes the guest out of the house and shows the way to the hotel. The scientist discovers that in the meantime, his golden watch with a fight, which Carmen liked so much, has disappeared from him. Disappointed and ashamed, the scientist leaves the city. A few months later, he again finds himself in Cordoba and learns that the robber José Navarro has been arrested and is awaiting execution in prison. The curiosity of the researcher of local customs prompts the scientist to visit the robber and listen to his confession.
José Aizarrabengoa tells him that he is a Basque, was born in Elizondo and belongs to an old noble family. After a bloody fight, he flees from his native land, joins the dragoon regiment, serves diligently and becomes a brigadier. But one day, to his misfortune, he was assigned to guard the Seville tobacco factory. That Friday, he sees Carmen for the first time - his love, torment and death. Together with other girls, she goes to work. She has an acacia flower in her mouth, and she walks with her hips moving like a young Cordovan mare. Two hours later, a squad is called in to stop a bloody quarrel at the factory. Jose must take to prison the instigator of the quarrel, Carmen, who mutilated the face of one of the workers with a knife. On the way, she tells Jose a touching story that she, too, is from the Basque country, all alone in Seville, she is being poisoned as a stranger, which is why she took up the knife. She lies, as she has lied all her life, but José believes her and helps her escape. For this, he was demoted and sent to prison for a month. There he receives a gift from Carmen - a loaf of bread with a file, a gold coin and two piastres. But Jose does not want to run - military honor keeps him. Now he serves as a simple soldier. One day he stands on the clock outside his colonel's house. A carriage arrives with gypsies invited to entertain the guests. Among them is Carmen. She appoints José a meeting, they spend together recklessly happy day and night. At parting, Carmen says: “We are even. Farewell... You know, son, I think I fell in love with you a little. But […] a wolf can't get along with a dog”, José tries in vain to find Carmen. She only appears when the smugglers need to be led through the gap in the city wall, which is guarded by José. So, for Carmen's promise to give him a night, he violates the military oath. He then kills the lieutenant, who is brought in by Carmen. He becomes a smuggler. For a while he is almost happy, as Carmen is sometimes affectionate with him - until the day when Garcia Curve, a disgusting freak, appears in the smuggling squad. This is Carmen's husband, whom she finally manages to get out of prison. Jose and his "companions" are engaged in smuggling, robbing and sometimes killing travelers. Carmen serves as their liaison and gunner. Rare meetings bring short happiness and unbearable pain. One day, Carmen hints to Jose that during the next "case" it would be possible to substitute a crooked husband under enemy bullets. José prefers to kill his opponent in a fair fight and becomes Carmen's gypsy husband, but she is increasingly burdened by his obsessive love. He invites her to change her life, to leave for the New World. She makes fun of him: "We are not created to plant cabbage." After some time, José finds out that Carmen is infatuated with the matador Lucas. José is furiously jealous and again offers Carmen to go to America. She replies that she is fine in Spain, but she will not live with him anyway. José takes Carmen to a secluded gorge and asks again and again if she will follow him. “I can't love you. I don’t want to live with you, ”Carmen answers and tears the ring he gave him from her finger. Enraged, José stabs her twice with a knife. He buries her in the forest - she always wanted to find eternal rest in the forest - and puts a ring and a small cross in the grave.
In the fourth and final chapter of the novel, the narrator enthusiastically shares with readers his observations on the customs and language of the Spanish gypsies. In the end, he cites a meaningful gypsy proverb: "The move is ordered into the tightly closed mouth of the fly."
(1803- 1870)
The biography of Prosper Merimee reflects the bright life of a man - a famous writer, politician, artist, member of the French Academy of Sciences.
Prosper Paris was born on September 28, 1803. The father of the future writer, Jean-Francois Leonor Mérimée, was a chemist and was seriously fond of painting. Prosper's mother was also a successful artist. A young man who received a law degree in Paris became the secretary of one of the ministers of the French government. Then, having received the post of chief inspector for the preservation of cultural and historical monuments of the country, he did a lot in this field. In 1853, Merimee received the title of senator.
However, a career in Merimee's life played a secondary role, literary creativity became the main thing for him. Even in his student years, he attended a society whose members were passionate about science and the arts. These were truly international gatherings, attended by the French, Germans, English, and Russians. It was to this society that Prosper Mérimée presented his first work, which he called Cromwell, and which won Stendhal's approval. The author himself did not like the work and it was not published.
At the age of 22, Merimee published a collection of dramatic plays, which he presents with his translation from Spanish. In 1827, the creative biography of Prosper Merimee was marked by the release of his famous “Guzlov” in Strastburg, which the poet presented as a collection of songs by an unknown bard from Dalmatia. This work made a lot of noise in all European countries. Although Goethe and Gerhard (the scientist who managed to discover the size of the Illyrian verse in the prose of "Guzlov") expressed great doubt that this work belongs to folk art. Nevertheless, this clever forgery of the motifs of folk poetry misled many famous poets and writers of that time, including A. S. Pushkin and Mickiewicz.
All subsequent works of the writer are filled with bright original images, an example of which is Carmen, the heroine of the novel of the same name. The writer's research concerning the history of Ancient Rome and Greece, during the reign of Don Pedro I deserve high approval.
Many pages of the biography of Prosper Mérimée are devoted to his creative connections with Russian writers, the works of A. S. Pushkin and N. V. Gogol were of particular interest to the writer. In order to read the works of these writers in the original, Merime studies the Russian language and becomes a propagandist of Russian culture in his homeland. He translated Pushkin's The Queen of Spades into French, his essay on N.V. Gogol was published in one of the magazines, and in 1853 Merimee completed the translation of The Inspector General. The writer's essays dedicated to the era of Peter the Great, the Russian Cossacks, and the Time of Troubles are published in French periodicals. Starting from 1837 and ending in 1890, various Russian periodicals published works of the great French writer translated into Russian, such as Bartholomew's Night, Double Error, Carmen and others.
