Prosper Mérimée

Prosper Mérimée was a French writer and a pioneer of the novella and was also an important figure in the history of architectural preservation. He was born in Paris, France on 28th September 1803 and died in Cannes, France on 23rd September 1870 aged 66.

“La Vénus d’ille” (1837) 
“Colomba” (1840) 
“Carmen” (1845)

1803: Prosper Mérimée was born on 28th September 1803 in Paris, France. His father Leonor was a professor of design at the École Polytechnique specialising in the chemistry of oil paints. His mother was Anne an artist. Both his parents spoke English well and traveled to England frequently.

1807: His father becomes Permanent Secretary of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture. 

1810: He enrols at the Lycée Napoléon. He masters English, Greek and Latin and develops an interest in history.

1820: He finishes school with high marks and begins to study law hoping for a position in government. He translates some of the works of Ossian into French. He visits the salons of Juliette Recamier where he meets famous writers of the day including François-René de Chateaubriand. 

1822: He passes his legal examinations and is licensed to practice law. At a salon he meets and becomes friends with Henri Beyle, later to be known by his pen name Stendhal. 

1823: In September he begins a novel of which only one chapter now remains. He starts writing the historical play “Cromwell” and a satire called “Les Espagnols en Dannark” (The Spanish in Denmark).

1824: He writes “La Bataille” (The Battle).

1825: On 27th May “Le Théâtre de Clara Gazul” is published under a pseudonym. Balzac praised the work as did Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. King Charles the Tenth ascends the throne and begins a more authoritarian rule. On 30th November Merimee takes part in a student protest led by Victor Hugo and becomes influenced by the Romanticism of Eugène Delacroix.

1827: In July he publishes in a literary journal a new work “La Guzla” which appears under the name of Hyacinthe Maglanovich. It was supposedly a collection of ancient Illyrian poems and was widely praised with even Alexander Pushkin beginning to translate them into Russian before he finds out their true authorship. Although the work does not sell well it establishes Merimee as a major literary figure.

1828: In January he fights a duel with Félix Lacoste the husband of his mistress, Émilie Lacoste. He publishes the novel “La Jacquerie, Scènes Féodales, Suivies de la Famille de Carvajal” in June about a peasant revolt in the Middle Ages and also a parody of Lord Byron entitled “La Famille Carvajal”.

1829: He begins writing novellas beginning with “Mateo Falcone” and “Tamango”. In March he publishes “La Chronique du temps de Charles IX” featuring a detailed recreation of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

1830: On 25th February Merimee, Stendahl and Ivan Turgenev attend the premiere of Victor Hugo’s play “Hernani” to support the author against his opponents. Later in the year he tours Spain attending bullfights and studying the architecture. While he is away King Charles the Tenth is overthrown and replaced by Louis Phillippe the First in France. In October he meets the aristocrat Cipriano Portocarrero who is interested in his writings. (He would later marry and have a daughter who would become the Empress Eugenie, wife of Emperor Napoleon the Third). He meets Valentine Delessert for the first time, the wife of a wealthy banker. 

1831: He begins a relationship by with Jenny Dacquin although this is mostly by writing to each other. On 2nd February he is appointed chief of the secretariat at the Naval Office and then on 13th March he becomes head of the Count d’Argout’s cabinet at the Ministry of Commerce and Public Works. On 6yj May he is awarded as a member of the Legion of Honour.

1832: In April he is put in charge of fighting the cholera epidemic then sweeping Paris. In December he has the first face to face meeting with Jenny Dacquin at Boulogne-sur-Mer and later he is named as chief of the Ministry of the Interior and is sent to London to report back on the British elections.

1833: In April, back in Paris, he has a brief sexual relationship with the writer George Sand and although they don’t become lovers they continue to work together on literary and historical projects together. In June he publishes “Mosaique”.

1834: On 27th May he is appointed Inspector-General of Historical Monuments to review the many buildings which had been damaged during the French Revolution including Notre Dame Cathedral. In July he embarks on an extensive tour of the buildings in the south of France. In August he publishes “Les Ames du Purgatoire”.

1835: In July he publishes “Notes d’un voyage dans le Midi de la France”.

1836: On 16th February Valentine Delessert becomes his mistress. 

1837: The death of Stendhal in Paris on 23rd March shocks Mérimée. He begins to write scholarly studies for journals of archaeology and architecture. On 27th September his father Léonor dies. On 29th September the Commission of Historical Monuments is created. The novella “La Venus d’Ille” is published and in October “Notes d’un voyage dans l’Ouest de la France” is published. 

1840: He publishes the first official List of Historic Monuments in France which will be added to in the following years. He warns his conservators to avoid the “false-ancient”.

1841: He publishes “Colomba” in May. He stays at the Château of Boussac in Creuse and visits the nearby castle with George Sand. There they find six tapestries from the series “The Lady and the Unicorn” and they add them to the list for conservation.

1842: He arranges for the French State to purchase the medieval d’Cluny buildings in Paris and the Roman Baths next door.

1843: In October he leaves for Madrid with the Countess of Montijo (wife of Cipriano Portocarrero) and her daughters. In November Mérimée is finally elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 

1844: On 14th March he is elected as a member of the Académie Française after lobbying members for a year. George Sand writes a novel about the tapestries. He publishes “Arsène Guillto”.

1845: He finishes “Carmen” which appears in the Revue des Deux Mondes in October.

1847: He learns Russian in order to read Alexander Puskin’s works in the original language. He travels to see the monuments in North Africa and publishes the first instalment of “L’Histoire de Don Pèdre, Roi de Castille”. 

1848: In February he is present at the 1848 Revolution as a member of the National Guard. King Louis Philippe is removed and the Second Republic is founded. In December Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is elected President of the Republic and the Bureau of Historic Monuments is taken over by the Department of Fine Arts, however Mérimée still keeps his position as Inspector of Historic Monuments.

1849: He assists George Sand with classifying the paintings in the church of Nohant but the two fall out due to Sand insulting the future Empress Eugénie.

1850: On 13th March “Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement” receives its premiere.

1851: Louis-Napoleon is prevented in running for re-election and organises a coup and continues. Victor Hugo does not accept the result and goes into exile.

1852: In January Mérimée becomes an officer of the Legion of Honour. His mother dies on 30th April. He is sentenced to fifteen days in prison for siding with Count Libri who had stolen and resold valuable texts from the state collection including some by Dante and Leonardo da Vinci. In November Eugénie Montijo is invited to the Palace of Fontainebleau where Louis Napoleon proposes marriage to her. They are married at the Tuileries Palace and Eugenie and her mother become confidants of Merimee. Louis Napoleon asks the population in a plebiscite to ratify himself becoming Emperor and on 2nd December he becomes Emperor Napoleon the Third. Merimee publishes “An Episode of the History of Russia; the False Dimitri”.

1853: On 23rd June he is made a senator. He makes his last tour of monuments although he remains the chief inspector of monuments until 1860.

1855: He is not very active in his role as Senator and only speaks three times in seventeen years. He devotes his time to writing and begins a work on Julius Caesar but the Emperor insists he tells him everything and “The History of Julius Caesar” is published on 10th December under the name of Napoleon the Third.

1857: He attends the Exposition of Manchester.

1860: He is named commander in the Legion of Honour in August.

1861: The tapestries are finally purchased by the French state and put on display in the Musee National du Moyen.

1862: In May he visits London as jury member for the Universal Exposition of Fine Arts. He visits England regularly throughout the 1860’s.

1864: In September he starts writing about Peter the Great of Russia which eventually appears as “Histoire du Règne de Pierre le Grand”.

1865: In February he publishes “Les Cosaques d’Autrefois”.

1866: On 14th August he is made High Officer of the Legion of Honour and writes “La Chambre Bleue”.

1869: On 29th January he finishes the horror fantasy novella “Lokis” about a half man, half bear and it is published in September under the title “Le Manuscrit du Professeur Wittembach (Lokis)”. The story was originally written to amuse the Empress. In May he declines an invitation to attend the opening of the Suez Canl by the Empress as he is now beginning to suffer from a respiratory illness and he spends much of his time in Cannes in the south of France.

1870: On 10th February he writes “Djoûmane”. A political crisis between Prussia and France begins in May and he returns to Paris for emergency meetings of the Senate. By now his health is worsening and he becomes housebound. On 24th June Valentine Delessert visits him. The Franco-Prussian War breaks out and the French Army and the Emperor are surrounded at the Battle of Sedan on 2nd September. The Emperor is taken prisoner and the army surrenders. One of the deputies, Adolphe Thiers, asks Merimee to try and get the Emperor and Empress to abdicate but he refuses. On 4th September Mérimée forces himself to attend the last meeting of the Senate at the Luxembourg Palace where the Third Republic is proclaimed. Mérimée returns to Cannes on 10th September. 

Prosper Mérimée died on 23rd September 1870 in Cannes. Though he was an atheist he requested to be buried at the Cimetiere du Grand Jas, Protestant Church in Cannes. In May 1871 Communards burned his Paris home destroying his library and all his archaeological notes and collections as he was seen as a collaborator with Napoleon the Third.

Prosper Mérimée was influenced by the Romantic movement in general including writers such as Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset-Pathay and painters such as Eugène Delacroix. He was also influenced by Russian literature and experiences he gained on his travels.

At nineteen in 1822 he wrote his first play, “Cromwell” after his friend Stendahl encouraged him to become a writer and the following year he obtained his license to practice law. In 1828, inspired by the new vogue begun by Walter Scott for historical fiction, he wrote “La Jacquirie” and in 1839 he was one of the writers, along with Stendahl and Ivan Turgenev who attended the riotous premiere of Victor Hugo’s play “Hernani” to support the embattled author.

He learned Russian and translated works by writers like Alexander Pushkin and Nikolii Gogol and became fascinated by Russian folklore, some of which he incorporated in his own work. Some critics felt that his translation of Pushkin’s poem “The Gypsies” may have influenced his novel “Carmen” and alongside this his friendship with the Spanish Countess of Montijo played a role in the development of the story. The work is full of drama and strong emotions. Another important source for material on the Romani Gypsies was George Borrow’s 1841 book “The Zincali”. Georges Bizet may first have encountered “Carmen” during his trip to Rome in 1858 since he recorded in his journal that Mérimée was one of the writers whose works he was absorbed in at the time. 

He travelled widely in Spain and Corsica which again provided material for his works. As Inspector General of Historical Monuments he received a unique perspective on French culture and history. He became known as one of the pioneers of the short story and novella and also as a precursor of fantasy fiction. Many of his novellas such as “Colomba” and “Mateo Falcone” are still taught in French schools for their use of style.

He used picturesque and exotic settings especially in Spain to create an atmosphere and was inspired by events of the Middle Ages and used them for his settings. His works often explore the dynamics between characters and feature passion and violence and often end in death or tragedy. The critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve wrote “…He goes right to the fact, and goes immediately into action. In the dialogues of his characters there is not a useless word”.

His other important legacy is the system of classification of historic monuments that he established and the major sites that he saved in his government work including the walled citadel of Carcasonne. He helped found the National Museum of Medieval History in Paris and the French list of heritage monuments is called the Base Mérimée in his honour.

Many of his translations were retranslated into Russian by Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov. His works have received multiple adaptations in various media. Besides “Carmen” several of his novellas such as “Lokis” and “La Vénus d’ille” have been adapted for film and television.

List of modern editions of works by Merimee.