Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870)
France

He was the son of the famous painter and art historian Léonor, and was close friend of Stendhal. Mérimée was also a friend to Empress Eugenia, a monument inspector, and a senator and France academic, and was able to enjoy prestige in the court of Napoleon III. An expert of English and Spanish literature, he was strongly inspired by them in his works; of which most were theatrical. His narratives marked the shift from Romanticism to Realism. He wrote short stories, La venus de L'ille (1837), Colomba (1840), and Carmen (1845, that inspired the so named play by Bizet), dramas and the historic novel La vision du Charles IX (1829). He went on with his activity of poet and narrator, but he dedicated himself to historic and archeological studies as well. His wide correspondence (published only in 1941-61) was remarkable and one of the most important of the century; his notes and memories offered worthy testimonies of Stendhal's life.

Works

The Plays of Clara Gazul (1825, tr. 1825)
La Guzla (1827).
The Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX (1829; tr. 1830, 1890)
Colomba (1852, tr. 1853)
Carmen (in Revue des Deux Mondes, 1845; as a book, 1846, tr. 1881
La Vénus d’Ille (1837)
Letters to an Unknown (in Revue des Deux Mondes, 1873)