SOURCE: "Prosper Merimee: Attempts at Romantic Drama," in Nottingham French Studies, Vol. VI, No. 2, October, 1967, pp. 67-76.

In the following essay, King assesses the dramatic value of Mérimée's theatrical works.

Prosper Mérimée's literary reputation rests particularly on the two contes Carmen and Colomba. Had he not composed these two short masterpieces, it is doubtful whether the critic's and reader's attention would have been focussed on his writings.¹ Next in order of "popularity" comes his only novel, Chronique du règne de Charles IX (1829). Today, Mérimée's theatre occupies, as it were, only third place. Despite frequent editions of his plays in the course of the nineteenth century, critics have generally devoted little attention to them. Indeed, even the most learned of Mérimée scholars, Pierre Trahard, has directed much of his extensive erudition to the study of sources and influences, seemingly reluctant...