SOURCE: Jotcham, Nicholas. Introduction to Carmen and Other Stories, translated by Nicholas Jotcham, pp. vii-xxv. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1989.

In the following essay, Jotcham provides an overview of Mérimée's life and short fiction.

‘I am one of those who have a strong liking for bandits—not that I have any desire to meet them on my travels; but, in spite of myself, the energy of these men, at war with the whole of society, wrings from me an admiration of which I am ashamed.’

(Mérimée's 1851 article on Gogol)

Prosper Mérimée is now best remembered as an early exponent of the short-story as a modern genre; as the author of a handful of memorable tales—not all of them short—whose themes are violence, passion, and death; and above all as the author of Carmen, which provided the basis for one of...