One of the brightest novelists of his time, Prosper Mérimée differed markedly from many contemporary writers in his education. This inquisitive and inquisitive person was not attracted by the boring salon life. He was attracted by creativity, in which Merimee tried to reflect the peculiarities of his era, filled with events and contradictions.
From the biography of Prosper Mérimée
The French writer and translator was born on September 28, 1803 in the capital of France. Prosper was the only son of wealthy parents. Merimee's parents were fond of painting. Often, writers and artists, philosophers and musicians gathered in the house of the future writer. The creative atmosphere inherent in such gatherings shaped the boy's tastes and interests. There were always pictures of famous painters before his eyes. Merimee enthusiastically read the books of the freethinkers of his time.
From a young age, Merimee spoke English and was fluent in Latin. Prosper's grandmother spent many years in England and even got married in this country. Young Englishmen often took painting lessons from Father Merimee.
The future writer deeply and emotionally perceived the traditions of folk poetry. Subsequently, he used folk motives in his work. At the age of 8, Merimee entered the Imperial Lyceum, and as an external student, and immediately into the seventh grade. After graduation, Prosper, at the behest of his parents, began to study jurisprudence at the Sorbonne.
The father dreamed that his son would make a career as a lawyer. But Prosper himself was not particularly enthusiastic about such an idea. After completing his studies at the university, the young man was appointed to the post of secretary of one of the dignitaries of the July monarchy. Subsequently, he becomes an inspector of the historical monuments of his country. Acquaintance with the masterpieces of French architecture became a source of creative inspiration for Mérimée.
Merimee filled his life with creativity, leaving no place and time in it for creating a family. After the death of the writer, the details of his numerous love affairs were revealed. Merimee's correspondence, rich in vivid facts, revealed secrets that Prosper, for various reasons, did not reveal during his lifetime. The riotous adventures of the young Merimee could well have given him a bad name.
Merimee's path in literature
Merimee began his path to a career as a writer with a hoax. He brought out the non-existent Spaniard Clara Gasul as the author of his collection of plays. Prosper's second publication was a book of Serbian folk songs. However, later it turned out that the author never collected these texts in the north-west of the Balkans, but simply composed them himself. A skillful forgery misled Pushkin himself.
Then the historical drama "Jacqueria" was published. There was no longer a trace of a hoax in it. The book described the peasant uprising in all its unsightly details. And in the famous "Chronicle of the reign of Charles IX" Merimee unfolds before the reader realistic pictures of the struggle for power between clerics and feudal lords.
But the most famous novel brought the author to the story "Carmen", which tells about the life of the Spanish gypsies accustomed to freedom. Much later, the beautiful and tragic love story of a Spaniard and a gypsy woman was supplemented with music and dancing, and then even filmed.
Merima has had a chance to travel a lot in Europe. In his travels, the writer tried to notice the national features of the inhabitants of different parts of the Old World, and then convey these features to his characters.
In the 60s, Merimee's health was undermined by an illness. He was tormented by attacks of suffocation, his legs refused. Heart pains became frequent. A progressive illness forced the writer to settle in Cannes in 1867. Here, on September 23, 1870, the life of the famous writer was cut short.
