Prosper Merimee: Attempts at Romantic Drama

Prosper Merimee'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 regne de Charles IX (r829). Today, Merimee'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 Merimee scholars, Pierre Trahard, has directed much of his extensive erudition to the study of sources and influences, seemingly reluctant to make any more general comments or conclusions on the dramatic vision and achievements of Merimee. In all, as many as thirteen plays of Merimee are extant. The Theatre de Clara Gazul, which appeared in r825, includes six short pieces (Les Espagnois en Danemark, Une Femme est un DiabIe, L'Amour Africain, Inez Mendo, ou Ie prejuge vaincu, Inez Mendo, ou Ie triomphe du prejuge, and Le Ciel et l'Enfer).2 Later, in r830, this collection was augmented by the addition of Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement and L'Occasion, which had already appeared in the Revue de Paris, in June and November, r829, respectively. La Jacquerie (r828), an historical drama based on the peasant uprising and its failure in the fourteenth century, and the melodrama, La Famille de Carvajal, r828, a deliberate and blatant pastiche involving incest and murder, remained apart in a separate volume. Before Clara Gazul finally appeared, towards the end of May r825, all six plays had been read in the salon of Delecluze, to a select group including Stendhal, Theodore Leclercq and Viollet-le-Duc, amongst others. The first reading took place on 14 March r824, one month after Stendhal revealed, in the same salon, the first part of his Racine et Shakespeare, which was, as far as the theatre was concerned, one of the two foremost Romantic "manifestos." After the comparatively unfavourable criticism of La J acquerie and the success of his Chronique du regne de Charles IX-which appeared in r829, the same year as Le Carrosse and L'Occasion-Merimee's interest in the theatre and faith in his dramatic talents waned appreciably. Probably only three plays were composed after this date: Les Mecontents, included in Mosai'que, r833, but conceivably written in r829; Les Deux Heritages, r850, and Les