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Carmen
Image:Carmen_cover.jpg
Cover incorporating part of Mérimée's own watercolor "Carmen"
Author Prosper Mérimée
Country France
Language French
Genre(s) Novella
Publisher Revue des Deux Mondes (periodical, first three parts), Michel Lévy (book, full version)
Publication date 1845 (periodical), 1846 (book)
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN NA

"Carmen" is a novella by Prosper Mérimée written and first published in 1845. Prosper Mérimée ( September 28, 1803 &ndash September 23, 1870) was a French dramatist historian, archaeologist This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people A novella is a written, Fictional Prose Narrative longer than a Novelette but shorter than a Novel. Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a Book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with Cloth Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding. A novella is a written, Fictional Prose Narrative longer than a Novelette but shorter than a Novel. Prosper Mérimée ( September 28, 1803 &ndash September 23, 1870) was a French dramatist historian, archaeologist It has been adapted into a number of dramatic works, including the famous opera by Georges Bizet. Carmen is a French Opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The Libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based Georges Bizet (25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875 was a French Composer and Pianist of the Romantic era

Contents

Sources

According to a letter Mérimée wrote to the Countess of Montijo,[1] "Carmen" was inspired by a story she told him on his visit to Spain in 1830. María Manuela Kirkpatrick, Countess of Montijo ( February 24, 1794 in Malaga - November 22, 1879 in Carabanchel Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. He said, "It was about that ruffian from Málaga who had killed his mistress, which latter consecrated herself exclusively to the public. […] As I have been studying the Gypsies for some time, I have made my heroine a Gypsy. "[2]

An important source for the material on the Roma (Gypsies) was George Borrow's book The Zincali (1841). The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins George Henry Borrow ( 5 July 1803 - 26 July 1881) was an English author who wrote novels and travelogues based on his own experiences

Plot summary

The novella comprises four parts. Only the first three appeared in the original publication in the Revue des Deux Mondes (Review of the Two Worlds); the fourth first appeared in the book publication in 1846. Mérimée tells the story as if it had really happened to him on his trip to Spain in 1830.

Part I. While searching for the site of the Battle of Munda in a lonely spot in Andalusia, Mérimée meets a man who his guide hints is a dangerous robber. For the World War II battle see Battle of Munda Point. The Battle of Munda took place on March 17, 45 BC in Andalusia (Andalucía is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the most populous and the second largest in terms of land area Instead of fleeing, Mérimée befriends the man by sharing cigars and food. They stay in the same primitive inn that night. The guide tells Mérimée that the man is the robber known as Don José Navarro and leaves to inform on him, but Mérimée warns Don José, who escapes.

Part II. Later, in Córdoba, Mérimée meets Carmen, a beautiful Roma woman who is fascinated by his repeating watch. ||-||-||} Córdoba ( Cordova in English is a City in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. A watch is a timepiece that is made to be worn on a person The term now usually refers to a wristwatch, which is worn on the wrist with a strap or Bracelet. He goes to her home so she can tell his fortune, and she impresses him with her occult knowledge. Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting the future usually of an individual through mystical or supernatural means and often for commercial gain They are interrupted by Don José, and although Carmen makes throat-cutting gestures, José escorts Mérimée out. Mérimée finds his watch is missing.

Some months later, again in Córdoba, a friend of Mérimée's tells him that Don José Navarro is to be garrotted the next day. A garrote or garrote vil (a Spanish word alternative spellings include garotte and garrotte) is a handheld Weapon, most often referring Mérimée visits the prisoner and hears the story of his life.

Part III. Our robber's real name is José Lizarrabengoa, and he is a Basque hidalgo from Navarre. The Basques (Euskaldunak are a people who inhabit a region spanning over parts of north-central Spain and southwestern France. A hidalgo or fidalgo was a member of the Spanish and Portuguese Nobility. He killed a man in a fight resulting from a game of paume (presumably some form of Basque pelota) and had to flee. Jeu de paume was originally a French precursor of lawn tennis played without Racquets The players hit the ball with their hands as in Palla, Pelota in Spanish, pilota in Basque and Catalan, or pelote in French (from Latin pila) is a In Seville he joined a unit of dragoons, soldiers with police functions. Seville ( Spanish: Sevilla, see also different names) is the artistic cultural and financial capital of southern Spain. A dragoon is a soldier intended primarily to fight on foot but trained also in Horse riding and cavalry combat especially

Statue of Carmen on the Paseo Alcalde Marqués de Contadero, Seville
Statue of Carmen on the Paseo Alcalde Marqués de Contadero, Seville

One day he met Carmen, then working in the cigar factory he was guarding. A cigar is a tightly rolled bundle of dried and fermented Tobacco which is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the smoker's mouth As he alone in his unit ignored her, she teased him. A few hours later, he arrested her for cutting x's in a co-worker's face in a quarrel. She convinced him by speaking Basque that she was half Basque, and he let her go, for which he was imprisoned for a month and demoted. Basque ( native name: euskara) is the Language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain

After his release, he encountered her again and she repaid him with a day of bliss, followed by another when he allowed her fellow smugglers to pass his post. Smuggling, also known as trafficking, is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons past a point where prohibited such as out of a building into a Prison He looked for her at the house of one of her Roma friends, but she entered with his lieutenant. In the ensuing fight, José killed the lieutenant and had to join Carmen's outlaw band.

With the outlaws, he progressed from smuggling to robbery, and was sometimes with Carmen but suffered from jealousy as she used her attractions to further the band's enterprises; he also learned that she was married. After her husband joined the band, José provoked a knife fight with him and killed him. Carmen became José's wife.

However, she told him she loved him less than before, and she became attracted to a successful young picador named Lucas. A picador (pl picadores) is one of the pair of Horsemen in a Spanish Bullfight that jab the bull with a Lance. José, mad with jealousy, begged her to forsake other men and live with him; they could start an honest life in America. She said that she knew from omens that he was fated to kill her, but "Carmen will always be free,"[3] and as she now hated herself for having loved him, she would never give in to him. He stabbed her to death and then turned himself in. Don José ends his tale by saying that the Roma are to blame for the way they raised Carmen.

Part IV. If readers expect a continuation of the story, perhaps with a description of José's execution, they will be surprised. This part consists of scholarly remarks on the Roma: their appearance, their customs, their conjectured history, and their language. According to Henri Martineau, editor of a collection of Mérimée's fiction, the etymologies at the end are "extremely suspect".

Differences from the opera

As the above summary and that of Bizet's opera indicate, the opera is based on Part III of the story only and eliminates many elements, such as Carmen's husband. Carmen is a French Opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The Libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based It greatly increases the role of other characters, such as the Dancaïre,[4] who is only a minor character in the story; the Remendado,[5] who one page after he is introduced is wounded by soldiers and then shot by Carmen's husband to keep him from slowing the gang down; and Lucas (renamed Escamillo and promoted to matador), who is seen only in the bull ring in the story. "Matador" redirects here For other uses see Matador (disambiguation. The opera's female singing roles other than Carmen—Micaëla, Frasquita, and Mercédès—have no counterparts in the novella. Carmen knows her fate not from reading cards but from interpreting such omens as a hare running between José's horse's legs. An omen (also called portent or presage) is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the Future, often signifying the advent of change Hares and jackrabbits are Leporids belonging to the Genus Lepus. Other differences are too numerous to list.

Footnotes

  1. ^ The Countess's daughter would become the Empress Eugénie. Eugenie redirects here For other people called Eugenie see Eugenie (disambiguation Empress The last Empress of the French was born
  2. ^ "Il s'agissait de ce jaque de Malaga qui avait tué sa maîtresse, laquelle se consacrait exclusivement au public. […] Comme j'étudie les bohémiens depuis quelque temps, j'ai fait mon heroïne bohémienne. "
  3. ^ "Carmen sera toujours libre. "
  4. ^ Dancaire, an obsolete Germanía word for someone who gambles on someone else's behalf with that person's money (Dancaire in El delincuente español. Germanía or jerigonza is the Spanish term for the Argot used by criminals or in jails. El lenguaje : (estudio filológico, psicológico y sociológico) : con dos vocabularios jergales by Rafael Salillas)
  5. ^ Man wearing patched clothes

References

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