Prosper Mérimée, Prosper Mérimée's Short Stories

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In many ways Prosper Mérimée may be considered the founder of the modern French short story. Certainly narrative works characterized by their brevity had appeared earlier in France, all the way back to medieval

fabliaux

and up through eighteenth-century philosophical tales (

contes philosophiques

); more recently, Charles Nodier had published a number of supernatural tales (such as “Smarra ou les démons de la nuit”, 1821, and “Trilby”, 1822). But Mérimée brought to short literature a modern infatuation with psychological realism and deep characterization. These elements, combined with his uncanny aptitude for stylistic and narrative concision, made Mérimée the standard-bearer for short fiction throughout much of the nineteenth-century, influencing writers as diverse as Balzac…

2894 words

Citation: Carpenter, Scott. "Prosper Mérimée's Short Stories". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 August 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=31201, accessed 19 March 2024.]

31201 Prosper Mérimée's Short Stories 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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