Carmen

Author: (French) Mérimée
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-02-01
Features: Carmen is the masterpiece of the French realist writer Mérimée. It tells the adventurous experiences of a free-spirited Gypsy girl engaged in smuggling. Carmen lures the innocent soldier Don José, ensnaring him in love and abandoning his original rural lover—Mica?la, a gentle and kind-hearted woman. Don José is dismissed from the army and joins Carmen's band of smugglers. Meanwhile, Carmen falls in love with the bullfighter Lucas. As a result, an increasingly intense conflict arises between Don José and Carmen. In the end, the stubborn Carmen resolutely rejects Don José's love and is finally killed by the sword of the bullfighter. This tragic novel gained worldwide fame after being adapted into an opera of the same name by the French composer Bizet, and the character of Carmen has become a typical figure in Western literary history.