Gao Longba

Author: French/Mérimée
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1998-01-01
Features: The story takes place on the Corsican island off the coast of France. It is the birthplace of Napoleon. The events unfold in the early 1820s, shortly after Napoleon's defeat. At that time, bourgeois civilization had not yet crossed the sea to conquer this island. It retained its primitive, somewhat medieval barbaric customs. Of course, there was law on the island, but the people often disregarded it, acting instead according to their conscience and ancient traditions. One of these ancient traditions was "vendetta," meaning revenge. This was not ordinary revenge but had a special connotation: if one member of a family was dishonored, it affected the entire family, so relatives also had a responsibility to avenge the dishonor. The target of revenge was not limited to the offender themselves but also extended to their close relatives.
This novel tells the story of how Golconda instigated a "vendetta" and how she directed a thrilling drama of revenge. Golconda, outwardly, was extraordinarily beautiful and graceful. She was a true daughter of the island, raised there. She was usually gentle and polite. But when she was agitated, especially when facing her enemies, her eyes would blaze with an extraordinary fire. She had received little formal education and was astonishingly ignorant of certain aspects of civilized life, yet she could offer accurate opinions on the matters she encountered. She sympathized with the outlaws in the wilderness—in Corsica, being an outlaw was not a bad name; she said she would rather sell her veil than refuse to provide bread and ammunition for them. As for the soldiers, she sometimes mocked them. She had been writing poetry since childhood, and she was a famous elegist, skilled at composing moving funeral songs on the spot. It was a village girl like this who vowed to avenge her father's murder, determined to achieve her goal at all costs. And she did.
Her family's lineage could be traced back seven hundred years, and they had long enjoyed high prestige on the island. They had a rival: the Baricini family. Over the years, the reasons for their feud had become unclear. Golconda's father, Théra Rebuffia, had been a colonel in Napoleon's army but was forced to retire after Napoleon's fall and lived in seclusion in the countryside, often tormented by his rival, the lawyer Guido Baricini, who had become the village mayor. One day, Rebuffia was assassinated. There was evidence that a notorious outlaw had committed the crime. The outlaw was killed by patrol soldiers a few days later. People believed the case was closed. But Golconda suspected the evidence had been faked by the Baricini. Before her father's corpse, she composed a "ballad" (an elegy), publicly accusing the Baricini family of the murder and declaring her resolve for revenge. This ballad spread. A tense atmosphere hung between the two old families, burdened with old and new grievances. Local customs forbade a woman like Golconda from confronting her enemies directly. She placed her hope for revenge on her brother, Otho, a captain in the army. She waited for two years. Otho finally returned from the army. He had left his hometown at a young age to join the military and had long been influenced by bourgeois civilization. He was brave and valued honor, though he had lost much of his sister's wildness. He did not believe the Baricini family had murdered his father, so when he heard the news, he did not rush back from the army. On this return, he also had no desire for revenge. Moreover, he was no longer accustomed to the barbaric customs of the island. Another reason for his caution was his deep affection for a British girl named Lydie, whom he had met on the ship. She repeatedly advised him not to be swayed by the island's savage customs. She also gave him a ring, urging him to remember her words. However, the ring may have held a deeper meaning that she did not speak aloud. Nevertheless, he could not help but follow the path of revenge laid out by his sister. Golconda's meticulous planning overcame the magic of the ring Lydie had given him.
When Golconda first met her brother, she said nothing about revenge, though Otho sensed her intentions in every glance and gesture. Her silence was a wait for the right moment and atmosphere. A few days later, Golconda led her brother to her father's grave, praying for his soul. She showed him his bloodstained clothes and the two fatal bullets. Her passionate and grief-stricken words moved and unsettled him. The Corsican spirit, suppressed but not extinguished, surged within his blood. Golconda then lured the governor and the mayor, Guido Baricini, along with his two sons, to her home, presenting compelling evidence that the original evidence had been fabricated by Baricini. She also boldly brought in two outlaws as witnesses. Otho had no choice but to believe that his father's death was the result of a Baricini conspiracy. When Baricini's sons, enraged and seeking to kill him, attempted to attack him (only to be stopped in time by Golconda, who grabbed the attackers' arms and saved Otho), he finally resolved to avenge his father. But he still wanted to resolve the matter through a civilized and honorable duel, not through savage assassination. However, when he went alone to welcome Lydie and her father, who were to stay at his home, he fell into a trap set by Baricini's sons. Injured in his left arm, he used the long gun Lydie's father had given him to make two swift shots, ending the lives of the two brothers. Otho became a celebrated hero, and Golconda was proud to have such a brother. In truth, this was more of Golconda's victory. Her determination, her cleverness, and her courage made her the true protagonist of this act of revenge. Compared to Otho, she was the stronger one. She fulfilled the words from her self-composed "elegy": "I want that hand that fired the gun, I want that eye that aimed it, I want that heart that conceived the wicked thought."
Lydie and her father, Colonel Neville, who appear in this drama as supporting characters, add color and interest and help advance the plot. Lydie stands in stark contrast to Golconda. One is a bourgeois noblewoman, the other a wild village girl. Both are beautiful, intelligent, and passionate. Yet Lydie is somewhat capricious, willful, and quite vain. In Golconda's brilliant light, she appears dimmer.
The novel also features two outlaws living in the wilderness. One had once served under Napoleon. The other is a more extraordinary figure: a university student who had studied theology, fluent in several languages and adept at quoting classical texts at will. His ideal gift was the collected works of Horace. He was rough, heroic, yet gentle and refined. Both had committed crimes, so they chose to defy society openly, living a life of () but also one of turbulence and danger, guided by their own notions of honor and morality. They were protected and aided by the people, and Golconda often supplied them with bread and ammunition. When necessary, they were willing to risk their lives to help Golconda. Their images mirrored Golconda's. A beautiful, dignified, passionate, and untamed young woman, a thrilling tale of revenge, interwoven with a strange love story, set against the backdrop of a barbaric and ancient island—these elements gave the novel great appeal.
Mérimée's creative method was realistic, but the content was rich in romanticism. He excelled at arranging plots and creating tension, thereby revealing characters' personalities. Like all great artists, he could bring a minor character to life with just a few strokes, while carefully crafting the personalities of the main characters. He created his characters through his own experiences, so readers could also experience their emotions in various situations, though he did not delve deeply into their psychological activities. Lunacharsky once said of Mérimée's creative method: "These works appear extremely calm on the surface. In his entire masterful art, the emotions of the writer are either absent or deeply concealed." I tend to the latter view: beneath his apparent calm lies hidden passion. This is particularly evident in Golconda. His writing is concise, vivid, and tinged with a touch of humor, making the novel a treasure of art.
However, this seemingly shallow novel, aside from offering a moving picture of customs and artistic enjoyment, holds little more positive significance. Lunacharsky's words can answer this: "If he enjoys depicting cruel men and women, if he is fascinated by criminal acts, if he disregards morality, then it is first and foremost to use his superiority as a whip to lash the prejudiced and mediocre crowd from afar; he knows the petty crowd near him, composed of representatives of the middle and upper classes." This is a very insightful observation. Mérimée was a highly cultured scholar and writer who held high-ranking positions in the French government for many years. But from a young age, he was influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution and was dissatisfied with the corrupt social atmosphere of the bourgeoisie. He despised the hypocritical, shallow, and luxurious bourgeoisie. Yet, he did not seek an ideal to pursue or the determination to fight reality. He lived a life of comfort but was inwardly lonely and troubled. In his novels that directly depicted bourgeois characters, he often carried a tone of critique and mockery. Most of his works, however, were filled with exotic charm, and he admired the simple, brave, vibrant, and rebellious characters, using them to express his dissatisfaction with capitalist society. Golconda is such a work.