Prosper Mérimée and the Subversive 'Historical' Short Story

In December, 1829, Mérimée wrote to Mme Récamier: "Etranger toute ma vie à la politique, dans mes livres j'ai montré (et peut être trop crûment) mon opinion. J'ai pensé que sous l'administration actuelle, accepter des fonctions quelque peu importantes qu'elles soient, serait n'être pas d'accord avec moi- même" (Correspondance générale 1: 51). In his novel and short stories published in 1829, Mérimée allegorically shows his political opinion and works to undermine the "administration actuelle," that is, the Restoration government of Charls X. He questions the regime's representation of history and reminds readers of the Revolution and its effects. Instead of literature written by a bureaucrat faithful to the ruling establishment, Mérimée's fiction may be seen as an outlet for his frequent disgust with these regimes, as signs of his resistance to order, and as attacks targeting the dominant historical discourse of the nineteenth century. (In English) (CC).