Une lecture de `Lokis': variation sur la Chute

Starting from a speculation on the implicative quality of Prosper Mérimée's writing, we offer an interpretation of "Lokis," based on its image pattern and certain suggestive elements of its vocabulary and style. We seek to show the symbolic and ambiguous values embedded in an apparently open and straightforward "realistic" manner of presentation. We interpret the ontological status of Szémioth as a metaphorical correspondent for the dualism Soul/Flesh, and the Matecznik as the representation, through the theme of tribunal, of Szémioth's anticipated guilt. According to us, Ioulka assumes, through her identification with the Roussalka, the role of the sexually impure temptress and she finally transgresses the order of mediation which Szémioth attempts to establish through marriage. Beyond its ethnical affabulation, and its situational characteristics, "Lokis" evokes the adamic myth of the Fall. (In French) (AMH)