FANTÁSTICAS - VOLUME II

by Prosper Mérimée

O segundo volume abre com o prefácio de Raya Zonana, que aborda o delírio e a posição social da mulher como ente desejado e desejante em suas representações poéticas e psicanalíticas, aspecto presente nas duas novelas que compõem o “Gradiva”, de Wilhelm Jensen e “A Vênus de Ille”, de Prosper Mérimée. Em “Gradiva”, o jovem arqueólogo Dr. Norbert Hanold admira um baixo-relevo representando uma mulher em seu caminhar (um dos possíveis significados de “Gradiva”, em latim, é “aquela que caminha”). O estilo espirituoso de Gradiva, tão delirante quanto o conto “Arria Marcella” de Gautier, muito interessou Freud, que escreveu o marcante ensaio “Sonho e delírio na Gradiva de Jensen”, em 1903. Por fim, o segundo volume se encerra com a novela “A Vênus de Ille”. O ponto de partida se assemelha ao da história um professor de arqueologia descobre uma estátua de Vênus em bronze no Sul da França. Segundo a crendice popular, a estátua é má e seus olhos reluzem diabolicamente de vermelho, o que se confirma conforme as pessoas vão morrendo misteriosamente. Fantásticas conta com traduções inéditas, todas diretamente dos idiomas originais (francês e alemão).

Paperback

Published February 20, 2024

About the author

Prosper Mérimée was a French dramatist, historian, archaeologist, and short story writer. He is perhaps best known for his novella Carmen, which became the basis of Bizet's opera Carmen.

Mérimée loved mysticism, history, and the unusual, and may have been influenced by Charles Nodier (though he did not appreciate his works), the historical fiction popularised by Sir Walter Scott and the cruelty and psychological drama of Aleksandr Pushkin. Many of his stories are mysteries set in foreign places, Spain and Russia being popular sources of inspiration.

In 1834, Mérimée was appointed to the post of inspector-general of historical monuments. He was a born archaeologist, combining linguistic faculty of a very unusual kind with accurate scholarship, with remarkable historical appreciation, and with a sincere love for the arts of design and construction, in the former of which he had some practical skill. In his official capacity he published numerous reports, some of which, with other similar pieces, have been republished in his works.
He was also responsible for several translations of Pushkin and Gogol, when they weren't known in Europe yet.