The Mantle, and Other Stories

by Prosper Mérimée, Nikolai Gogol, Claud Field

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Genres: Literature

254 pages, Hardcover

Published September 2, 2015

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.

Reviews

[Mariana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think Gogol's narrative style isn't for me. His absurdism feels satirical, but maybe I'm just too detached from the subject matter because to me it just reads as nonsensical. I did like dead souls a lot more, so maybe it's my distaste for short stories weighing against this book, but it was a very solid meh and took far too long to read given its length.

[Marin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gogol's works are actually pretty interesting and the tiny details and character traits he fills them up with make them so believable. At the same time they are absolute fantasy before fantasy was a term and a genre - ghosts, people's noses disappearing, monsters, witches and whatnot.
The stories are very entertaining to read and it is an absolute disgrace how they are taught in school (at least where I'm from) as despairing, depressing horrible representations of misery that will make you loathe life.

[Leone · Rating 4 out of 5]

These novellas were fabulously creative and thought provoking. I really enjoyed reading them.