Prosper Mérimée writes La Vénus d'Ille, a…

Prosper Mérimée writes La Vénus d'Ille, a fantastic horror tale of a bronze statue that seemingly comes to life, in 1837.

In 18324, he had written Les âmes du Purgatoire, a novella about the libertine Don Juan Maraña.

Mérimée loves mysticism, history, and the unusual, and may have been influenced by Charles Nodier (though he does not appreciate his works), 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 had been appointed to the post of inspector-general of historical monuments.

He is 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 has some practical skill.

In his official capacity, he publishes numerous reports, some of which, with other similar pieces, have been republished in his works.

Works of this period include La Chronique du temps de Charles IX (1829), a novel set at the French court at the time of the St. Bartholomew massacre, and "Mateo Falcone" (1829)—a short story about a Corsican man who kills his son in the name of justice (made into an opera of the same name by the Russian composer César Cui).

In 1833, he had published Mosaïque, a collection of short stories, containing: "Mateo Falcone", "Vision de Charles XI", "L'enlèvement de la redoute", "Tamango, "Le fusil enchanté", "Federigo", "Ballades", "La partie de trictrac", "Le vase étrusque", "Les mécontens".

It also includes three of his letters from Spain.

Most of these tales were previously published in the Revue de Paris in 1829 and 1830.