We owe him Colomba and Carmen, which is probably the greatest literary myth of modernity, the survival of many ancient buildings, the most treacherous dictation and many other writings and actions. On its own, it looks like a band. What a man of influence Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870)! Do we still know of intellectuals made of this alloy?
More or less simultaneously playwright, novelist, historian, archaeologist, inspector of historical monuments, critic, polyglot translator, letter writer, academician, senator, this intimate of the Spaniard Eugénie de Montijo, whom he knew as early as 1830 as a language teacher, well before she became Empress of the French and constantly wanted him at her table, returned to haunt - or rather entertain - Compiègne. In this castle, which was appreciated by Napoleon III, the imperial couple organised the famous "series". Of these succession of parties, each time mixing a hundred personalities, he was certainly the most popular guest...
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