The Life and Times of Prosper Mérimée
by . Dial,$3.75.
Prosper Mérimée, the creator of Carmen and master of the exotic short story, is one of the most attractive subjects a literary biographer could pick. He was a dandy, a ladies’ man, a bon vivant, a connoisseur of art, a noted wit, a great traveler, a classicist of vast erudition the epitome of that vanished personage, the man of the world. Mérimée’s life stretched from the rise of Napoleon I to the downfall of Napoleon III. As a literary celebrity (launched by a sublime hoax), a government official, and an intimate of the Empress Eugénie, he was always at the center of excitement. Sylvia Lyon has done a splendid job, both on the “life” and on the “times.”