On Concept Of Death In Merimee's Works

Death is the inevitable and eventual part of human life as well as the eternal theme of literature, philosophy, aesthetics, medical and other fields. Numerous ancient and modern writers, philosophers and artists have studied this subject through various forms of analysis and discussion. The cognition of death is a reflection of the deep human values, as well as an exploration into their own destiny. Till present day in which the speed, depth and scope of life has been immensely elevated, even after thousands of years, "death" is still an eternal theme of study.French writer Merimee is of no exception. Most of his works are related to death. Merimee's life is full of dramas. He was educated by his father who advocated Bonapartism and his mother, a faithful believer of the Enlightenment in 18th century; therefore he had no blind faith in any religion. He got his law degree in university, made friends with celebrities, worked in the royal court and the government, traveled to exotic regions and inspected cultural heritage. His experiences of the earthshaking upheavals of the French society in 19th century and the various vicissitudes of life gave him unique insights into life and death; hence the writer poured his awareness and understanding about death into his works.This thesis takes thematic studies on "death" into Merimee's works, carrying on text analysis based on the original texts of the writer. Moreover, through referring to some monographs about "death", Merimee's view of death is analyzed. The thesis is divided into three chapters:The first chapter divides the deaths in six novels of Merimee into three categories according to the cause or the objective of death:the death about freedom (e.g. Carmen's death, the negro slaves'death in "Tamango"), the death about justice (e.g. the Colomba sibling's revenge against their father, Mateo Falcone's killing of his only son), and the death about dignity (e.g. Venus's execution of the groom, Roger's death for his country).The second chapter analyzes three death images in Merimee's works:sea, forest and night. Merimee's contacts with the Navy and his voyages around the world led to his intense fear of the ocean. What he saw in Corsica while studying ancient architectures and heritages not only triggered his inspiration, but also let him to be in awe of the dense jungles of Corsica. The endless stream of social movements and political conflicts of France in the 19th century let him understand:a lot of the misfortunes and miseries were shrouded in darkness. These thoughts have been verified and reflected in Merimee's novels.The third chapter is committed to the interpretation of the implied meanings of "death" in Merimee's works, i.e., how Merimee treats the death. The writer strongly praises the sacrifices to pursue higher values (such as freedom and dignity). Meanwhile, the writer is stuck in deep contradictions and confusion. Even though he followed the footsteps of his grandfather to study law in university, when law can not uphold justice and seemed to be inconsistent with local customs, he chose to stand on the side of traditions and customs (such as the Colomba sibling's revenge against their father and Mateo Falcone's murder of his only son in the island of Corsica). Merimee expresses his understanding to take non-legal means to obtain justice. In addition, under the influence of his mother who was a faithful follower of Enlightenment and who resented religions of any forms, Merimee didn't recognize the Christianity's concept of death. He believes that death is the natural end of human life, that there is no so-called heaven or hell and we should be calm and fearless in face of death. The bloody casualties caused by wars of religion and sectarian conflict led to his resentment, thus Merimee always believed that humanitarian mattered more than any religious superstition.In the literary world, writers' themes of creation are varied and wide-ranged. And the frequent appearance of the subject "death" is a special feature in Merimee's works. In this thesis, "death" is considered as a point of penetration. Combining with the knowledge of aesthetics, philosophy and history, the "death" in Merimee's works is analyzed to explore the categories and images of death and their implied meanings, so that we can study Merimee's concept of death systematically in the hope of providing a new perspective to understand the writer and his works.