Drawings, sketches and shots: "spanish letters" of merimee

Possibly Lettres d' Espgane is the most understimated nouvelle by Merimee and a most unknown text, perhaps because of its atypical and fragmented conception which often shocks and confuses the reader. Nevertheless, it is a most useful text to characterize Merimee's short fiction, entirely based on the craft of literary transvestism and trompe-l'oeil. Additionally, Lettres d' Espgane can be subtly related to some other nouvelles, like the two famous Spanish-inspired Les Ames du Purgatoire and Carmen, which together provide the critic with interesting clues for the analysis. Last but not least, this short novel evinces the essentially anthropological nature of Merimee's writings: highly intrigued by bullfights, capital punishment and superstitions at large, the author seems to be looking for the foundations of the religious event, preserved, as if by miracle, in 19th century Spain.