CARMEN (novella by Mérimée)

Prosper Mérimée: Carmen. Novella. FR 1848. Translation into Finnish by Reino Hakamies. Helsinki: Otava, 1959, 101 p. Characteristics of the novella that are usually not present in the opera, drama, and film adaptations: 1) a framing story by the narrator, who is a scholar on horseback in Andalusia in 1830, 2) Don José is Basque, 3) Carmen is, among other things, a whore, 4) long reflections on the Romani people, 5) the Basque connection between Don José and Carmen, 6) the narrator is a character in the story: first he meets Don José the bandit, and later Carmen in a potential sexual encounter.