Introduction

The movement of French literature - more precisely, French prose - from romanticism to realism in the 30s and 40s is associated with the name of Prosper Mérimée. Merimee's first literary experiments were characterized by a clear fascination with the aesthetics and artistic practice of romanticism. Mérimée entered French literature in the mid-20s. This was the era of the dominance of romanticism, the era of heated discussions between the classics and romantics, and these discussions unfolded around dramatic genres. By this time, Stendhal had already written his treatise “Racine and Shakespeare”, Hugo was writing his first romantic dramas and in 1827 the famous preface to the drama “Cromwell” as a manifesto of French romanticism at a new stage. The production of Hugo's first dramas was accompanied not only by aesthetic, but also by political and scandalous battles. So romantic drama was high on the agenda in French literature in the 1920s. The story of Merimee's entry into literature is not entirely ordinary.

Merime short story creativity

Brief biography of P. Merimee

Prosper Mérimée is one of the remarkable French critical realists of the 19th century, a brilliant playwright and master of artistic prose. Unlike Stendhal and Balzac, Mérimée did not become the ruler of the thoughts of entire generations; the impact he had on the spiritual life of France was less widespread and powerful. However, the aesthetic significance of his work is enormous. The works he created are unfading: their vitality is so deeply embodied in them, however, their form is so perfect.

The future writer was born in 1803 in Paris into a wealthy family. After graduating from the Lyceum, he entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Paris. However, jurisprudence did not interest him at all. Born into the family of an educated scientist (chemist) and painter, Jean François Leonore M. (whose wife, the writer’s mother, also successfully painted), a supporter of the new order of things, brought up in the spirit of the ideas of the 18th century. - young Prosper Merimee early developed an elegant taste and cult of art. After graduating from a course in legal sciences in Paris, he was appointed secretary of the Comte d'Artou, one of the ministers of the July Monarchy, and then chief inspector of historical monuments of France. In this post, he contributed greatly to the preservation of historical monuments.

The range of interests and aesthetic views of the young Merimee were determined early, having already developed within the family circle: his father was an artist, a follower of Jacques Louis David, a leading representative of the art of revolutionary classicism; the mother is also an artist, a woman of diverse education, taught her son to draw, introduced him to the ideas of the French enlighteners of the 18th century. As a child, Prosper Merimee enthusiastically read Shakespeare and Byron in the original, and at the age of sixteen, together with his friend Jean-Jacques Ampère (the son of the great physicist), he took on the translation of the outstanding monument of English pre-Romanticism - “The Song of Ossian” by D. Macpherson.

Merimee's inner appearance, inherent in his worldview of contradiction, the features of his artistic style cannot be comprehended without taking into account the originality of the evolution he experienced. Merimee's artistic development turned out to be closely connected with the course of the country's social life. Its main milestones generally coincide with turning points, key moments in the history of France, and above all, with the revolutions of 1830 and 1848.

Merimee began to show interest in independent literary creativity in the early 20s, during his student days.

Soon after meeting Stendhal, Merimee's independent literary activity began.

For the first time, however, Mérimée gained widespread fame in 1825, publishing a collection of plays “The Theater of Clara Gazul”. The publication of this work is associated with a daring hoax that caused a lot of speculation. Mérimée passed off his collection as the work of a certain Spanish actress he had invented, and Mérimée's contemporaries, accustomed to lengthy arguments, were struck in the writer's plays by the rapid development of action, the continuous alternation of brief expressive scenes, the complete disregard for the rules of three unities, the unexpected and abrupt transitions from satirical episodes to the passages.

In 1828, the printing house, then owned by Honore de Balzac, printed Merimee’s historical drama “The Jacquerie,” dedicated to the turbulent events of the distant 16th century.

The first period of Merimee’s literary activity ends with his historical novel “Chronicle of the Reign of Charles the 4th” (1829) - a kind of result of the writer’s ideological and artistic quest in these years.

Prosper Merimee at the beginning of his creative career, as already noted, joined the romantic movement. The influence of romantic aesthetics continued to be felt in the writer’s works for a long time: it is noticeable throughout his entire creative heritage. But gradually Merimee’s literary activity took on an increasingly distinctly realistic character. We find a clear embodiment of this trend in the “Chronicle of the reign of Charles 4th”

The drama “The Jacquerie” and the novel “The Chronicle of the Reign of Charles the 4th” by Merimee are striking examples of that keen interest in historical issues, in the study and understanding of the national past, which embraced the advanced social and artistic thought of France in the twenties and early thirties of the nineteenth century. In comprehending the events of the distant past, Merimee did not adjust them to modernity, but looked in them for the key to the patterns of the era that interested him, and thereby to the discovery of broader historical generalizations.

“Chronicle of the reign of Charles the 4th” completes the first stage of Merimee’s literary activity. The July Revolution causes significant changes in the life and work of the writer.

During the years of the Restoration, Merimee was interested in depicting large social cataclysms, reproducing broad social canvases, developing historical subjects, and his attention was attracted by large, monumental genres.

After the creatively exceptionally prolific year of 1829, Merimee’s artistic activity subsequently developed less rapidly. Now he is not so actively involved in everyday literary life, publishes his works less often, nurturing them for a long time, painstakingly finishing their form, achieving its utmost precision and simplicity.

Merimee's short stories are permeated by several leading themes. They contain, first of all, an insightful and sharp denunciation of the mores of the dominant society. These critical trends, very diverse in their forms, clearly relate to the years 1829-1830 and were subsequently included in the collection “Mosaic” (1833). In a number of his short stories (“The Etruscan Vase”, “Double Fault”, “Arsene Guillot”) Merimee reveals the soullessness and callousness of the so-called “light”. A vicious and hypocritical secular society, as Merimee shows, does not tolerate bright individuals. It gives rise to special vulnerability and painful distrust of others in people who are sensitive by nature.

Throughout his life, Merimee, a rationalist and heir to the Enlightenment traditions, carried a hostile attitude towards the church and religion. These ideological motives were reflected in the writer’s short stories, including “The Souls of Purgatory” (1834).

A significant role in Merimee's short stories is played by the writer's artistic embodiment of his positive ideal. In a number of early short stories (such as “Backgammon Party”, “The Etruscan Vase”) Merimee connects the search for this ideal with images of honest, most principled and pure representatives of the dominant society. Gradually, however, Merimee’s gaze more and more persistently turns to the people standing behind the aisle of this society, to representatives of the people’s environment. In their minds, Merimee reveals those spiritual qualities dear to his heart, which, in his opinion, have already been lost by bourgeois circles: integrity of character and passion of nature, selflessness and inner independence. The theme of the people as the guardian of vital energy, the nation as the bearer of high ethical ideals plays a significant role in Merimee’s work of the 30s and 40s. At the same time, Merimee was far from the revolutionary republican movement of his time and was hostile to the struggle of the working class. Merimee (this “genius of timelessness,” according to the catchphrase of A.V. Lunacharsky) tried to look for the romance of folk life that excited his imagination in countries that had not yet been absorbed by bourgeois civilization - in Corsica (“Mattei Falcone”, “Colomba”) and in Spain ( "Carmen").

An outstanding place in the literary heritage of Merimee (1844), a work in which the main ideological motives of Merimee the novelist merge: the image of repulsive egoism that hides behind the hypocritical mask of respectable representatives and representatives of bourgeois society. Initially, the revolutionary events did not cause much concern for Merimee, but gradually the writer’s mood changes and becomes more and more alarming: he anticipates the inevitability of a further aggravation of social contradictions and is afraid of it, afraid that it will become fatal to the existing order.

It is the fear of new revolutionary uprisings of the proletariat that prompts Merimee to accept the coup d'etat of Louis Bonaparte. After 1848, Merimee the artist also experienced a severe and prolonged crisis. This does not mean that Merimee’s creative activity weakened or became less active during these years. In order to be convinced of the fallacy of such an assumption, it is enough to familiarize yourself with the diverse correspondence that he conducted especially intensively during this period. He found other ways to embody his creativity - as a historian, literary critic, and translator.

The further the 19th century goes into the past, the more inexorably time tests its artistic values, the more obvious it becomes that Mérimée’s work passed this strict test and remained one of the most remarkable achievements of French critical realism.

On his first trip to Spain, in 1830, Prosper became friends with the Comte de Teba and his wife, whose daughter, Eugenie, later became Empress of the French. Merimee, as an old friend of the family of the Countess of Montijo, was during the second empire a close person at the Tuileries court; Empress Eugenia had a heartfelt affection for him and treated him like a father. In 1853, Prosper Merimee was elevated to the rank of senator and enjoyed the full confidence and personal friendship of Napoleon III. Service career and politics played, however, a secondary role in the life and work of such a writer-artist as Merimee was by vocation. While still studying law in Paris, Prosper became friends with Ampère and Albert Stapfer. The latter brought him into the house of his father, who gathered a circle of people devoted to the sciences and arts. His literary evenings were attended not only by the French, but also by the British, Germans (Alexander Humboldt, Mol) and even Russians (S. A. Sobolevsky, Melgunov).

At Stapfer's, Prosper Mérimée met and became friends with Bayle (Stendhal) and Delecluse, who headed the criticism department at the Revue de Paris. Merimee's literary tastes and views were formed under the influence of the Shtapfers and the Delecluse circle. From them he borrowed an interest in studying the literatures of other peoples. The universality of Prosper's literary education markedly distinguished him from other French writers of that time. He was one of the first in France to appreciate the dignity of our literature and began to study Russian in order to read the works of Pushkin and Gogol in the original. He was a great admirer of Pushkin, whom he translated for the French public and devoted an excellent sketch to his assessment.

Prosper Mérimée is one of the remarkable French critical realists of the 19th century, a brilliant playwright and master of artistic prose. Unlike Stendhal and Balzac, Mérimée did not become the ruler of the thoughts of entire generations; the impact he had on the spiritual life of France was less widespread and powerful. However, the aesthetic significance of his work is enormous. The works he created are unfading: the truth of life is so deeply embodied in them, their form is so perfect.

The future writer was born in 1803 in Paris into a wealthy family. After graduating from the Lyceum, he entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Paris. However, jurisprudence did not interest him at all.

The range of interests and aesthetic views of the young Merimee were determined early, having already developed within the family circle: his father was an artist, a follower of Jacques Louis David, a leading representative of the art of revolutionary classicism; the mother is also an artist, a woman of diverse education, taught her son to draw, introduced him to the ideas of the French enlighteners of the 18th century. As a child, Prosper Merimee enthusiastically read Shakespeare and Byron in the original, and at the age of sixteen, together with his friend Jean-Jacques Ampère (the son of the great physicist), he took on the translation of the outstanding monument of English pre-Romanticism - “The Song of Ossian” by D. Macpherson.

The acquaintance of the young Mérimée with the literary and artistic environment of Paris (in the twenties he became one of the participants in the circle of Etienne Delecruz, artist, art critic and poetry theorist), and in 1822 with Stendhal, a man with extensive writing experience, contributed to the further deepening of the aesthetic credo Merimee, determined his critical attitude towards the Restoration regime and sympathy for the liberals.

The formation of Mérimée as a writer took place during a time of fierce struggle between literary youth, who sought to update French literature, and writers of the older generation, who preferred the time-tested canons of classicism. Merimee, being on friendly terms with Hugo, the head and the invented leader of the romantic youth, as well as with Stendhal, supported them in the fight against classicism and took a direct part in this fight.

Prosper Merimee - novelist and short story writer

The writer has come a long and difficult creative path. As an artist, he gained fame and recognition before Stendhal and Balzac, in the years when the romantics were just rising to storm the stronghold of classicism, and literature was giving its first sprouts.

Merimee's inner appearance, inherent in his worldview of contradiction, the features of his artistic style cannot be comprehended without taking into account the originality of the evolution he experienced. Merimee's artistic development turned out to be closely connected with the course of the country's social life. Its main milestones generally coincide with turning points, key moments in the history of France, and above all, with the revolutions of 1830 and 1848.

Merimee began to show interest in independent literary creativity in the early 20s, during his student days.

Soon after meeting Stendhal, Merimee's independent literary activity began.

For the first time, however, Mérimée gained widespread fame in 1825, publishing a collection of plays “The Theater of Clara Gazul”. The publication of this work is associated with a daring hoax that caused a lot of speculation. Mérimée passed off his collection as the work of a certain Spanish actress and public figure, Clara Gazul, whom he fictitious. “Theater of Clara Gazul” is an extremely original phenomenon in French dramaturgy of the twenties of the 19th century. Merimee's plays, imbued with sympathy for the liberation movement of the Spanish people, sounded cheerful and breathed an optimistic belief in the inevitability of the victory of the progressive principle.

Merimee's contemporaries, accustomed to lengthy arguments, were struck in the writer's plays by the rapid development of action, the continuous alternation of short expressive scenes, complete disregard for the rules of three unities, and unexpected and sharp transitions from satirical episodes to passages.

Merimee's next work, which he called “Gyuzla” (“Gusli”), was again associated with literary hoax. Merimee's hoax was a brilliant success. Pushki and Mickiewicz accepted the works created by his imagination as creations of Slavic folk poetry and considered it possible to translate some of them into their native language (Mickiewicz translated the ballad “Morlak in Venice”, and Pushkin included a reworking of eleven poems “Gyuzly” in his “Songs of the Western Slavs”) .

In 1828, the printing house, then owned by Honore de Balzac, printed Merimee’s historical drama “The Jacquerie,” dedicated to the turbulent events of the distant 16th century.

The first period of Merimee’s literary activity ends with his historical novel “Chronicle of the Reign of Charles the 4th” (1829) - a kind of result of the writer’s ideological and artistic quest in these years.

Prosper Merimee at the beginning of his creative career, as already noted, joined the romantic movement. The influence of romantic aesthetics continued to be felt in the writer’s works for a long time: it is noticeable throughout his entire creative heritage. But gradually Merimee’s literary activity took on an increasingly distinctly realistic character. We find a clear embodiment of this trend in the “Chronicle of the reign of Charles 4th”

The drama “The Jacquerie” and the novel “The Chronicle of the Reign of Charles the 4th” by Merimee are striking examples of that keen interest in historical issues, in the study and understanding of the national past, which embraced the advanced social and artistic thought of France in the twenties and early thirties of the nineteenth century. In comprehending the events of the distant past, Merimee did not adjust them to modernity, but looked in them for the key to the patterns of the era that interested him, and thereby to the discovery of broader historical generalizations.

“Chronicle of the reign of Charles the 4th” completes the first stage of Merimee’s literary activity. The July Revolution causes significant changes in the life and work of the writer.

During the years of the Restoration, Merimee was interested in depicting large social cataclysms, reproducing broad social canvases, developing historical subjects, and his attention was attracted by large, monumental genres.

After the creatively exceptionally prolific year of 1829, Merimee’s artistic activity subsequently developed less rapidly. Now he is not so actively involved in everyday literary life, publishes his works less often, nurturing them for a long time, painstakingly finishing their form, achieving its utmost precision and simplicity.

Merimee's short stories are permeated by several leading themes. They contain, first of all, an insightful and sharp denunciation of the mores of the dominant society. These critical trends, very diverse in their forms, clearly relate to the years 1829-1830 and were subsequently included in the collection “Mosaic” (1833).

In a number of his short stories (“The Etruscan Vase”, “Double Fault”, “Arsene Guillot”) Merimee reveals the soullessness and callousness of the so-called “light”. A vicious and hypocritical secular society, as Merimee shows, does not tolerate bright individuals. It gives rise to special vulnerability and painful distrust of others in people who are sensitive by nature.

Throughout his life, Merimee, a rationalist and heir to the Enlightenment traditions, carried a hostile attitude towards the church and religion. These ideological motives were reflected in the writer’s short stories, including “The Souls of Purgatory” (1834).

A significant role in Merimee's short stories is played by the writer's artistic embodiment of his positive ideal. In a number of early short stories (such as “Backgammon Party”, “The Etruscan Vase”) Merimee connects the search for this ideal with images of honest, most principled and pure representatives of the dominant society. Gradually, however, Merimee’s gaze more and more persistently turns to the people standing behind the aisle of this society, to representatives of the people’s environment. In their minds, Merimee reveals those spiritual qualities dear to his heart, which, in his opinion, have already been lost by bourgeois circles: integrity of character and passion of nature, selflessness and inner independence. The theme of the people as the guardian of vital energy, the nation as the bearer of high ethical ideals plays a significant role in the work of Merimee of the 30s and 40s.

At the same time, Merimee was far from the revolutionary republican movement of his time and was hostile to the struggle of the working class. Merimee (this “genius of timelessness,” according to the catchphrase of A.V. Lunacharsky) tried to look for the romance of folk life that excited his imagination in countries that had not yet been absorbed by bourgeois civilization - in Corsica (“Mattei Falcone”, “Colomba”) and in Spain ( "Carmen").

An outstanding place in the literary heritage of Merimee (1844), a work in which the main ideological motives of Merimee the novelist merge: the image of repulsive egoism that hides behind the hypocritical mask of respectable representatives and representatives of bourgeois society.

Initially, the revolutionary events did not cause much concern for Merimee, but gradually the writer’s mood changes and becomes more and more alarming: he anticipates the inevitability of a further aggravation of social contradictions and is afraid of it, afraid that it will become fatal to the existing order.

It is the fear of new revolutionary uprisings of the proletariat that prompts Merimee to accept the coup d'etat of Louis Bonaparte. After 1848, Merimee the artist also experienced a severe and prolonged crisis. This does not mean that Merimee’s creative activity weakened or became less active during these years. In order to be convinced of the fallacy of such an assumption, it is enough to familiarize yourself with the diverse correspondence that he conducted especially intensively during this period. He found other ways to embody his creativity - as a historian, literary critic, and translator.

Merimee studied Russian and began to translate Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, I.S. Turgenev. “The Russian language,” he wrote with admiration in an article about Gogol, “as far as I can judge, is the richest of all European languages; it seems to be created to express the subtlest shades. With his extraordinary conciseness and at the same time clarity, one word is enough for him to connect many thoughts that in other languages ​​would require a whole phrase.” Merimee translated into French from Pushkin: “The Queen of Spades”, “Shot” and in prose the poem: “Hussar” ”, “Prophets”, “Anchar”, “Oprichnik”; from Gogol he translated “The Inspector General” and excerpts from “Dead Souls.” From Lermontov “Mtsyri” (together with I.S. Turgenev), from I.S. Turgenev stories: “Ghosts”, “Petrushka”, “Strange Story”, etc.

Merimee wrote several articles about Russian literature (about Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev).

Merimee's work was highly appreciated by Russian writers. He was translated and written about by: Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Gogol, Grigorovich, Apollo Grigoriev, Garshin, Turgenev.

The further the 19th century goes into the past, the more inexorably time tests its artistic values, the more obvious it becomes that Mérimée’s work passed this strict test and remained one of the most remarkable achievements of French critical realism.

(1803- 1870)

The biography of Prosper Merimee reflects the vibrant life of a man - a famous writer, politician, artist, member of the French Academy of Sciences.

Prosper was born in Paris on September 28, 1803. The father of the future writer, Jean François Leonor Merimee, was a chemist and was seriously interested in painting. Prosper's mother was also a successful artist. The young man, who received a law degree in Paris, became the secretary of one of the ministers of the French government. Then, having received the post of chief inspector for the preservation of cultural and historical monuments of the country, he did a lot in this field. In 1853, Merimee received the title of senator.

However, Merimee's career played a secondary role in his life; his main concern was literary creativity. While still a student, he attended a society whose members were passionate about science and the arts. These were truly international meetings, attended by the French, Germans, English, and Russians. It was to this society that Prosper Merimee presented his first work, which he called “Cromwell,” and which earned the approval of Stendhal. The author himself did not like the work and it was not published.

At the age of 22, Merimee published a collection of dramatic plays, which he presented with his translation from Spanish. In 1827, the creative biography of Prosper Merimee was marked by the release in Srastburg of his famous “Guzlov”, which the poet presented as a collection of songs by an unknown bard from Dalmatia. This work caused a lot of noise throughout all European countries. Although Goethe and Gerhard (the scientist who managed to discover the size of Illyrian verse in the prose “Guzlov”) expressed great doubt that this work belongs to folk art. Nevertheless, this clever counterfeit of the motives of folk poetry misled many famous poets and writers of that time, including A. S. Pushkin and Mitskevich.

All subsequent works of the writer are filled with bright, original images, an example of which is Carmen, the heroine of the novel of the same name. The writer’s research on the history of Ancient Rome and Greece and the reign of Don Pedro I deserves high praise.

Many pages of Prosper Merime's biography are devoted to his creative connections with Russian writers; the writer was especially interested in the works of A. S. Pushkin and N. V. Gogol. In order to read the works of these writers in the original, Merimee studies the Russian language and becomes a promoter of Russian culture in her homeland. He translated Pushkin’s “Queen of Spades” into French, his essay about N.V. Gogol was published in one of the magazines, and in 1853 Merimee completed the translation of “The Inspector General”. The writer's essays on the era of Peter the Great, the Russian Cossacks, and the time of troubles are published in French periodicals. Beginning in 1837 and ending in 1890, various Russian periodicals published the works of the great French writer translated into Russian, such as “Bartholomew’s Night”, “Double Failure”, “Carmen” and others.

Preview:

Literature lesson in 6th grade.

Prosper Merimee's novella "Matteo Falcone".

Teacher of Russian language and literature Dubovtsova O.N.

Goals:

1.Introduce students to the work of Prosper Merimee.

2.Give an idea about the genre of the short story, about the heroic character in literature

3.Develop the ability to competently characterize literary characters, develop teamwork skills

4. To foster moral qualities such as honor, conscience, dignity, and loyalty to duty.

During the classes.

I.Lesson organization.

II. Introductory speech by the teacher about the life and work of the writer.

Prosper Merimee is a representative of French literature of the 19th century.

He was born in Paris in 1803. His parents were artists. The boy grew up in a family where art was admired. As a young man, he entered the University of Paris to study law. However, legal sciences did not interest the student, and literature, history of languages, and archeology became his real vocation. Later P. Merimee was elected a member of the French Academy.

The writer’s creative path began in 1825 with the publication of a collection of plays called “The Theater of Clara Gasul.” In the period before 1829, a large number of ballads, poems, and the novel “The Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX” were written. Merimee's further work is associated with the genre of short narrative form - the short story. Merimee's heroes are always extraordinary, exceptional people with a difficult fate. It is enough to remember Carmen - the name of this heroine is known throughout the world. Bizet's famous opera was written based on Mérimée's short story. A masterpiece of novelistic art was his short story “Matteo Falcone”, where the tragic story of the hero - little Fortunatto - shocks the reader.

The short story “Matteo Falcone” was written in 1829 and then translated into Russian. One of the translators was N.V. Gogol. In this work, the writer is primarily interested in moral and aesthetic problems; he penetrates deeper into the inner world of his characters, explores the connection of their actions with reality, with the circumstances of life.

Merimee knew Russian language and Russian literature. He translated into French the short story “The Queen of Spades” and the poem “Gypsies” by Pushkin, a number of works by Gogol and the novel “Smoke” by Turgenev, with whom he was familiar and corresponded.

The work of Merimee - a historian, creator of bright, unforgettable characters - is interesting for the reader. This is a writer who develops a discerning literary taste and helps readers appreciate the merits of prose.

III.Work on the concept of the novel.

The work “Matteo Falcone” is written in the genre of a short story. Let's write the definition in a notebook.

Novella- a short epic work comparable to a short story and characterized by a sharp, fast-paced plot and lack of descriptiveness. The focus of a short story is usually on an incident that influences the hero’s life and reveals his character.

You have read the short story “Matteo Falcone”. And you probably remembered at the same time that it is necessary to carefully and thoughtfully read the work the first time, because it may happen that you don’t have to read it the second time, and the plot, its characters, individual details and phrases will be etched in your memory for life – this is the basis of a person’s erudition and culture.

IV. Reading test.

Carrying out a test to identify students' knowledge of the text.

1.The action of the novel takes place:

A) on the sea coast

B) on a steep hill

B) in the gorge of the mountains

2. Poppies are:

A) red flowers

B) a plantation for growing smugglers' goods

C) dense, disorderly thickets of shoots from a burned forest.

3. “A man of small stature, but strong, with curly jet-black hair, an aquiline nose, thin lips, large lively eyes and a face the color of tanned leather” is a portrait:

A) Matteo Falcone

B) Giannetto Sanpiero

B) Theodora Gamba

4.Fortunato hid the bandit:

A) in the cellar

B) in the house

B) in a haystack

5. Yellow Collars are:

A) shepherds

B) Corsican soldiers

C) bandits who were hiding in poppies

6. Matteo Falcone was a fairly rich man and lived:

A) in a spacious one-story house with many rooms

B) in a two-story mansion

C) his home consisted of one square room

7.Fortunato was a boy:

A) selfish

B) selfless

B) very cowardly

8.Soldiers:

A) immediately shot the caught bandit

B) bandaged his wound

B) they put him in shackles

9. Matteo Falcone

A) was associated with bandits in common illegal affairs

B) was angry at the bandits

C) treated them with respect for their courage and courage

10.Gianneto:

A) mortally insulted Matteo, hurt his family honor

B) shook his head sympathetically when he saw Matteo appear

B) shouted and swore at Matteo with the last words

11.Matteo:

A) praised his son for the watch he received from the sergeant

B) smashed them to pieces

C) didn’t pay attention to the clock

12. Matteo made his son pray before he died:

A) to give yourself time to cool down, forgive the child and change your terrible decision

B) to let his son die as a Christian

C) so that the son, having prayed, would repent and ask for forgiveness with a clear conscience, and then his father would forgive him.

13. You explain Matteo’s action:

A) great love for the motherland

B) selfishness

C) a sense of self-worth and honor.

CODE:1-b,2-c,3-a,4-c,5-b,6-c,7-a,8-b,9-c,10-a,11-b,12-b, 13th century

(The answer to question 13 reveals the students’ personal perception of the characters, so other answers should not be regarded as incorrect).

V. Vocabulary work.

You came across words in the text whose meaning was not clear. Let's work with them.

Studying textbook footnotes and writing comments, for example:

Maki- an area covered with dense bushes.

Ecu -an old French coin.

Common man - here: a civilian not participating in hostilities.

Clearing - a place free from thickets.

Memorial service - funeral prayer.

VI.Analysis of the novella.

The class is divided into groups and each gets a task. A little time is given to discuss it, then the presentation of each group is heard.

Group1. Retell the passage from the beginning to the words “...how he had to repent of it.” Give it a title. Answer questions 2-3 and from the section of the textbook “Reflecting on what we read.”

Group 2. Read by role the passage from the words “Several hours have passed…” to the words “... as if nothing had happened, I stretched out in the sun.” Give it a title. How did Fortunato talk to the bandit? Prove that the boy was smart and resourceful.

Group 3 . Read by role the passage from the words “A few minutes later, six shooters...” to the words “The temptation was too great...” Title it. How did Fortunato behave with the police? Why did he turn out to be a traitor?

Group 4 . Retell the passage close to the text from the words “Fortunato raised his left hand...” to the words “... despite our relationship.” Why did Fortunato betray Giannetto? How do the characters of the episode behave: Fortunato, Giannetto? Giuseppa, Matteo? What mental contradictions does each of them experience?

Group 5. Read by role the passage from the words “At last he made a bold decision ...” to the words “... he moved quickly towards the plain.” How are the life principles of Matteo and the sergeant different? What details show the characters’ attitude to Fortunato’s action?

Group 6. Retell the passage from the words “About ten minutes passed...” to the end of the story. Describe the psychological state of Matteo and Fortunato. What is the tragedy of the final episode?

VII. Summing up.

Who is to blame for Fortunato’s death? (Fortunato died at the hands of his own father. He paid with his life because of his selfishness and greed, which led him to betrayal. Sergeant Gamba, who bribed the boy and provoked his act, was also involved in this.

Who is he, Matteo Falcone, a hero or a murderer? (In the figure of Matteo Falcone, a conflict between the heroic and treacherous principles of life is revealed. It turns out that Matteo is both a hero and a murderer. From the point of view of Christianity, from a universal human point of view, he is a murderer who has committed a grave sin. And from the point of view of the unwritten laws of the inhabitants of Corsica, their understanding of duty and honor, he is a hero who has committed justice. It takes great willpower and strength of character to punish his own son. It is love for his son that pushes Falcone to murder. Matteo Falcone’s strength of character is such that he overcomes the natural human instinct of preserving himself in children, the instinct of continuation. kind.)

We have seen how complex and ambiguous the character of the hero of the story, Matteo Falcone, is.

And one last thing. Let us note the significance of the name of the main character's son, Fortunatto. Fortune means "luck". Fortunatto was "the hope of the family and the successor of the family." In this name there is a tragic discrepancy between the fate of the heroes and their initial hopes.

Homework.

Complete the “Creative task” of the textbook or answer one of the questions in writing:

1.What is Fortunato’s fault and misfortune?

2.Can Matteo Falcone’s cruel act be justified?

Prosper Merimee is a French writer, master of the short story. He was born in Paris in 1803. He owes his creative abilities to his parents, artists. Young Mérimée discovered at an early age an elegant taste for art and literature.

short biography

Merimee completed a law course and became the secretary of the Count - Minister. He then rose through the ranks and became an inspector of historical monuments in France, where he contributed to the preservation of a number of historical monuments. During his first trip to Spain, Prosper became friends with the family of the Comte de Teba, and his daughter Eugenie, who later became the French Empress, even had special feelings for him, but treated him like a father. Thanks to this and other factors, Prosper Merimee was appointed to the position of senator and enjoyed the trust of Emperor Napoleon.

However, Merimee was not too interested in politics and career growth. He positioned himself as a writer-artist and tried to reflect his emotional experiences in his work. While still a student, he was included in the club of art and literature lovers thanks to his friends. Not only the French, but also Germans and Russian writers such as Sobolevsky came to this club for literary evenings.

Merimee’s views on literature were formed precisely under the influence of the literary circle and his friends, the Shtapfers. Merimee was fond of foreign literature, was also interested in Russian works, and studied the Russian language. His versatility and versatile approach to the study of literature helped him stand out among his compatriots. Merimee paid much attention to the works of Pushkin and Gogol.

The work of Prosper Merimee

The writer presented his first work to the public at the age of 20, while still very young. The first work was the drama "Cromwell". Prosper presented this novel to a literary circle and earned the praise of his experienced comrades. However, the writer himself was not satisfied with the work, and it did not make it into print.

The writer published his first dramatic plays in 1852 and indicated that these were works of unknown Spanish writers, only translated by him. Ampère stated that these works could have belonged to Shakespeare's son. Merimee's second work, “Guzla,” also caused a lot of noise in Europe, as it was a clever pastiche of folk motifs. In fact, the work “Guzla” was a translation of Illyrian folklore. Both works were reflected in the writer’s further work.

The work “Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX” is also a contribution to French literature. Merimee had the ability to perfectly depict war scenes, although he himself was not in the war. This work is considered one of the most reliable historical novels of that era. The realistic story from the life of “Mateo Falcone” is also considered a historical work. This work describes the life of the Corsicans. One of the important and unusual novels can be considered “Tamango” - a story about the trade in African slaves.

The most famous French short story was Carmen, created in 1845. All of Mérimée's novels are impartial, cool, with clear presentation of facts and great attention to detail. In his work, the earthly triumphs over the heavenly. He even treated love grotesquely; there is no romance in his works. The struggle of peoples against rulers occupies a lot of space in his works; he also translated the works of Russian writers, in particular Pushkin and Gogol.

• “Matteo Falcone”, a summary of the novel by Prosper Merimee