LE FANTASTIQUE DANS « VISION DE CHARLES XI » DE PROSPER MÉRIMÉE
THE FANTASTIC IN "VISION OF CHARLES XI" BY PROSPER MÉRIMÉE

Summary/Abstract: Vision de Charles XI was published in Mérimée’s first collection of short stories, Mosaïque, which appeared in 1833. As usual, Mérimée takes the reader on a journey, this time to Sweden. It is Mérimée’s first short story to contain elements of the fantastic, though it is not yet a fantastic short story like La Vénus d’Ille. The third-person narrative presents itself as objective, being reported as contained "in a properly executed official report". The first-person narrator who introduces the story insists on "the authenticity of the event," arguing that the report is historically accurate. The fantastic is interwoven through elements that Mérimée introduces into his narrative, thus departing from the "reality" of the events contained in the official report. The tripolar space (so characteristic of Mérimée’s short stories) in which these events take place is transformed before the eyes of the characters, who have become actors/spectators of the vision, into a supernatural scene which will leave traces on real objects in order to mix the illogical with the logic of the narrative.

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