The Fate of Carmen

Book excerpt: "The ongoing proliferation of new versions of Carmen presents an ideal opportunity to study both the cultural power and renewability of certain literary texts and the relationship between literature and the performing arts. Since its introduction in Prosper Mérimée's 1845 novella, the Carmen character has been the subject of countless portrayals, from Bizet's 1874 opera, to various dramatic, dance and musical renditions, to films by such directors as Peter Brook, Jean-Luc Godard, Francesco Rosi, and Carlos Saura. In [this book], [the author] studies competing representations of Carmen as either dangerous femme fatale, liberated woman, or vanguard warrior in the battle between the sexes. [The author] locates the impetus for the continual renewal of this modern myth in the cultural ideal of Bohemia, tracing the history of this ideal from nineteenth-century Paris to the European Union of today"--Back cover.