Colomba

Prosper Mérimée / Fu LeiApr 2017

4.3

Word count: 77K words
Chapters: 22

Summary

Fu Lei (7 April 1908 – 3 September 1966) was a renowned Chinese translator, writer, educator and art critic. He studied at the University of Paris in his early years and translated a large body of French literature, including works by Balzac, Romain Rolland and Voltaire. Over a translating career spanning some thirty years, Fu Lei produced a rich body of work distinguished by its vivid fidelity, fluent prose, rich diction and fine sensitivity to shifts of colour and tone. Colomba recounts the Corsican islanders' custom of exacting blood vengeance, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, with a love story woven in. The relaxed, lively, bantering prose stands in fitting contrast to the story's primitive mood and smell of blood.

Editor's review

Colomba is a novella by Prosper Mérimée set on the island of Corsica, depicting the islanders' custom of exacting blood vengeance, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, with a love story woven in. Fu Lei's translation is vivid and fluent, rich in diction and adept at adjusting colour to circumstance, so that beyond the primitive mood and smell of blood the work retains a relaxed, lively, bantering narrative charm. Mérimée neither stirs the emotions nor preaches; he lets custom, character and suspense advance naturally, so the reading is both tense and marked by a cool humour. For readers its value lies in presenting, in a short span, an exotic custom and the complexity of human nature: how the ethics of revenge shape characters' choices, and how love becomes entangled with them. It is a good introduction to the French novella and also suits readers who want to see Fu Lei's translating style at work in narrative literature. The book is not long and can be finished in a weekend; afterwards you might revisit the handling of key scenes.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy French novellas and want to know Mérimée
Readers interested in exotic customs and the ethics of revenge
Literature lovers who want to experience Fu Lei's narrative translation style
Weekend readers who want something short with a concentrated plot

Not a good fit for

Readers sensitive to violence and revenge who are uncomfortable with bloody descriptions
Readers who prefer only warm, healing stories and avoid conflict
Readers expecting a long, grand narrative with a complex multi-stranded structure

Reading tips

Read the story through in one go first, then revisit key scenes to appreciate the handling of suspense and narrative measure.
As you read, note how Corsican customs influence the characters' choices and set custom against character.
Pay attention to changes in diction and tone in Fu Lei's translation and compare the narrative colour of different scenes.
Afterwards compare it with other novellas by the same author to feel Mérimée's cool, restrained narrative style.

版权信息
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
八
九
一〇
一一
一二
一三
一四
一五
一六
一七
一八
一九
二〇
二一

FAQ

What is this story mainly about?

Set on the island of Corsica, the novella depicts the islanders' custom of exacting blood vengeance, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, with a love story woven in. The ethics of revenge and the emotional thread advance together; the book is short and the plot concentrated.

Are there many violent descriptions in the story?

The work involves the custom of blood vengeance and a smell of blood, but the narration does not dwell on or sensationalise them; often a relaxed, lively, bantering tone contrasts with the primitive mood. Readers sensitive to violent scenes should be prepared.

How does Fu Lei's translation read?

Fu Lei's translation is notable for its vivid fidelity, fluent prose and rich diction, with careful attention to shifts of colour. In this narrative work the translation adjusts its tone to the scene, preserving the exotic mood while reading naturally and smoothly in Chinese.

Is it long, and when is a good time to read it?

It is a novella, not long, with a concentrated plot that can be finished in a weekend. It is best read in one stretch of time so as to keep a continuous sense of the suspense and atmosphere.

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About the author

Prosper Mérimée Author · France · 1803–1870

Prosper Mérimée (1803–1870) was a French realist writer, playwright and historian, born in Paris and died in Cannes. Fluent in several languages, he served as inspector-general of historical monuments and was elected to the Académie française in 1844. He is best known for his short stories and novellas, often set against exotic or regional backgrounds; his style is restrained and concise, and he excels at building dramatic tension and an air of mystery through understated narration. His representative works include Carmen, Colomba and Mateo Falcone, and Carmen became world-famous through Bizet's opera adaptation. This collection offers twelve of his works, including the short-story selection Il Viccolo di Madama Lucrezia and the complete Fu Lei translations, giving readers a view of this classic French author.

Fu Lei Author · China · 1908–1966

Fu Lei (1908–1966), styled Nu'an and known by the sobriquet Nu'an, was a native of Nanhui, Shanghai, and a renowned Chinese translator, writer and literary critic. He studied at the University of Paris in his early years and devoted his life to translating more than thirty works by French masters such as Balzac, Romain Rolland and Voltaire. Adhering to the principle of valuing spiritual resemblance over formal likeness, his translations are celebrated for their vividness and concision and are still widely read today. His renditions of Jean-Christophe, Le Père Goriot and Eugénie Grandet have long served as key pathways for Chinese readers into French literature. Beyond translation, he wrote Letters from Fu Lei and Twenty Lectures on World Masterpieces of Art, works marked by sincerity and learning. The library holds 295 of his works, spanning essays, foreign literature and classic translations, testifying to the enduring influence of his writing and translation in the Chinese-speaking world.