Prosper Mérimée (1803–1870)

Songs for the Gusle, newly translated for the first time into English, falls into a category of literature I find alternately fascinating and, at times, intricately frustrating. Dubbed "fakelore" by the publishing press, Frayed Edge Press, this work is a collection of prose poems, folktales, ballads, scholarly essays, and a number of other short pieces drawing from various genres which purport, at least in the context of the introduction, to be discovered folk literature from the Illyrian Provinces.

In reality, these "discoveries" are a frame narrative for author Prosper Mérimée's fictional creations, credited to an anonymous traveler from the Balkans explaining in great detail the historical and sociological context of literature and cultures he so clearly does not understand.

As translator Laura Nagle explains, much of the brilliance in this relies on Merimee's knowledge of his audience and assumption that they knew no more about the Balkans than he did, the realistic influence for the fictional "Illyrians".

While the overt brilliance is in the presentation itself, the underlying ability to create stunningly legitimate works of folklore in various forms to convincingly stage and frame this collection is where Merimee's true genius shines and, in turn, the work of the translator is given space to shine as well.

This collection is a conglomerate of genres and literary forms that create a realistic, if not largely tongue-in-cheek compendium of subtle storytelling for a fictional society, and in turn, speak to Mérimée's awareness of both himself and his surroundings, as his "translation" speaks to, what else, but a white man explaining the customs of a culture he has no authority on.

Author Prosper Mérimée might be better known to most of us as the author of Carmen, arguably one of his most famous and influential works which went on to inspire operas, ballets, and so on.

While Carmen is, in and of itself, a subtle commentary on the ways in which the power of the story is in the hands of the person telling it, Songs for the Gusle approaches this theme in a far more satirical and forthright manner, successfully pulling off what Philippe Met, Professor of French Studies at the University of Pennsylvania called, "one of the most brilliant literary hoaxes."

Translator Laura Nagle must be given great credit for her attentive work in bringing this collection to life for the first time in complete English translation. Because of the nature of the original text, there are a number of linguistic subtleties hidden within this deceptively simple text, a challenge that Nagle aptly rises to.

The voice here is conveyed with great brevity and wit, the satire is subtle and effective in nature, and Nagle shows great skill in translating across a number of literary formats, many in faux-fragmented form in order to create the illusion of "found" literature.

In my humble opinion, one of the truest indications of the merit of this enthralling work is the simple fact that, throughout its entirety, I would find myself forgetting again and again that the locations, characters, folklore, etc described amidst the pages, were not in actuality the long-lost musings of an over-eager explorer.

Nagle's translation far surpasses doing this work justice—she has given new life to a work lost to time and conveyed not merely the words on the page, but pays true homage to the overall satire and wit that first appeared in La Guzla.

There is much to be said for the merit of this work, from its status as a cultural investigative work, not of the fictional Illyria but of Mérimée's France and the attitudes of the explorers and academics that inhabited it, to its shining debut as a complete English translation, a vast 196 years after its initial publication.

I highly recommend this enthralling, scintillating work both for the genius of the translation and the vast cultural components of the original text, and I can't wait for its official release!… (lisätietoja)