The popularity of Carmen endures across generations and continents, with one of the most frequently performed and instantly recognizable operatic scores of all time and a libretto derived from Prosper Merimee's novella of the same name, written 30 years prior to the opera's 1875 debut. In Georges Bizet's Carmen--the latest volume in the Oxford Keynotes series--author Nelly Furman explores the evolution of Carmen's story and its meaning, illuminating how the titular heroine has maintained her status as a universally recognizable cultural icon. Grounded in Ludovic Halevy's and Henri Meilhac's libretto--and drawing on a wealth of mostly French critical theory--this book traces the textual, operatic, and cinematic tellings and retellings of the story, from its success as a novella in the industrial age through to its iconic position in our own cinematic era. As Furman delicately navigates the fraught terrain of racial and gendered discourse and ideology that Bizet's setting of Merimee's work traverses, she uncovers the elements of the story that give it cultural salience and resonance, both in its own right and in support of Bizet's acclaimed musical score. In doing so, Furman reveals how past and present renderings of the Carmen tale mirror the changing concerns and shifting values of individual authors and their societies--and how each new rendering has helped to embed Carmen into the global conscience.

About the Author
Nelly Furman is a scholar of French nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature with an interest in textual criticism, women, and feminist studies. She currently serves as Director of both the Office of Programs and the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages at the Modern Language Association, and is a Professor Emerita at Cornell University. She is the author of La Revue des Deux Mondes et le Romantisme (1831-1848) (1975) and co-editor of Women and Language in Literature and Society (1980).

Reviews
Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. * C. A. Kolczynski, CHOICE *
This volume is one of the most brilliant critical interpretations of Carmen as a historical phenomenon of mythic proportions. Furman's literary virtuosity makes this book indispensable to anyone interested in the many facets of Carmen, from Merimee's conception of novella to Bizet's operatic realization and subsequent filmic adaptations of her character. * Silvio J. dos Santos, University of Florida *
In this long-awaited and definitive study, Nelly Furman presents the Carmen story as the central myth of modernity - not of its founding but of its simultaneous unfounding, in which the femme fatale emerges as a projection of anxieties of race, gender, and other 'others.' As readable as it is refined, this wise and wonderful book teaches us not only about opera, film, literature, and language, but about ourselves. * Michael P. Steinberg, Professor of History and Music, Brown University *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190059149
Author Nelly Furman
Format Hardback
Page Count 184
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 286g
Dimensions(mm) 143mm * 216mm * 14mm