La Vénus d'Ille

Infobox short story |
name = La Vénus d'Ille
title_orig =
translator =
author = Prosper Mérimée
country = flagicon|FranceFrance
language = French
series =
genre = Fantasy, horror
published_in =
publication_type =
publisher =
media_type =
pub_date = 1837
english_pub_date =
preceded_by =
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"La Vénus d'Ille" is a short story by Prosper Mérimée. It was written in 1835 and published in 1837. It tells the story of a statue of Venus that comes to life and kills the son of its owner, whom it believes to be its husband.

Plot summary

The narrator, an archeologist, is visiting the town of Ille in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. A friend of his recommended him to M. de Peyrehorade, who is familiar with the Roman ruins in the area. When he arrives, he discovers that M. de Peyrehorade's son, Alphonse, is to be married to a certain Mademoiselle de Puygarrig, and the narrator is invited to the wedding.

Meanwhile, M. de Peyrehorade shows the narrator his new discovery: a bronze statue of Venus Pudica. The narrator judges the statue to be very old and deciphers the inscription. Both men marvel at her fierce gaze; she is as frightening as she is beautiful. She also seems to be cursed: the man who found her had his leg broken, and another man who threw a stone at her was injured by the stone rebounding and striking him.

Before the wedding, the groom decides to play a game of Paume, and he slips the wedding ring intended for his fiancée onto a finger of the statue. He wins the game, but his opponents swear revenge. He accidentally leaves the ring with the statue; and when he goes back later to retrieve it, he discovers that the statue has closed her fingers around it. The narrator does not believe Alphonse's story, since Alphonse has been drinking heavily at the reception, and he goes to bed.

During the night, the narrator hears heavy footsteps climbing the stairs; but he assumes that it is a drunken Alphonse going to bed. In the morning, after the cock's crow, he hears the same steps retreating down the stairs. Suddenly, there is screaming and commotion. The narrator runs down the hall to find a crowd of people surrounding the dead Alphonse, who looks as though he died in a fiery embrace.

At first, he suspects that it was the rival faction from the game of Paume; but later he hears the story of Alphonse's wife, who others claim has gone crazy. She says that the statue entered the room, embraced her husband, and spent the entire night with him in her arms. In the morning, the statue left him there and returned to her pedastal.

The narrator leaves town to return to Paris. He later hears that M. de Peyrehorade has died, and his wife had the statue melted down and turned into a bell for the local church. The narrator remarks that since the bell has been installed, the crops have been destroyed twice by frost.

Characters

*The narrator, an archeologist from Paris on vacation in Ille
*M. de Peyrehorade, the owner of the statue
*Mme de Peyrehorade, M. de Peyrehorade's wife
*Alphonse, M. de Peyrehorade's son
*Mlle de Puygarrig, Alphonse's fiancée and later wife
*Vénus, the statue

Analysis and significance

The "Fantastique"

"La Vénus d'Ille" is a short story associated with the fantastique in France, a genre in which the rational and irrational are blended. Strange events plague the rationality of the narrator, who, like the reader, is continually looking for a logical solution to the problem. At the end of the story, even when a possible solution is offered (revenge), the facts of the story render it impossible (alibis for the suspects, the account of Alphonse's wife).

Other motifs associated with the fantastique are the animation of an inanimate object (the statue) and the coupling of characters (Mlle de Pygarrig and Vénus).

First person narrative

"La Vénus d'Ille" is written in the first person. First person narratives are traditional for the "fantastique;" however, normally the narrator is the victim and not a spectator, as seen here.

Moral

Perhaps the greatest deviation from the typical fantastique narrative is the inclusion of an implicit moral: love must be respected. Any character that disrespects love in the short story is punished by Vénus. Two characters (Jean Coll, the apprentice) abuse the actual statue and are injured. M. Alphonse abuses the sanctity of marriage and is killed. M. Peyrehorade neglects his wife and his family in favor of an inanimate object, and his son dies.

External links

* [http://www.psychanalyse-paris.com/La-Venus-d-Ille.html Online text] in French