SOURCE: Mortimer, Armine Kotin. “Secrets of Literature, Resistance to Meaning.” In Confrontations: Politics and Aesthetics in Nineteenth-Century France, edited by Kathryn M. Grossman, Michael E. Lane, Bénédicte Monicat, and Willa Z. Silverman, pp. 55-66. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2001.

In the following essay, Mortimer elucidates the ambiguous meanings of several stories, including “The Venus d'Ille,” concluding that Mérimée intended uncertainty in the story.

Did Mérimée's Vénus d'Ille intend to murder Alphonse de Peyrehorade, when she invaded his nuptial bed, or did she merely embrace him with all the strength of her passion for him—and then discover to her chagrin the lifeless body crushed by her bronze arms? The answer to this question, if it were available, would not radically revise our interpretations of “La Vénus d'Ille,” and the fact that it is unavailable should not be cause for anxiety. Generations of readers...