In the following excerpt, George asserts that the bare narrative style of Merimee's "Mateo Falcone" underscores the theme of family honor.

To be sure, "Mateo Falcone" (1829) came primarily from an article in the Revue trimestrielle of July, 1828, which contained the story of a Corsican shot by his relatives for betraying two deserters. Merimee also turned to the abbe Gaudin for details on a land he had not yet visited, but to this basic material he brought the skill that would make him one of France's greatest storytellers.

"Mateo Falcone" is related like an anecdote, in a clean style, stripped to essentials, lacking even the colorful adjectives so dear to the romantics. The plot is handled with a sure sense of the dramatic, all elements united to produce a single effect. Merimee thus produced a narrative that fits perfectly Poe's later definition of the formal short story.

Merimee...