''La Vénus d'Ille'' (, "The

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

Ille The Ille (; br, Il) is a small river in Brittany, France, right tributary of the river Vilaine. It is long. It flows into the Vilaine in the city Rennes. The Ille is linked to the river Rance by the Canal d'Ille-et-Rance. By this canal, Ren ...

") is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...

. It was written in

1835 Events January–March * January 7 – anchors off the Chonos Archipelago on her second voyage, with Charles Darwin on board as naturalist. * January 8 – The United States public debt contracts to zero, for the only time in history. ...

and published in

1837 Events January–March * January 1 – The destructive Galilee earthquake causes 6,000–7,000 casualties in Ottoman Syria. * January 26 – Michigan becomes the 26th state admitted to the United States. * February – Charles Dick ...

. It tells the story of a statue of

that comes to life and kills the son of its owner, whom it believes to be its husband.

Plot summary

The narrator, an

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, is visiting the town of

in the

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and b ...

region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. A friend of his recommends him to M. de Peyrehorade, who is familiar with the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

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 pedestal. The narrator leaves town to return to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. 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

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 maudite *le Catalan

Adaptations

In 1931, the story was adapted as "The Bronze Venus," a 30-minute episode of the radio show The Witch's Tale. It was also adapted as a 60-minute episode of an Italian TV anthology series called ''The Devil's Games''. It was directed by famed Italian horror film director

Mario Bava Mario Bava (31 July 1914 – 27 April 1980) was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter, frequently referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the M ...

, with his son Lamberto Bava co-directing. The TV episode was unfortunately never dubbed in English. It was also adapted into the

Guy Maddin Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film i ...

film ''

Twilight of the Ice Nymphs ''Twilight of the Ice Nymphs'' is a 1997 fantasy romance film directed by Guy Maddin. The screenplay was written by George Toles and inspired by the novel '' Pan'' (1894) by Knut Hamsun, with an additional literary touchstones being the short stor ...

''. In 1967, director Janusz Majewski, who would later adapt Mérimée's novella '' Lokis'' as a feature film, directed a 22-minute-long, black-and-white television adaptation of ''La Vénus d'Ille'', titled ''Wenus z Ille'' (''The Venus of Ille'').

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venus d'Ille 1837 short stories French short stories Horror short stories Works by Prosper Mérimée Short stories adapted into films Venus (mythology)