Carmen

When the Basque dragoon Don Jos¿eets a Gypsy woman at the factory he is guarding, he is immediately ensnared by her wiles. After she is arrested for injuring a co-worker and he helps her to flee, he is imprisoned and demoted, but she repays him at their next meeting with a day of excess and a night of love. As Carmen continues to exert her spell, Jos¿s dragged further and further into a seedy world of smugglers, robbers, fiery passions and uncontrollable jealousy ¿ one that he will find difficult to escape alive.Carmen, the archetype of the amoral femme fatale, is Prosper M¿m¿s highest creation, and a model for many subsequent literary heroines. First published in 1846, this story of crime and desire ¿ here accompanied by another famous novella by M¿m¿ The Venus of Ille ¿ has been adapted into a number of dramatic works, including the famous 1875 opera of the same name by Georges Bizet.