Visit to the Doctor

Del clásico de la literatura inglesa Three Men in a Boat, de Jerome K. Jerome…

“…I sat and reflected. I thought what an interesting case I must be from a medical point of view, what an acquisition I should be to a class! Students would have no need to “walk the hospitals,” if they had me. I was a hospital in myself. All they need do would be to walk round me, and, after that, take their diploma.

Then I wondered how long I had to live. I tried to examine myself. I felt my pulse. I could not at first feel any pulse at all.  Then, all of a sudden, it seemed to start off. I pulled out my watch and timed it. I made it a hundred and forty-seven to the minute.  I tried to feel my heart. I could not feel my heart. It had stopped beating. I have since been induced to come to the opinion that it must have been there all the time, and must have been beating, but I cannot account for it. I patted myself all over my front, from what I call my waist up to my head, and I went a bit round each side, and a little way up the back.  But I could not feel or hear anything. I tried to look at my tongue.  I stuck it out as far as ever it would go, and I shut one eye, and tried to examine it with the other. I could only see the tip, and the only thing that I could gain from that was to feel more certain than before that I had scarlet fever.

The Start

“…estábamos en  mi habitación, fumando, y hablando acerca de lo mal que nos sentíamos…” del clásico de Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat…

"…There were four of us—George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency.  We were sitting in my room, smoking, and talking about how bad we were—bad from a medical point of view I mean, of course. Three Men in a Boat

We were all feeling squalid, and we were getting quite nervous about it.  Harris said he felt such extraordinary fits of dizziness come over him at times, that he hardly knew what he was doing; and then George said that he had fits of dizziness too, and hardly knew what he was doing.  With me, it was my liver that was out of order.  I knew it was my liver that was out of order, because I had just been reading a patent liver-pill circular, in which were detailed the various symptoms by which a man could tell when his liver was out of order.  I had them all.

Tres Hombres en un Bote

La novela de Jerome K. Jerome, Tres Hombres en un Bote, comienza con la presentación de George, Harris, Jerome y Montmorency, un fox terrier. Los hombres pasan la noche fumando y discutiendo enfermedades que ellos imaginan que sufren.

“Estábamos hablando sobre nuestras enfermedades, en mi habitación, mientras fumábamos. Todos manifestábamos cierto mareo. En mi caso el problema era el hígado, cuyos síntomas descubrí al leer una propaganda. En cierta ocasión encontré un libro donde se detallaban las enfermedades. Al buscar que enfermedades podía tener descubrí que las tenía a todas, o casi todas. Difteria, fiebre tifoidea, la danza de San Vito, la enfermedad de Bright, cólera. Al parecer me salvaba de la rodilla del ama de casa, enfermedad que me pareció escurridiza. ¿Por qué no podía tenerla?”

Sobre Edith Wharton

La vida de Edith Wharton fue muy interesante. Viajó por Europa, colaboró con el esfuerzo francés en la Primera Guerra Mundial, hablaba varios idiomas y fue condecorada por su valor. Aquí vemos algunos trazos de la vida de la autora norteamericana, amiga de Henry James, conocida de F. Scott Fitzgerald y visitada por Theodore Roosevelt.

Más abajo una foto del Le Soir sobre el ataque alemán a Bélgica.

 

… ayudó en la implementación de hostales para refugiados, que manejó para conseguirles techo, comida y… 

La Palabra que Faltaba: The Age of Innocence

Entre algunas de las tantas palabras que desconocemos podemos averiguar el significado de Battery y Faust-Capoul. “. . . en la vieja opera en Battery”, “. . . el sofisticado rostro del pequeño Fausto-Capoul”. El primer término, Battery, se refiere a un lugar; el segundo, Fausto-Capoul, hace alusión a personas.

 “. . . a beautiful Spanish dancer who had been delighting thronged audiences in the old Opera-house on the Battery had taken ship for Cuba.”

Battery  - Battery Park

Es un parque público en la parte sur de la isla de Manhattan en el sudeste de la ciudad de Nueva York. Es el sitio donde se instalaron las primeras fortificaciones holandesas e inglesas y el Castillo Clinton, construido en 1808 para la defensa del puerto. Lleva este nombre debido a las baterías de artillería que se instalaron en el lugar para defender a la ciudad en los años de la colonia.

La Palabra que Faltaba

Sense and Sensibility

Hay palabras que no entendemos. Como cada vez que leemos los clásicos de la literatura en inglés tenemos dificultades en cuanto al vocabulario, a los lugares históricos y geográficos, etc. Veamos algunas palabras, un tanto oscuras, analizadas en contexto.

She was generous, amiable, interesting: she was everything but prudent.

Their mother had nothing, and their father only seven thousand pounds in his own disposal; for the remaining moiety of his first wife's fortune was also secured to her child, and he had only a life-interest in it.

Sobre Jane Austen

Leemos un poco sobre la inglesa Jane Austen, sus adaptaciones contemporáneas, incluso en pornografía. Bastante interesante. Aquí está...

 

Desde 1.995 aparecieron varias adaptaciones de Austen, con el film de Ang Lee, Sense and Sensibility, con Emma Thompson…

 

Trazos biográficos

Jane Austen (1775 -1817) fue una novelista inglesa cuyas obras románticas, ubicadas entre los terratenientes, le ganaron un lugar entre las escritoras más leídas en la literatura británica.

Sense and Sensibility: Giving Less

John y su esposa discuten sobre la cantidad de dinero para las hermanas. Tres mil libras esterlinas era la suma original, luego quinientas. Debían pensar en el futuro de Harry, tal vez resentiría la falta de ese dinero en su mayoría de edad. Además las hermanas posiblemente se casarían con un rico heredero. También se discutió una suma anual para la madre, aunque la esposa no estaba muy inclinada a aceptar esa propuesta.

The Dashwood Case

“John had been called to his father´s house. Henry was dying. John did not feel any sorrow inside. They had had many differences. He remembered his mother´s death, his father´s marriage after just a year and his new sisters. No, he thought. He could not feel love for him. As he came near the bed he observed the shaking hands of the diseased man. He looked more fragile than he used to remember him. 

Sense and Sensibility, the money

Ahora instalada, la esposa de John, como la dueña de Norland discutió con su esposo la idea de entregarles el dinero a sus media hermanas. Razonó que semejante cantidad de dinero sería hacer peligrar el futuro del pequeño Harry y que las hermanas se casarían más adelante con hombres ricos. John, aunque decidido a entregarles una buena suma de dinero a las hermanas, ahora cambió de idea. Le pareció que una suma bastante menor sería cumplir, igualmente, con la promesa a su padre.

Mrs. John Dashwood now installed herself mistress of Norland; and her mother and sisters-in-law were degraded to the condition of visitors. As such, however, they were treated by her with quiet civility; and by her husband with as much kindness as he could feel towards anybody beyond himself, his wife, and their child. He really pressed them, with some earnestness, to consider Norland as their home; and, as no plan appeared so eligible to Mrs. Dashwood as remaining there till she could accommodate herself with a house in the neighbourhood, his invitation was accepted.

A continuance in a place where everything reminded her of former delight, was exactly what suited her mind. In seasons of cheerfulness, no temper could be more cheerful than hers, or possess, in a greater degree, that sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself. But in sorrow she must be equally carried away by her fancy, and as far beyond consolation as in pleasure she was beyond alloy.

Sense and Sensibility: The Dashwoods

La señora Dashwood se sintió tan ofendida con su nuera que hubiera abandonado la casa de inmediato si no hubiera sido por el consejo de Elinor, la hija mayor. Elinor poseía tan buen entendimiento y juicio que, aunque solo de 19 años, servía como consejera de su madre. Tenía un excelente corazón y sabía cómo gobernar sus sentimientos. Marianne era sensible e inteligente pero exagerada en sus sentimientos. Todas sufrían la situación en que se encontraban pero Elinor era capaz de contenerse. Podía recibir a la esposa de John, pedir consejo de su hermano y calmar a su madre y hermanas. Margaret, la otra hermana, tenía buen humor y había asimilado el romanticismo de Marianne, aunque sin su sentido. 

" . . . So acutely did Mrs. Dashwood feel this ungracious behaviour, and so earnestly did she despise her daughter-in-law for it, that, on the arrival of the latter, she would have quitted the house for ever, had not the entreaty of her eldest girl induced her first to reflect on the propriety of going, and her own tender love for all her three children determined her afterwards to stay, and for their sakes avoid a breach with their brother.

Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her mother, and enabled her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all, that eagerness of mind in Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led to imprudence. She had an excellent heart;—her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn; and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught.

Sense and Sensibility, Difficulties

Mr. John Dashwood had not the strong feelings of the rest of the family; but he was affected by a recommendation of such a nature at such a time, and he promised to do everything in his power to make them comfortable. His father was rendered easy by such an assurance, and Mr. John Dashwood had then leisure to consider how much there might prudently be in his power to do for them.

He was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be rather cold hearted and rather selfish is to be ill-disposed: but he was, in general, well respected; for he conducted himself with propriety in the fulfill of his ordinary duties. Had he married a friendlier woman, he might have been made still more respectable than he was:—he might even have been made friendly himself; for he was very young when he married, and very fond of his wife. But Mrs. John Dashwood was a strong caricature of himself;—more narrow-minded and selfish.

Sense and Sensibility

The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding neighbours. The late owner of this estate was a single man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his life, had a constant companion and housekeeper in his sister. But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his home; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood, the legal inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he intended to leave it. In the society of his nephew and niece, and their children, the old Gentleman's days were comfortably spent. His attachment to them all increased. The constant attention of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood to his wishes, which proceeded not merely from interest, but from goodness of heart, gave him every degree of solid comfort which his age could receive; and the cheerfulness of the children added enjoyment to his existence.

Sentido y Sensibilidad

Sense and Sensibility, título original en inglés, también conocida como Sensatez y sentimientos, es una novela de la escritora británica Jane Austen publicada en 1811. Fue la primera de las novelas de Austen en ser publicadas, bajo el seudónimo de "A Lady" (una dama). Ha sido adaptada para el cine y la televisión numerosas veces, destacando la versión de Ang Lee en 1995.

Las protagonistas son las hermanas Elinor y Marianne Dashwood, que viven con su madre, la señora Dashwood, y su hermana menor, Margaret. Después de la muerte de su padre el patrimonio familiar pasa a su medio hermano, John Dashwood, único descendiente masculino e hijo de un primer matrimonio; la familia queda con casi nada y se muda a una casita en el campo que les ofrece un pariente. La novela sigue a las hermanas Dashwood a su nuevo hogar, donde experimentan tanto el romance como una desilusión amorosa. Allí conocen a tres hombres: Edward Ferrars, Willoughby y al Coronel Brandon.

Mysterious VI

Una joven en uniforme V.A.D. llegó hasta el lugar. Era Cynthia Murdoch. Una pelirroja muy bonita. Me senté a su lado. Me explicó que trabajaba en el dispensario de Tadminster. La señora Inglethorp requirió su asistencia para escribir una carta. Cynthia se levantó presta a cumplir su deber. Luego la señora Inglethorp dirigiéndose a mí me informó que nada en la casa se desperdiciaba, para apoyar el esfuerzo de la guerra. John me mostraría mi habitación.

A young girl in V. A. D. uniform ran lightly across the lawn.

"Why, Cynthia, you are late to-day. This is Mr. Hastings—Miss Murdoch."

Cynthia Murdoch was a fresh-looking young creature, full of life and vigour. She tossed off her little V. A. D. cap, and I admired the great loose waves of her auburn hair, and the smallness and whiteness of the hand she held out to claim her tea. With dark eyes and eyelashes she would have been a beauty.

She flung herself down on the ground beside John, and as I handed her a plate of sandwiches she smiled up at me.

"Sit down here on the grass, do. It's ever so much nicer."

I dropped down obediently.

"You work at Tadminster, don't you, Miss Murdoch?"

She nodded.

"For my sins."

"Do they bully you, then?" I asked, smiling.

"I should like to see them!" cried Cynthia with dignity.

"I have got a cousin who is nursing," I remarked. "And she is terrified of 'Sisters'."

"I don't wonder. Sisters are, you know, Mr. Hastings. They simp—ly are! You've no idea! But I'm not a nurse, thank heaven, I work in the dispensary."

"How many people do you poison?" I asked, smiling.

Cynthia smiled too.

"Oh, hundreds!" she said.

"Cynthia," called Mrs. Inglethorp, "do you think you could write a few notes for me?"

"Certainly, Aunt Emily."

She jumped up promptly, and something in her manner reminded me that her position was a dependent one, and that Mrs. Inglethorp, kind as she might be in the main, did not allow her to forget it.

My hostess turned to me.

"John will show you your room. Supper is at half-past seven. We have given up late dinner for some time now. Lady Tadminster, our Member's wife—she was the late Lord Abbotsbury's daughter—does the same. She agrees with me that one must set an example of economy. We are quite a war household; nothing is wasted here—every scrap of waste paper, even, is saved and sent away in sacks."

I expressed my appreciation, and John took me into the house and up the broad staircase, which forked right and left half-way to different wings of the building. My room was in the left wing, and looked out over the park.

Vocabulario:

V. A. D.: organización dedicada a prover servicios de enfermería, principalmente en hospitales, en Gran Bretaña y otros países del imperio británico.

Tossed: tiró.

Auburn: pelirrojo.

Flung: fling: se dejó caer.

Forked: se bifurcaba.

Inglés con los clásicos. Gral Guemes 561, local 9. Tel. 0387-4249159/155723965. 4400 Salta. Argentina

The Mysterious Affair IV

Una voz se escuchó a través de la ventana: “¿Tú escribirás a la princesa? En caso de una negativa Lady Tadminster podría ser la que abra la primera noche y la señora Crosbie la segunda.” Luego la señora Inglethorp, seguida de su esposo, apareció en el jardín.

Me saludó afectuosamente y me presentó a su marido, Alfred. Alfred llevaba una barba larga y muy negra. Tenía lentes sobre su nariz. Me pareció extraño. Su saludo fue algo frio.

Con la presencia del señor Inglethorp una especie de hostilidad se instaló en el lugar. Especialmente la señorita Howard no ocultó sus sentimientos.

La señora Inglethorp no había perdido su locuacidad. Habló de sus reuniones, consultando con su marido sobre los horarios y fechas.

Alfred me cayó mal desde el primer momento.

 At that moment a well remembered voice floated through the open French window near at hand:

"Then you'll write to the Princess after tea, Alfred? I'll write to Lady Tadminster for the second day, myself. Or shall we wait until we hear from the Princess? In case of a refusal, Lady Tadminster might open it the first day, and Mrs. Crosbie the second. Then there's the Duchess—about the school fete."

There was the murmur of a man's voice, and then Mrs. Inglethorp's rose in reply:

"Yes, certainly. After tea will do quite well. You are so thoughtful, Alfred dear."

The French window swung open a little wider, and a handsome white-haired old lady, with a somewhat masterful cast of features, stepped out of it on to the lawn. A man followed her, a suggestion of deference in his manner.

Mrs. Inglethorp greeted me with effusion.

"Why, if it isn't too delightful to see you again, Mr. Hastings, after all these years. Alfred, darling, Mr. Hastings—my husband."

I looked with some curiosity at "Alfred darling". He certainly struck a rather alien note. I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard. It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen. He wore gold-rimmed pince-nez, and had a curious impassivity of feature. It struck me that he might look natural on a stage, but was strangely out of place in real life. His voice was rather deep and unctuous. He placed a wooden hand in mine and said:

"This is a pleasure, Mr. Hastings." Then, turning to his wife: "Emily dearest, I think that cushion is a little damp."

She beamed fondly on him, as he substituted another with every demonstration of the tenderest care. Strange infatuation of an otherwise sensible woman!

With the presence of Mr. Inglethorp, a sense of constraint and veiled hostility seemed to settle down upon the company. Miss Howard, in particular, took no pains to conceal her feelings. Mrs. Inglethorp, however, seemed to notice nothing unusual. Her volubility, which I remembered of old, had lost nothing in the intervening years, and she poured out a steady flood of conversation, mainly on the subject of the forthcoming bazaar which she was organizing and which was to take place shortly. Occasionally she referred to her husband over a question of days or dates. His watchful and attentive manner never varied. From the very first I took a firm and rooted dislike to him, and I flatter myself that my first judgments are usually fairly shrewd.

Presently Mrs. Inglethorp turned to give some instructions about letters to Evelyn Howard, and her husband addressed me in his painstaking voice:

"Is soldiering your regular profession, Mr. Hastings?"

"No, before the war I was in Lloyd's."

"And you will return there after it is over?"

"Perhaps. Either that or a fresh start altogether."

Vocabulario:

French window: ventanas que llegan al piso y se abren en el medio.

Fete: feria

Cast of features: facciones.

Alien: extranjero.

Pince-nez: lentes.

Unctuous: afectado.

Damp: húmedo.

Beamed: sonrió.

Fondly: afectuosamente.

Infatuation: pasión.

Inglés: exámenes y traducciones. Estamos en Gral Guemes 561, local 9. Teléfonos (0387) 4249159-155723965. Salta (4400). Argentina. 

The Mysterious III. Vocabulario

Stout: corpulenta.

Tweed: tela inglesa tipo paño.

Weed: mala hierba.

Afire: incendiándose.

Cooped up: encerrados.

Basket chair: silla de mimbre.

Slender: delgada.

Slumbering: dormido.

Tawny: ámbar.

Stillness: tranquilidad.

A lady in a stout tweed skirt, who was bending over a flower bed, straightened herself at our approach.

Tweed:  A coarse, rugged, often nubby woolen fabric made in any of various twill weaves and used chiefly for casual suits and coats.

Harris tweed woven in a herringbone twill pattern, mid-20th century

Word History:

Changes in word forms are not always the result of patterned changes in consonants and vowels over time. In the case of the word tweed, as in many others, human error may have played a part. Tweed may be the result of a misreading of tweel, an originally Scots form of twill. Tweed might also be a misreading of an abbreviated form of tweeled, a form of twilled. Association with Tweed, the name of the river that is part of the border between England and Scotland, probably helped support the misreading of what was originally a trade name. Harris Tweed, a particular type of tweed, is still trademarked and must be woven from yarn dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Tweed is said to have first been used around 1831, but it is not recorded until 1847.

Tweed: Sinónimos: gabardine, flannel.

Traducción: Tela tweed, traje de tweed.

Cheviot. Tweed: También conocido en inglés como "tweed". Es la lana del cordero de Escocia, también el paño que se hace con esta lana. Muy utilizado en trajes y prendas de vestir de invierno.

La palabra tweed no está registrada en el Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.

Referencias:

The Free Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

Diccionario de Moda http://www.protocolo.org/a_fondo/diccionario_de_moda/

Diccionario de la Real Academia Española 

http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=tweed

The Mysterious Affair ... III

El señor Hastings, de visita en la mansión de la señora Inglethorp, conoce a Evie Howard y a Mary Cavendish (esposa de John). Físicamente Evie no es muy agraciada . . . (“una profunda voz, casi masculina en sus tonos estentóreos, con un gran cuerpo cuadrado”). En cambio, Mary impresiona gratamente al visitante . . . (“nunca olvidaré la primera vista de Mary. Su forma alta y delgada. La vívida sensación de un fuego dormido que parecía encontrar expresión en sus maravillosos ojos color ámbar. Diferentes a los ojos de cualquier otra mujer que había conocido. El intenso poder de tranquilidad que poseía, que, sin embargo, transmitía la sensación de un espíritu salvaje en un cuerpo exquisitamente civilizado. Todas estas cosas están grabadas a fuego en mí y nunca las olvidaré”).

As he spoke the last words, we drew up in front of the fine old house. A lady in a stout tweed skirt, who was bending over a flower bed, straightened herself at our approach.

"Hullo, Evie, here's our wounded hero! Mr. Hastings—Miss Howard."

Miss Howard shook hands with a hearty, almost painful, grip. I had an impression of very blue eyes in a sunburnt face. She was a pleasant-looking woman of about forty, with a deep voice, almost manly in its stentorian tones, and had a large sensible square body, with feet to match—these last encased in good thick boots. Her conversation, I soon found, was couched in the telegraphic style.

"Weeds grow like house afire. Can't keep even with 'em. Shall press you in. Better be careful."

"I'm sure I shall be only too delighted to make myself useful," I responded.

"Don't say it. Never does. Wish you hadn't later."

"You're a cynic, Evie," said John, laughing. "Where's tea to-day—inside or out?"

"Out. Too fine a day to be cooped up in the house."

"Come on then, you've done enough gardening for to-day. 'The labourer is worthy of his hire', you know. Come and be refreshed."

"Well," said Miss Howard, drawing off her gardening gloves, "I'm inclined to agree with you."

She led the way round the house to where tea was spread under the shade of a large sycamore.

A figure rose from one of the basket chairs, and came a few steps to meet us.

"My wife, Hastings," said John.

I shall never forget my first sight of Mary Cavendish. Her tall, slender form, outlined against the bright light; the vivid sense of slumbering fire that seemed to find expression only in those wonderful tawny eyes of hers, remarkable eyes, different from any other woman's that I have ever known; the intense power of stillness she possessed, which nevertheless conveyed the impression of a wild untamed spirit in an exquisitely civilised body—all these things are burnt into my memory. I shall never forget them.

She greeted me with a few words of pleasant welcome in a low clear voice, and I sank into a basket chair feeling distinctly glad that I had accepted John's invitation. Mrs. Cavendish gave me some tea, and her few quiet remarks heightened my first impression of her as a thoroughly fascinating woman. An appreciative listener is always stimulating, and I described, in a humorous manner, certain incidents of my Convalescent Home, in a way which, I flatter myself, greatly amused my hostess. John, of course, good fellow though he is, could hardly be called a brilliant conversationalist.

Inglés: exámenes y traducciones. Estamos en Gral Guemes 561, local 9. Teléfonos (0387) 4249159-155723965. Salta (4400). Argentina.