War
and Peace (La guerra y la paz) es una novela del autor ruso León Tolstoi, considerada una obra
central de la literatura y una de las mejores del autor.
War
and Peace cuenta la historia de la invasión francesa a Rusia y el impacto de la era napoleónica en
la sociedad zarista, a través de las historias de cinco familias aristocráticas
rusas.
En vocabulario encontramos la palabra fete y para saber unos
datitos sobre Napoleón
“Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of
the Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don’t tell me that this means war, if
you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that
Antichrist—I really believe he is Antichrist—I will have nothing more to do
with you and you are no longer my friend, no longer my ‘faithful slave,’ as you
call yourself! But how do you do? I see I have frightened you—sit down and tell
me all the news.”
It was in July, 1805, and the speaker was the well-known Anna
Pávlovna Schérer, maid of honor and favorite of the Empress Márya Fëdorovna.
With these words she greeted Prince Vasíli Kurágin, a man of high rank and
importance, who was the first to arrive at her reception. Anna Pávlovna had had
a cough for some days. She was, as she said, suffering from la grippe; grippe
being then a new word in St. Petersburg, used only by the elite.
All her invitations without exception, written in French, and
delivered by a scarlet-liveried footman that morning, ran as follows:
“If you have nothing better to do, Count (or Prince), and if the
prospect of spending an evening with a poor invalid is not too terrible, I
shall be very charmed to see you tonight between 7 and 10—Annette Schérer.”
“Heavens! What a virulent attack!” replied the prince, not in the
least disconcerted by this reception. He had just entered, wearing an
embroidered court uniform, knee breeches, and shoes, and had stars on his
breast and a serene expression on his flat face. He spoke in that refined
French in which our grandfathers not only spoke but thought, and with the
gentle, patronizing intonation natural to a man of importance who had grown old
in society and at court. He went up to Anna Pávlovna, kissed her hand,
presenting to her his bald, scented, and shining head, and complacently seated
himself on the sofa.
“First of all, dear friend, tell me how you are. Set your friend’s
mind at rest,” said he without altering his tone, beneath the politeness and
affected sympathy of which indifference and even irony could be discerned.
“Can one be well while suffering morally? Can one be calm in times
like these if one has any feeling?” said Anna Pávlovna. “You are staying the
whole evening, I hope?”
“And the fete at the English ambassador’s? Today is Wednesday. I
must put in an appearance there,” said the prince. “My daughter is coming for
me to take me there.”The village fete
“I thought today’s fete had been canceled. I confess all these
festivities and fireworks are becoming wearisome.”
“If they had known that you wished it, the entertainment would have
been put off,” said the prince, who, like a wound-up clock, by force of habit
said things he did not even wish to be believed.
“Don’t tease! Well, and what has been decided about Novosíltsev’s
dispatch? You know everything.”
“What can one say about it?” replied the prince in a cold, listless
tone. “What has been decided? They have decided that Buonaparte has burnt his
boats, and I believe that we are ready to burn ours.”
Prince Vasíli always spoke languidly, like an actor repeating a
stale part. Anna Pávlovna Schérer on the contrary, despite her forty years,
overflowed with animation and impulsiveness. To be an enthusiast had become her
social vocation and, sometimes even when she did not feel like it, she became enthusiastic
in order not to disappoint the expectations of those who knew her. The subdued
smile which, though it did not suit her faded features, always played round her
lips expressed, as in a spoiled child, a continual consciousness of her
charming defect, which she neither wished, nor could, nor considered it
necessary, to correct.
In the midst of a conversation on political matters Anna Pávlovna
burst out:
“Oh, don’t speak to me of Austria. Perhaps I don’t understand
things, but Austria never has wished, and does not wish, for war. She is
betraying us! Russia alone must save Europe. Our gracious sovereign recognizes
his high vocation and will be true to it. That is the one thing I have faith
in! Our good and wonderful sovereign has to perform the noblest role on earth,
and he is so virtuous and noble that God will not forsake him. He will fulfill
his vocation and crush the hydra of revolution, which has become more terrible
than ever in the person of this murderer and villain! We alone must avenge the blood
of the just one.... Whom, I ask you, can we rely on?... England with her
commercial spirit will not and cannot understand the Emperor Alexander’s
loftiness of soul. She has refused to evacuate Malta. She wanted to find, and
still seeks, some secret motive in our actions. What answer did Novosíltsev
get? None. The English have not understood and cannot understand the
self-abnegation of our Emperor who wants nothing for himself, but only desires
the good of mankind. And what have they promised? Nothing! And what little they
have promised they will not perform! Prussia has always declared that
Buonaparte is invincible, and that all Europe is powerless before him... And I
don’t believe a word that Hardenburg says, or Haugwitz either. This famous
Prussian neutrality is just a trap. I have faith only in God and the lofty
destiny of our adored monarch. He will save Europe!”
She suddenly paused, smiling at her own impetuosity.
“I think,” said the prince with a smile, “that if you had been sent
instead of our dear Wintzingerode you would have captured the King of Prussia’s
consent by assault. You are so eloquent. Will you give me a cup of tea?”
“In a moment. À propos,” she added, becoming calm again, “I am
expecting two very interesting men tonight, le Vicomte de Mortemart, who is
connected with the Montmorencys through the Rohans, one of the best French
families. He is one of the genuine émigrés, the good ones. And also the Abbé
Morio. Do you know that profound thinker? He has been received by the Emperor.
Had you heard?”… (Paragraphs from War and Peace,
by Leo Tolstoy.)
Para
saber
Napoleón
dominó los asuntos europeos y globales por más de una década mientras lideraba Francia contra una serie de coaliciones.
Ganó la mayoría de estas guerras y la vasta mayoría de sus batallas,
construyendo un amplio imperio que gobernó sobre la Europa continental antes de su colapso final en 1815. Las guerras y
campañas de Napoleón son estudiadas
en escuelas militares de todo el mundo, ya que fue uno de los mayores
comandantes de la historia.
Vocabulario
Fête o fete: A fête, or fete, is an elaborate
festival, party or celebration. In Britain, fêtes are traditional public festivals, held
outdoors and organised to raise funds for a charity. They typically include
entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments.
Es un festival, fiesta o celebración.
Artículos
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1867... La
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… apunté al que había hablado más, y disparé. Erré y
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a las Armas
Se convirtió en el único estudiante en ser premiado
con un 10 por escritura creativa… Douglas
Adams
Fuentes
Leo Tolstoy,
from Wikipedia.
War and Peace,
Wikipedia.
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