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[CCBC-Net] Batchelder-Holub-spoiler
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From: Julie Corsaro <juliecorsaro2>
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2006 17:15:38 -0500
I also struggled with what Dr. Ruth characterized as the "high tone" of the first person narrative in An Innocent Soldier. To be honest, I'm not sure if this is a product of translation or not. Adam, who has never been to town in the three years he has been living on the farm, seemed too articulate at times ("Maybe fortune has an occasional attack of vertigo, or just a fit of hiccups"). Such artfullness contrasted with Adam's lack of understanding (or is it shock and denial?) of what the farmer did to him. In contrast, I found Adam's observations of many other events and individuals to be rather keen. Perhaps, one can be inexperienced in the ways of the world yet possess native intelligence.
Julie Corsaro
>From: "Ruth I. Gordon" <druthgo at sonic.net>
>To: CCBC Net <ccbc-net at ccbc.ad.education.wisc.edu>
>Subject: [CCBC-Net] Batchelder-Holub
>Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2006 13:37:20 -0800
>
>This is part of my review for the Holub.
>
>In a strange and fine way, Holub tells the story of a naive, young
>farmhand tricked into the Wurttemburg regiment of Napoleon?s ?Grand
>Army,? on the road to the czar?s Russia in 1812. It is a story of
>the sheer horror of war, love, friendship.
>Adam Feuchler, 16, tells his story and the story of Napoleon?s
>armies gathered throughout Europe on the long march from the German
>states and the terrible retreat from the Russian winter, A map and
>historical note aids the reader realize the geography and the
>historical situation. Adam?s farmer substitutes him for his one
>remaining son and both as a farmhand and an enlisted man, he is
>treated in a primitive and sadistic fashion by those in control.
>His sergeant is cruel, dishonest, and brutal. But he is saved by his
>lieutenant, a seventeen-year-old from a noble family. The two are
>mere cogs among the vast hordes in the ill-equipped and untrained
>army and travel to a from Moscow together. The losses in the
>Wurttemburg regiment amounted to all but 300 of the 15,000 who set
>out. [p. 218]
> In calm but dramatic fashion, for the facts are dramatic, horribly
>so, Holub gives readers well delineated characters, settings,
>conditions. Although Adam?s narrative seems very high toned for a
>peasant, it is understandable in a suspenseful piece of historical
>fiction that can be read easily. Was the "high tone" the result of
>translation, I wonder?
>
> But what drove Napoleon who drove his Grande Armee mercilessly
>toward its doom?
>
>
>
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Received on Tue 07 Mar 2006 04:15:38 PM CST
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2006 17:15:38 -0500
I also struggled with what Dr. Ruth characterized as the "high tone" of the first person narrative in An Innocent Soldier. To be honest, I'm not sure if this is a product of translation or not. Adam, who has never been to town in the three years he has been living on the farm, seemed too articulate at times ("Maybe fortune has an occasional attack of vertigo, or just a fit of hiccups"). Such artfullness contrasted with Adam's lack of understanding (or is it shock and denial?) of what the farmer did to him. In contrast, I found Adam's observations of many other events and individuals to be rather keen. Perhaps, one can be inexperienced in the ways of the world yet possess native intelligence.
Julie Corsaro
>From: "Ruth I. Gordon" <druthgo at sonic.net>
>To: CCBC Net <ccbc-net at ccbc.ad.education.wisc.edu>
>Subject: [CCBC-Net] Batchelder-Holub
>Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2006 13:37:20 -0800
>
>This is part of my review for the Holub.
>
>In a strange and fine way, Holub tells the story of a naive, young
>farmhand tricked into the Wurttemburg regiment of Napoleon?s ?Grand
>Army,? on the road to the czar?s Russia in 1812. It is a story of
>the sheer horror of war, love, friendship.
>Adam Feuchler, 16, tells his story and the story of Napoleon?s
>armies gathered throughout Europe on the long march from the German
>states and the terrible retreat from the Russian winter, A map and
>historical note aids the reader realize the geography and the
>historical situation. Adam?s farmer substitutes him for his one
>remaining son and both as a farmhand and an enlisted man, he is
>treated in a primitive and sadistic fashion by those in control.
>His sergeant is cruel, dishonest, and brutal. But he is saved by his
>lieutenant, a seventeen-year-old from a noble family. The two are
>mere cogs among the vast hordes in the ill-equipped and untrained
>army and travel to a from Moscow together. The losses in the
>Wurttemburg regiment amounted to all but 300 of the 15,000 who set
>out. [p. 218]
> In calm but dramatic fashion, for the facts are dramatic, horribly
>so, Holub gives readers well delineated characters, settings,
>conditions. Although Adam?s narrative seems very high toned for a
>peasant, it is understandable in a suspenseful piece of historical
>fiction that can be read easily. Was the "high tone" the result of
>translation, I wonder?
>
> But what drove Napoleon who drove his Grande Armee mercilessly
>toward its doom?
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>CCBC-Net mailing list
>CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
>Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
>http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
_________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/
Received on Tue 07 Mar 2006 04:15:38 PM CST
