The demon drink
My friend who owned a small part of Spandau prison has drunk himself to death, aged 44. I've been reading Voltaire's Candide which is a good thing to do if you're feeling miserable. The characters encounter disaster after disaster, each one worse than the one before. Candide's beloved, Cunegonde, does not believe that the old woman who has become her servant could possibly have had a worse life than hers. "I am afraid, my good woman," she says, "that unless you have been raped by two Bulgars, stabbed twice in the stomach, had two of your castles demolished, seen two mothers' and two fathers' throats slit before your very eyes, and watched two of your lovers being flogged at an auto-de-fe, then I don't see you bettering me. Added to which, I was born a Baroness with seventy-two heraldic quarterings and yet I have been a cook." Of course the old woman could better Cunegonde: she had been born a princess, had suffered far worse misfortunes including having one of her buttocks sliced off and ended up as a servant.
posted by Whispering Walls at 8:11 am
7 Comments:
Ah, the demon drink. It's much worse than drugs as it's so easily available and is socially acceptable. 10 out of 13 of my immediate forebears died of it. It's never been so cheap. In relative terms, the prices need to double.
er, and how did she have TWO mothers and TWO fathers??
Good point, KL. I think it's the translation and that she means the mother and father of two children ie herself and her brother.
ww - I can hardly believe you aren't reading it in the original.....
I just checked the original, as it's a long time since I've read it and it does, indeed say, "deux mères et deux pères" - it's the comedy of exaggeration, I see I wrote in the margin in my student days.
I am so sorry about your friend, WW.
KL - see WL's comments re the original!
Bravo WL - knew I could depend on you for some linguistic insights!
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