![]() He was supposed to have fought in the wars of the Empire, but he never told stories, like some other veterans in the district.ĭelderfield launches a provocation to the reader : is the war to be glorified for its feats of strength and endurance and tactical cunning, or is it be condemned for its brutality and wholesale destruction? And who will be the ones to pass judgement? The victors who want to justify their own cause or the losers who tried and failed in their campaigns. The hand looked like a claw and did nothing to increase his popularity among the children. Two fingers were missing and the remainder were bent over a scarred palm, reddish and unsightly. ![]() His right hand had been maimed in some sort of accident. ![]() At times he appeared to be crippled with rheumatism and rarely left his room. He had an air of brooding and large, sad eyes. The local priest is interested in the past, but the old man is unwilling to revisit his own contribution to the Napoleonic Wars. The date is important: it marks the end of an era, the return of the body of its exiled emperor back to France. ![]() ![]() History is only important if, by surveying it, we are able to account for the past and shape the future.Ī scarred and grumpy old man lives alone in a small village in France, in December 1840. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |