Perez reverte arturo good people. About the book "Good People" by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Arturo Perez-Reverte

Kind people

Gregorio Salvador.

And also Antonia Colino,

Antonio Mingote

and Admiral Alvarez-Arenas,

in memory.

Truth, faith, the human race pass without a trace, they are forgotten, the memory of them disappears.

Except for those few who accepted the truth, shared the faith, or loved these people.

Joseph Conrad. "Youth"

The novel is based on real events, the places and characters really exist, but most of the plot and characters belong to a fictional reality created by the author.

Arturo Perez-Reverte

It is not so difficult to imagine a duel at dawn in late 18th-century Paris. Reading books and watching movies will help. It is more difficult to describe it on paper. And to use it as a beginning for a novel is even risky in its own way. The goal is to make the reader see what the author sees—or imagines. To do this, you need to become someone else's eyes - the eyes of the reader, and then quietly retire, leaving him alone with the story that he has to learn. Our story begins in a meadow covered with morning frost, in a blurry grayish light; it is necessary to add here a foggy haze, not too thick, through which the outlines of a grove surrounding the French capital vaguely appear in the peeping light of the dawning day - today most of its trees no longer exist, and the rest ended up in the city.

Now imagine the characters that complement the mise-en-scène. In the first rays of dawn, two human figures are visible, slightly blurred by the morning haze. A little further away, closer to the trees, next to three horse-drawn carriages, there are other figures: these are men wrapped in cloaks, wearing cocked hats pulled down to their eyebrows. There are about half a dozen of them, but their presence is not so important for the main mise-en-scene; so we'll leave them for a while. Much more important now are those two, frozen motionless one next to the other on the wet grass of the meadow. They are in tight-fitting knee-length trousers and shirts, over which there is neither a doublet nor a frock coat. One is thin, tall - especially for his era; gray hair is collected at the back of the head in a small ponytail. The other is of medium height, his hair curled, curled at the temples and powdered in the latest fashion of the time. Neither of these two looks like a young man, although the distance does not allow us to say this with certainty. So let's get closer. Let's take a closer look at them.

The object that each of them holds in their hands is nothing more than a sword. It looks like a training rapier, if you don't look closely. And it appears to be a serious matter. Very serious. The two are still standing motionless three paces apart, staring straight ahead. They may appear to be contemplating. Perhaps about what is about to happen. Their arms hang down along the body, and the tips of the swords touch the frost-covered grass. The one who is shorter - close up he looks and younger - has an arrogant, defiantly contemptuous look. Carefully studying the opponent, he seems to want to demonstrate his stature and posture to someone else who is looking at him from the side of the grove surrounding the meadow. The other man, who is taller and clearly older, has watery blue eyes, melancholy, as if they had absorbed the moisture of a cold morning. At first glance, it may seem that these eyes are studying the person standing opposite, but if we look into them, it becomes obvious to us that this is not so. In fact, their gaze is scattered, detached. And if the person standing in front of him moved or changed his posture, these eyes would probably still look in front of him, not noticing anything, indifferent to everything, striving for other pictures, distinguishable only for him alone.

A voice is heard from the side of the carriages waiting under the trees, and two men standing in the meadow slowly raise their blades. They greet each other briefly - one of them brings the guard to his chin - and again stand at the ready. The shorter one puts his free hand on his hip in a classic fencing stance. The other, taller, with watery eyes and a gray tail on the back of his head, holds out his weapon and raises his other arm, bent at the elbow almost at a right angle. The fingers are relaxed and directed slightly forward. Finally, the blades touch gently, and a thin silver ring floats in the cold morning air.

However, it is time to tell the story. Now we will find out what brought the heroes to this meadow at such an early morning hour.

1. Two: tall and fat

It is a real pleasure to hear them talk about mathematics, modern physics, natural history, human rights, as well as antiquity and literature, sometimes allowing more innuendo than if it were a question of making counterfeit money. They live in secret and die just as they lived.

J. Cadalso. "Moroccan Letters"

I discovered them by chance in a far corner of the library: twenty-eight heavy volumes bound in light brown leather, slightly worn and tarnished by time, they had been used for two and a half centuries after all. I did not know that they were there - on these shelves I needed something completely different - when suddenly I was attracted by the inscription on one of the spines: “ Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonne". The very first edition. That which began to appear in 1751 and whose last volume was published in 1772. Of course, I knew about its existence. Once, about five years ago, I even almost bought this encyclopedia from my friend, the collector of old books, Louis Bardon, who was ready to give it to me if the client with whom they had previously agreed suddenly changed his mind. But, unfortunately - or, conversely, fortunately, since the price was exorbitant - the client bought it. It was Pedro J. Ramírez, then editor of the daily newspaper El Mundo. One evening, while having dinner at his house, I noticed these volumes in his library - they showed off in the most prominent place. The owner was aware of my failed deal with Bardon and joked about it. "Don't despair, buddy, you'll be lucky next time," he told me. However, the next time never came. This is a rarity in the book market. Not to mention buying the entire collection as a whole.

Anyway, that morning I saw her in the library of the Royal Spanish Academy - for twelve years she had occupied the shelf under the letter "T". Before me was a work that became the most exciting intellectual adventure of the 18th century: the first and absolute victory of reason and progress over the forces of darkness. The volumes of the publication included 72,000 articles, 16,500 pages and 17 million words, reflecting the most advanced thought of the era, and were eventually condemned by the Catholic Church, and their authors and publishers were threatened with imprisonment and even the death penalty. How did a work that had been on the Index of Forbidden Books for so long come to this library, I asked myself? How and when did it happen? The sunbeams pouring through the library windows fell on the floor in shining squares, creating the atmosphere of Velasquez paintings, and the gilded spines of twenty-eight old volumes crowded on the shelf gleamed mysteriously and alluringly. I reached out, took one volume, and opened the title page:

encyclopedia,oudictionnaire raisonnédes sciences, des arts et des metiers,par une société de gens de lettres.Tome premierMDCCLIAvec approbation and privilege du roy

The last two lines made me laugh. Forty-two years after this MDCCLI year, that is, in 1793, the grandson of that same roy, who gave permission and privileges for the publication of the first volume, was executed by guillotine "in the public square" of Paris in the name of the very ideas that, escaping from the pages of his own "Encyclopedia", ignited France, and after it - a good half of the world . Life is strange, I thought. She has a very peculiar sense of humor.

I turned over a few pages at random. Virgin white, despite its age, the paper seemed to have just come out of the printing house. Good old cotton paper, I thought, not subject to either time or human stupidity, how different it is from the caustic modern cellulose, which turns yellow in a matter of years, making the pages brittle and short-lived. I brought the book up to my face and breathed in the smell of old paper with pleasure. It even smells in a special way: freshness. I closed the volume, returned it to the shelf, and left the library. At that time I was preoccupied with many other things, but twenty-eight volumes, modestly standing on a shelf in the far corner of an old building in the street Felipe IV in Madrid, among a thousand other books, did not leave my mind. Later I told about them to Victor Garcia de la Concha, director emeritus, whom I met near the cloakroom in the lobby. He came by himself. He had other business with me - he needed an article about the thieves' slang in the works of Quevedo for scientific studies - but I quickly turned the conversation to what was of interest to me at that moment. García de la Concha had just completed His History of the Spanish Royal Academy, and such things were still fresh in his mind.

France, late 18th century. The time is interesting, but vague: a revolution is brewing, books are being destroyed, hundreds of people are in prisons. Don Hermogenes Molina, a brilliant connoisseur of Latin and an incomparable translator of Virgil, together with a retired commander, Pedro Zarate, goes to Paris - they need to find the first edition of the "Encyclopedia" of Diderot and d'Alembert. But this is not at all easy, because the book has long been banned. Mercenaries from all over the world are after her and are willing to do anything to get her. Friends must by all means be the first to get to the cherished work and try not to die in such a dangerous adventure.

The work was published in 2015 by the publishing house: Eksmo. On our site you can download the book "Good People" in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format or read online. The rating of the book is 5 out of 5. Here, before reading, you can also refer to the reviews of readers who are already familiar with the book and find out their opinion. In the online store of our partner you can buy and read the book in paper form.

Arturo Perez-Reverte

Kind people

Gregorio Salvador.

And also Antonia Colino,

Antonio Mingote

and Admiral Alvarez-Arenas,

in memory.

Truth, faith, the human race pass without a trace, they are forgotten, the memory of them disappears.

Except for those few who accepted the truth, shared the faith, or loved these people.

Joseph Conrad. "Youth"

The novel is based on real events, the places and characters really exist, but most of the plot and characters belong to a fictional reality created by the author.

Arturo Perez-Reverte

Rated the book

Sorry, but I didn't like it. At all. This is probably one of the most boring and yawning books I've read in recent times. And this despite the fact that I considered myself a fan of A. Perez-Reverte since the days of the "Flemish Board". Now, apparently, I will have to leave the lists of his fan club.

Perhaps the only thing that could convince me not to abandon the book after the first fifty pages was the peculiar style in which it was built: the novel was written as an alternation of two angles - a not very exciting story of two academicians, zealots of education, who went to Paris to bring back banned encyclopedia to Spain (and at the same time fashionable pants with a codpiece!), and more voluminous and more readable remarks by the author about how he created the plot and text of this novel with all the details of the search for historical facts and realities:

“I wrote a historical novel little by little,
Breaking through, like a fog, from the prologue to the epilogue<…>
On the way, he equipped the heroes, made inquiries about the past ... "

A. Perez-Reverte, not sparing paper and reader's patience, tells in detail and with obvious pleasure how he searched for the necessary houses and streets, bought old maps and books, what historical sources he relied on, describing the route of his characters, how he selected them appearance and replicas, trying to make them as authentic as possible. His asceticism and enthusiasm in this regard is truly tireless! But as a result, the novel turned out to be a writer's kitchen outside: let it be backwards to the readers, but to the author's interests and historical truth in front. The ashes of Umberto Eco, apparently, tirelessly pounded on the chest of A. Perez-Reverte while he was creating his work, but the historical part turned out to be just an excuse to write about himself. The result is almost like this:

And then what is the novel about when it's not about how well the author has done? Of course, about good people of an almost Kantian maxim, about the wind of change of the Great French Revolution, about philosophy and enlightenment, about misunderstanding and aggressive obscurantism, about the pre-revolutionary euphoria of Paris and the noble statuary of Madrid, about valor, about exploits ... There is a lot of this, even in abundance, and this allowed the author to slowly but surely drown the reader's interest in the infinitely minute details of his writing. The novel is addictive, as a historical compilation from the series "Spain during the French Revolution" (!), But it does not become more interesting. The sluggishness of the plot and the facelessness of the characters is invincible. I read this novel only out of respect for the author, but now, apparently, I will take a long, long pause before I decide to take on his new book. Adios, señor Arturo, y si bien, entonces adiós para siempre!

Rated the book

The end of the 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment dominates in Europe, but in Spain this process meets some resistance. But there are people, scientists, who value the truth more, and they decide to bring the light, by any means. So, they send to France (where citizens, especially on the eve of the big changes to come, have the opportunity to express themselves more freely) a couple of members of the Royal Academy for the so-called Encyclopedia, compiled by the philosophers of the Enlightenment of that time, by the way, banned in Spain.
The journey is accompanied by adventures, interesting acquaintances, intrigues, but the main thing is various philosophical discussions about enlightenment, religion, death, art. It is not difficult to suspect a stone thrown into the garden of modern Spain and draw parallels, knowing the critical attitude of the author to the situation with culture in his native country.
In addition to the main content, Perez-Reverte throughout the story describes in detail how he wrote the novel, built the plot, what sources he had to use, what places to visit. You can't kill a journalistic vein. It was very interesting to read how he works on his work. There is a very thorough work with historical documents.
The main characters and the plot are built in the best traditions of Dumas: a true caballero, a cold-blooded Admiral Don Pedro; kind and less cynical than his friend, don Ermes; classic villains plotting against colleagues, etc. In the dialogues, we can trace Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot... As a result, we get an amazing novel that does not lose its relevance today. Good books never cease to be banned... And what will this lead to?
The book can be parsed into quotes, but out of context they will be banal. In fact, the author raises many questions and puts a huge layer of interesting information related to the time being described.
That's what Perez-Reverte has always done well, so it's to convey the atmosphere of the described time and place of events. So, Paris turned out to be very bright, rainy, restless, conveying the mood of that time. Madrid, as usual, is lively, hot and dynamic. It is easy to read, because the narrative goes smoothly, interspersed with active actions, not without the subtle humor of the author.
An interesting novel, imbued with philosophical meaning and tells about different people: about true scientists, forgotten by their descendants; about those who betrayed the idea and dream, who later became nobody; about regretting the lost time; finally, about kind, resolute people, aimed at fulfilling their mission, even at the cost of their own lives.
The book is about true friendship, about the importance of reading, culture (internal and global) and about what threatens total indifference to the latter.

Rated the book

The first thing the reader notices is the rather unusual structure of the narrative. Throughout the story, we are accompanied by inserts from the author, telling how he thought through the described episode, what research he did, what sources he used. It is somewhat reminiscent of the writing blog that Pérez-Reverte kept while writing Tango of the Old Guard, only this time the blog is included in the book itself. Quite an interesting approach that makes the author closer to the reader.
The main characters are typical "good people", fighters against obscurantism, striving to bring the light of enlightenment, despite the doom of their mission. It is like soldiers fighting on a sinking ship without lowering their flag, or defending themselves around the banner until they die - not out of special heroism or hope of victory, but simply because people do what they must. We could already meet similar characters in other works of the author, but, of course, individuality is inherent in each. And this time the battle is intellectual, and it is not the ship that is sinking, but the whole people. But academicians do not lower the flag, although they understand the futility of their efforts. And yet, they do what they must in their quest to fight for enlightenment to the end.
Of course, in the book the reader will find many dialogues and monologues on the topic of enlightenment, education and science. Of course, here one cannot do without the "dark side" - obscurantism, absurd religious dogmas, laziness and isolation of the nobility from the people.
The problems and issues of educational activities, faced with darkness, misunderstanding and condemnation, are covered from different angles and through the mouths of different actors. However, in general, the author's point of view can be traced quite clearly. And, I confess, it personally evokes a lively response from me.

I would also like to note the not very good quality of the translation (this, of course, is not at all Bogdanovsky ....).
I'm not going to arrange an analysis of the translation, this is just my opinion, but in order not to be completely unfounded, I will give a couple of justifications.
The first thing I didn't like right away was the translation of the title. There can be many opinions, but I would still not make any show off, but would translate "Good people" as it is. Moreover, even throughout the entire text of the proposed translation there is no uniformity: people, even in the same minutes of the meeting, turned out to be either kind or still good.
No offense to the new translator, but many moments that are not translated literally, but require some retelling, are translated with a loss of zest, hidden meaning. While Bogdanovsky even retold exotic scenes almost better than the original, so the mood of Reverte's prose was captured very clearly. This is not the case here, which is extremely disappointing.
In addition, in the course of reading, the word "mise-en-scene" became more and more annoying. The translator apparently likes it very much, since with this word he translates as many as two author's escena and escenario. Why was it impossible to write a scene, an episode, a place of action, a setting, in the end? What, excuse me, mise-en-scene? This is such an idiotically atypical word for the author's language that it was perceived throughout the book as a wart on the face of the interlocutor. In addition, in any case, "mise-en-scene" three times on one page is too much.
I will not continue to pour out dissatisfaction, but I also have other similar claims - their essence, in general, can already be understood from the foregoing.