Interpretated Interview about Sharpe
Well- I couldn´t sleep so I reread a few things about Richard Sharpe and found a magazine I bought in London last year. This is what I produced. (May be I should have done something useful...)
DISCLAIMER: Here are some comments Bernard Cornwell made about his Sharpe books and some of the persons you can find in them. His sentences are reproduced correctly - I just changed the context and the sequence they were made in. All his remarks on Richard Sharpe and the other persons can be found in an interview he gave to the bookcollector (November 2003; No. 236).
So the following means no disrespect to Mr. Cornwell in any way but is written because of a deep affection for the characters he created. This includes the historical persons who are mentioned-no disrespect, just thinking and interpretating in my own way!!!
Whet our appetites for the new novel.
It´s another novel set in the Peninsula, (…), with Sharpe and Harper on good form. (Well- as long as they are together- they usually are!)
This sort of thing wouldn´t happen in today´s army: how do you know it would have happened in 1809?
Simply (…) by using my imagination. My brother (…) assured me that he did it himself to his own tank commander, and made a right mess of it!
Hogan calls the effeminate Lord Pumphrey a “molly”. Where did you find this word?
Molly (…) was simply slang for homosexual. (Yeah- we have known all the time that Hogan is skilled in a lot of things…..)
Have your researches led you to particularly admire any of the commanders on either side?
I should imagine my admiration of Wellington is very obvious in the books. My favourite story of Wellington happened during the Vitorian campaign when, typically, he had arranged for Spanish landowners to have stated amounts of food and fodder ready for the columns of the british army. Comes a certain day and a Grandee is supposed to deliver 14 wagons of supplies, all paid for, and W. sends an aide to collect the wagons. The aide returns empty-handed, complaining that the Spaniard had demanded that the aide first bow to him. “I´m an English lord and I don´t bow to foreign lords.” The Duke mounted his horse and rode off. An hour later the wagons arrived. “What did you do, your grace?” “Oh, I just bobbed down.” (Well- special situations require special ways to deal with them.)
About the new novel:
My favourite line in the book is Sharpe´s “Never fight fair”.
(It must have been difficult for him to work his way up through the ranks! All those eager officers… And: As mentioned before- special situations need special handling!)
About Wellington again:
Wellington fought most of his battles in areas where good wine is made and good food is cooked.
(Yeah, one has to regain his strength as soon as possible.)
About Napoleon:
“Three minutes is enough for that business.” (Well- Napoleon has the bad part-always! Obviously there were some reasons.)
DISCLAIMER: Here are some comments Bernard Cornwell made about his Sharpe books and some of the persons you can find in them. His sentences are reproduced correctly - I just changed the context and the sequence they were made in. All his remarks on Richard Sharpe and the other persons can be found in an interview he gave to the bookcollector (November 2003; No. 236).
So the following means no disrespect to Mr. Cornwell in any way but is written because of a deep affection for the characters he created. This includes the historical persons who are mentioned-no disrespect, just thinking and interpretating in my own way!!!
Whet our appetites for the new novel.
It´s another novel set in the Peninsula, (…), with Sharpe and Harper on good form. (Well- as long as they are together- they usually are!)
This sort of thing wouldn´t happen in today´s army: how do you know it would have happened in 1809?
Simply (…) by using my imagination. My brother (…) assured me that he did it himself to his own tank commander, and made a right mess of it!
Hogan calls the effeminate Lord Pumphrey a “molly”. Where did you find this word?
Molly (…) was simply slang for homosexual. (Yeah- we have known all the time that Hogan is skilled in a lot of things…..)
Have your researches led you to particularly admire any of the commanders on either side?
I should imagine my admiration of Wellington is very obvious in the books. My favourite story of Wellington happened during the Vitorian campaign when, typically, he had arranged for Spanish landowners to have stated amounts of food and fodder ready for the columns of the british army. Comes a certain day and a Grandee is supposed to deliver 14 wagons of supplies, all paid for, and W. sends an aide to collect the wagons. The aide returns empty-handed, complaining that the Spaniard had demanded that the aide first bow to him. “I´m an English lord and I don´t bow to foreign lords.” The Duke mounted his horse and rode off. An hour later the wagons arrived. “What did you do, your grace?” “Oh, I just bobbed down.” (Well- special situations require special ways to deal with them.)
About the new novel:
My favourite line in the book is Sharpe´s “Never fight fair”.
(It must have been difficult for him to work his way up through the ranks! All those eager officers… And: As mentioned before- special situations need special handling!)
About Wellington again:
Wellington fought most of his battles in areas where good wine is made and good food is cooked.
(Yeah, one has to regain his strength as soon as possible.)
About Napoleon:
“Three minutes is enough for that business.” (Well- Napoleon has the bad part-always! Obviously there were some reasons.)