{"product_id":"the-marquise-of-o-isbn-9781782275299","title":"The Marquise of O–","description":"\u003cb\u003eA vivid new translation of a timeless classic: Kleist's tense, ambiguous novella about an unexpected pregnancy\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a Northern Italian town during the Napoleonic Wars, Julietta, a young widow and mother of impeccable reputation, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. This follows an attack on the town's citadel, in which several Russian soldiers tried to assault her before she was rescued by Count F-, at which point she fell unconscious. Thrown out of her father's house, Julietta publishes an announcement in the local newspaper stating that she is pregnant and would like the father of her child to make himself known so that she can marry him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat follows is an ambiguously comic drama of sexuality and family respectability. One of Kleist's best-loved works, \u003ci\u003eThe Marquise of O-\u003c\/i\u003e is an ingenious and timeless story of the mystery of human desire, and Nicholas Jacobs's new translation captures the full richness of its irony.\"Kleist's narrative language is completely unique.\"\u003cb\u003e - Thomas Mann\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"One of the most radical writers who ever lived.\" \u003cb\u003e- \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Marquise of O—\u003c\/i\u003e moves breathlessly up and down. It is a masterpiece I continue to be astonished by.\" \u003cb\u003e- Rainer Maria Rilke\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Kafka loved Kleist. He would read \u003ci\u003eThe Marquise of O—\u003c\/i\u003e five or six times in succession.\"\u003cb\u003e - Dora Diamant, Kafka's fiancée\u003c\/b\u003eKleist's   narrative language is completely unique. --Thomas Mann\u003cbr\u003e \"The Marquise of O\" moves breathlessly up and down. It is a   masterpiece I continue to be astonished by. --Rainer Maria Rilke\u003cbr\u003e Kafka loved Kleist. He would read \"The Marquise of O-\" five or   six times in succession. --Dora Diamant, Kafka's fiancéeHeinrich von Kleist was born in 1777 into a Prussian military family in Frankfurt\/Oder. He entered the army at a young age, serving in a Guard's Regiment under the Duke of Brunswick. He later studied law and philosophy in his hometown before doing clerical work for the Ministry of Finance in Berlin. Kleist wrote poetry, philosophical essays, plays, short stories and novellas, most famously \u003ci\u003eMichael Kohlhaas\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Marquise of O-\u003c\/i\u003e. In 1811 he shot the terminally ill Henriette Vogel and then himself.In M—, an important town in Northern\u003cbr\u003e Italy, the widowed Marquise of O—, a woman of\u003cbr\u003e impeccable reputation and mother of well-broughtup\u003cbr\u003e children, made it known through the newspapers\u003cbr\u003e that she had inexplicably found herself in a certain\u003cbr\u003e condition, that the father of the child she would bear\u003cbr\u003e should make himself known, and that out of regard\u003cbr\u003e for her family she was resolved to marry him. The\u003cbr\u003e woman who under the pressure of irremediable circumstances\u003cbr\u003e took such a strange step, risking universal\u003cbr\u003e derision with such fortitude, was the daughter of\u003cbr\u003e Colonel G—, Commandant of the citadel outside\u003cbr\u003e M—. Some three years before, she had lost her\u003cbr\u003e husband, to whom she had been most ardently and\u003cbr\u003e tenderly devoted, during a journey he had made on\u003cbr\u003e family business to Paris. At the behest of her excellent\u003cbr\u003e mother, the Marquise had, after her husband’s death,\u003cbr\u003e left her house in the country where she had lived\u003cbr\u003e outside V—, and returned with both her children to\u003cbr\u003e her father in the Commandant’s house. The following\u003cbr\u003e years she spent in deep seclusion, devoted to the care\u003cbr\u003e of her parents and the pursuit of art, literature and\u003cbr\u003e the education of her children, until the — War filled\u003cbr\u003e the surrounding region with the soldiers of almost\u003cbr\u003e all the European powers, even Russians. Ordered to\u003cbr\u003e defend the citadel, the Commandant urged his wife\u003cbr\u003e and daughter to withdraw either to the Marquise’s\u003cbr\u003e country house or to his son’s, near V—. However,\u003cbr\u003e before the women could weigh up the choice between\u003cbr\u003e the danger of remaining and the horror of what\u003cbr\u003e they might be subjected to in open country, the\u003cbr\u003e citadel was overrun by Russian troops and called\u003cbr\u003e upon to surrender. The Commandant told his family\u003cbr\u003e that from now on he would act as if they were not\u003cbr\u003e there, and responded with bullets and grenades. The\u003cbr\u003e enemy in turn bombarded the citadel, set fire to the\u003cbr\u003e magazine and captured an outwork; and when the\u003cbr\u003e Commandant, once more challenged to surrender,\u003cbr\u003e hesitated to do so, orders were given for a night attack\u003cbr\u003e and the fortress was captured by storm.\u003cbr\u003e Just as the Russian troops, covered by heavy siege\u003cbr\u003e artillery, forced their way into the Commandant’s\u003cbr\u003e house, its left wing caught fire and the women were\u003cbr\u003e forced to leave. His wife, hurrying after their daughter,\u003cbr\u003e who had gone down the steps with her children,\u003cbr\u003e shouted that they should keep together and take\u003cbr\u003e shelter in the lower vaults, but a grenade exploding\u003cbr\u003e on the house at that precise moment caused total\u003cbr\u003e confusion inside. The Marquise came with her two\u003cbr\u003e children to the forecourt of the castle where the shooting,\u003cbr\u003e now at its heaviest, was already lighting up the\u003cbr\u003e night, forcing her, out of her mind where she should\u003cbr\u003e turn next, back into the burning building. Here she\u003cbr\u003e was unfortunate enough to meet a band of hostile\u003cbr\u003e riflemen just as she was intending to slip out by the\u003cbr\u003e back door. At the sight of her they suddenly fell silent,\u003cbr\u003e slung their weapons over their shoulders and took\u003cbr\u003e her with them while making the most abominable\u003cbr\u003e gestures. Tugged and pulled this way and that by\u003cbr\u003e the terrifying pack fighting among themselves, the\u003cbr\u003e Marquise vainly shouted for help to her trembling\u003cbr\u003e women servants, who were escaping through the door.\u003cbr\u003e She was dragged into the rear courtyard of the castle\u003cbr\u003e where, subject to the most shameful mishandling, she\u003cbr\u003e was about to sink to the ground when, at the sound\u003cbr\u003e of her screams for help, a Russian officer appeared\u003cbr\u003e and with angry thrusts scattered the dogs lusting after\u003cbr\u003e their booty. To the Marquise he seemed like an angel\u003cbr\u003e from heaven. He struck the murderous beast who was\u003cbr\u003e embracing her slender body in the face with the hilt\u003cbr\u003e of his sword so that blood poured out of his mouth\u003cbr\u003e and he staggered back; then, politely addressing her in\u003cbr\u003e French, he offered her his arm and led her, rendered\u003cbr\u003e speechless by all she had witnessed, into the other\u003cbr\u003e wing of the palace not yet consumed by the flames,\u003cbr\u003e where she proceeded to sink to the ground completely\u003cbr\u003e unconscious. There – when her frightened women\u003cbr\u003e reappeared, he took steps to send for a doctor, made\u003cbr\u003e assurances as he put on his hat that she would soon\u003cbr\u003e recover, and returned to the fighting.","brand":"Pushkin Collection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299992195301,"sku":"NP9781782275299","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781782275299.jpg?v=1767740423","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-marquise-of-o-isbn-9781782275299","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}