Resumo de The Radetzky March

Atthe mention of the antique-sounding term, the eyes of even the mostknowledgeable Americans will probably glaze over. But in the nineteenthcentury, war, and independence movements weakened the empire, which was finallydissolved in November 1918 with the abdication of Karl I at Schonbrunn. Thebreakup resulted in the creation of several states composed of bitterlyantagonistic groups. He made the empire and its gradual decline the subject ofsome of his most memorable fiction. Though Yiddish was spoken in the town,German was the language of his family home. There he enrolled at theuniversity, studied German literature, and published poems, stories, and essaysin the city?s newspapers. Bythe age of 30, Roth was an established journalist, essayist, and travel writerin Vienna, Berlin, and Prague. In1932, The Radetzky March, appeared. An imaginative study of the decline of theHapsburg monarchy and the parallel decline of a loyal military family, thenovel received wide critical acclaim. After a decade?s toil in the vineyards offiction, this was the breakthrough Roth most needed. But within the year, theNazis seized power in Germany. Roth correctly understood the significance ofthis event: his writing career in Germany and in Austria was finished. "Tarok"(with a "k") was the most popular card game among the Austrian elitein the 19th century. But when Trotta happens upon a schoolbook account of the event thatexaggerates his heroism, he is shaken: He had been driven from the paradise of simple faith in Emperor andVirtue, Truth, and Justice, and, now fettered in silence and endurance, he mayhave realized that the stability of the world, the power of laws, and the gloryof majesties were all based on deviousness. It is here that the Trottas' demiseis at its most poignant, as the focus of the narrative shifts from the loss ofstatus to the far more devastating loss of purpose.Thisnovel is also peppered with well-drawn minor characters including a wonderfulchapter that puts us in touch with the aging Emperor Franz Joseph. And it movesus with fascinating events such as the death of Carl Joseph's first mistressand his encounter with the woman's husband, the death of Carl Joseph's bestfriend in a foolish duel and an encounter with his father's old, fallen friendwhen father & son travel to Vienna together. So much happens here that Icannot begin to describe it all. It is hard to tell what might be lost in translation, but the prose hereis very well written and a joy to read. It is more formal and stylistic thanmodern prose (the recurrence of the song that gives the book it's title, forexample--I wish I was familiar with the tune) but I enjoyed it. Anyoneinterested in classic novels or world war I would be foolish to pass this novelup; however, I would also suggest it to anyone who enjoys a good novel offather/son relationships. This is a fantastic bookAlthoughThe Radetzky March illustrates why the monarchy was doomed, and isn't blind tothe new nations and ideologies on the horizon, Roth is more interested in hischaracters' psychology than their politics. The Trottas are, in Roth's stunningphrase, "homesick for the Kaiser." TheRadetzky March describes the last decades before the fall of the Austro-HungarianEmpire in World War I through the story of a family, the Trotta family. Infollowing three generations of the Trottas we see their sudden rise to glorywhen Captain Joseph Trotta becomes the ennobled Hero of Solferino by saving thelife of the young Kaiser Franz Joseph, we see their stagnation is the longbureaucratic career of Franz Trotta and we see the just as sudden end of theTrotta's with the death of Carl Joseph Trotta in a battle near the beginning ofthe war. After brief backgrounds of the Hero of Solferino and his son, the bulkof the novel follows Carl Joseph's life and career before the war. Some of themost moving passages in the novel are those where Carl Joseph and his fatherspend time together. And over both of them hangs thof the Hero ofSolferino.

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