スコット、バイロン、オースティンの作品は、18〜19世紀の対仏戦争から決定的な影響を受けたとさ。 Walter Scott, Byron, Jane Austen ? all were profoundly affected by the conflict with France・・・ the world of wartime reading, and cultural skirmishes, high and low・・・
米独立革命にフランスの支援は決定的役割を果たしたわけだが、その後もフランス人が 米国で果たした役割は大きかったとする書評だ。 (米国「文明」はそもそもアングロサクソン文明と欧州文明のキメラだもんな。) Most Americans are aware that France helped us win independence from Britain, but few appreciate the huge influence France continued to have here during our nation’s formative years. ・・・
フランス人で、フランス革命や仏領ハイチの奴隷叛乱を逃れて、米国の当時の首都である フィラデルフィアに流れてきた者が大勢いたからだ、と。 When revolution struck France, many in the ruling class found their way to Philadelphia, which was then the U.S. capital. ・・・ Their numbers were soon augmented by French fleeing Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean, today’s Haiti, after half a million slaves rose up against their masters. Saint -Domingue had been the most productive colony of the French empire.
1790年代半ばには、フィラデルフィアの人口の1割を占めていたんだと。 By the mid-1790s, the French accounted for perhaps 10 percent of the population of Philadelphia. They brought with them their culture - language, literature, music, art and Enlightenment values - as well as access to capital, which the new country desperately needed. They were welcomed by the vast majority of Americans, who appreciated the French support in the American Revolution. Soon everything French was the rage as Americans embraced the newcomers and began to emulate them in dress and manners. ・・・
1871年のパリコミューンの時の虐殺度は、政府側の方が桁違いにひどかったんだね。 ・・・the Communards had executed 68 hostages, while the Versaillais had executed between 12,000 and 15,000, Communards and non-Communards alike. Thousands more were slaughtered in the streets of Paris, and many more simply disappeared.