The Hussar

The Hussar – Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Walking through a used and new book fair, I once found this copy, and the graphic on the cover caught my attention. Of course, the image attracted me because of how striking it is, clearly military, combined with the name "The Hussar", it seemed to me that it could turn out to be an interesting book. I picked it up, saw its author, of whom I had already read a book and liked it, read its back cover, and decided to buy it. At first, I thought the image was a painting, some well-known work of art from which a section had been taken; that wasn't the case, it is an image taken from an image stock, Gordon Press / Roger Viollet (Cover image). The edition I acquired is by Editorial Alfaguara, whose webpage is http://www.alfaguara.com/ 2005 edition. It is a revised edition by the author, since, as he himself starts with, he didn't get along very well with the previous publisher and it took him 20 years to get the rights back. The novel is written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte http://www.perezreverte.com It is this author's first novel, written in 1983. I really liked it a lot; it has a simple and plain language, but rich in vocabulary. The novel is short and reads quickly. The descriptions he makes of the places, the situations—most of them common situations—the combat scenes, the march, and the panorama of the battlefield, "of the terrain", are very well achieved, at least for being a fictional battle; it seemed to me that it suits the reader's pleasure (or displeasure), that is, it fulfills its purpose.

The plot revolves around a 19-year-old French hussar officer who arrives with ideas of grandeur and glory, but without any experience in war. It is set during some point in Napoleon's invasion of Spain, where the French army fights against peasants and guerrillas. The story takes place from the time the young officer arrives until he finally enters combat and discovers what war truly means: horror and suffering.

Personally, I liked this first narration much more than the one he does in "The Shadow of the Eagle", but I reckon those are just tastes and opinions. If I have to recommend this author, I primarily recommend this text and not the other one. I also have two more titles pending, recommended and which catch my attention, which are "The Club Dumas" and "The Flanders Panel".

Below I will transcribe an excerpt that caught my attention and seemed interesting to me, and it says: "He looked at De Bourmont's horse, which was drinking alongside his own, wading into the stream's current up to its hocks. It had a superb build, dapple grey with a long mane and trimmed tail, without the spots on its hindquarters spoiling its appearance. The saddle trimmed with leopard skin was of singular beauty; Hungarian, like almost all the hussars' equipment: saddle, boots, uniforms... Even the term húsar came from that country. Someone had once told Frederic that it came from the words husz, which meant one hundred, and ar, rent. Centuries ago, every landowner in Hungary had the obligation to provide his lord with an equipped man and a horse for war for every hundred inhabitants of his fief. That had been the origin of the legendary light cavalry whose style and traditions had been adopted by the armies of almost every country in Europe." (p. 105)