Napoleon to Joséphine · 7 April 1796
Letters from Napoleon · Chapter I To Italy · Albenga
Listen to the first sentence (French)
The letter and its translation
Je reçois une lettre que tu interromps pour aller, dis-tu, à la campagne ; et après cela tu te donnes le ton d'être jalouse de moi, qui suis ici accablé d'affaires et de fatigue.
I get a letter that you break off to go, you say, to the country; and after that you put on a show of being jealous of me, when I am here worn out with work and tiredness.
Je ne suis pas content : ta dernière lettre est froide comme l'amitié.
I'm not happy: your last letter is as cold as friendship.
Mon frère est ici. Il a appris mon mariage avec plaisir ; il brûle de l'envie de te connaître.
My brother is here. He was glad to hear of my marriage; he's longing to meet you.
Je cherche à le décider à venir à Paris. Sa femme a accouché : elle a fait une fille.
I'm trying to persuade him to come to Paris. His wife has given birth: she's had a girl.
Il t'envoie pour présent une boîte de bonbons de Gênes. Tu recevras des oranges, des parfums et de l'eau de fleur d'oranger que je t'envoie.
He's sending you a box of sweets from Genoa as a present. You'll also get the oranges, perfumes and orange-flower water that I'm sending you.
Selected sentences from the letter. The translation is our own.
Two days later, still at Albenga. Joséphine had stayed in Paris, and her letters were rare and short. He grumbles that lukewarm ‘friendship’ is cold next to love. The ‘brother’ is Joseph, who happened to be in Italy; his wife Julie had just had a daughter. Genoa was a port famous for its candied fruit and sweets.
In the app the letter arrives line by line like a message, with the meaning under each word, and you can talk with the writer. Chapter I is free.
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Credits
- Picture: Luis Egidio Meléndez · Nature morte aux oranges et aux noix · 1772 · The National Gallery, London · Public domain (PD-Art) · source
- Letter text: Tennant 1824, Appendix No. IV · Charles Tennant, A Tour through parts of the Netherlands, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Savoy and France, in the year 1821-2 (London, Longman, 1824), vol. II, Appendix, No. IV, pp. 448–450 · public domain · archive.org
- Narration: made with Supertonic 3 (Supertone Inc.), model licence OpenRAIL-M.
- All sources: Lingua Museum sources and licences
