{"id":99,"date":"2005-07-24T14:15:59","date_gmt":"2005-07-24T21:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=99"},"modified":"2021-06-04T13:11:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T17:11:31","slug":"the-fencing-master","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/99","title":{"rendered":"The Fencing Master"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fencing Master<\/a><\/em> (1988) Arturo Perez-Reverte<\/a> translated by Margaret Jull Costa (1998)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I initially didn’t realize that this books were originally in Spanish, and was a little unsure when I realized they were translated, but then decided that it shouldn’t make a difference, and so happily read the book.<\/p>\n

The Fencing Master<\/em> is set in 1868 in Madrid, Spain. Don Jamie Astarloa is a fencing master, one of the last. Revolvers have taken the place of foils in dueling, and so fencing has changed from a gentleman’s skill, to something more akin to a sport, a way for gentleman to exercise.<\/p>\n

Don Jamie has a few students, has regular sparring sessions with the marquis Luis de Ayala, and spends evenings drinking coffee with a group of friends. And he is trying to develop an unstoppable thrust. The ultimate move.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed this book. I’m a sucker for historical settings, and I’m fascinated by fencing, so this was pretty much a win-win situation for me. I am sure that there was plenty I missed by not reading the original Spanish, as I’m can’t read Spanish, this was certainly an acceptable substitute.<\/p>\n

There were a few things that confused me though. As I’m no more fluent in Spanish history and culture than I am in the language, I found the titles and names confusing. Luis de Ayala is also referred to as the Luis de Ayala-Velate y Vallespin, the Marques de los Alumbres. And I have no idea what the remainder of his name\/title means, which wouldn’t have been a problem, except for the fact that sometimes he is referred to be name, sometimes by title, so I had a bit of trouble keeping people straight at first.<\/p>\n

The mystery is good, although I one scene gnawed at my mind, and I wasn’t sure whether it was a weakness in the writing, or a cultural difference in the writing that I wasn’t used to. But ultimately it didn’t disturb my enjoyment of the book, or the story in general, so I’m inclined to think that it was a cultural difference, and one that I think I could grow to appreciate in mysteries.<\/p>\n

This is definitely a book that I am going to loan to my grandmother. I think she will also really like it. I’m also going to try and get Michael to read it. I think he might like it, but sometimes it’s hard to tell.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fencing Master (1988) Arturo Perez-Reverte translated by Margaret Jull Costa (1998) I initially didn’t realize that this books were originally in Spanish, and was a little unsure when I realized they were translated, but then decided that it shouldn’t make a difference, and so happily read the book. The Fencing Master is set in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,33,8,291,38],"tags":[98,432,99],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-historical","category-mystery","category-paper","category-translated","tag-arturo-perez-reverte","tag-margaret-jull-costa","tag-spanish"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1B","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3967,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3967","url_meta":{"origin":99,"position":0},"title":"The Fencing Master","author":"Michelle","date":"August 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Fencing Master (1988) Arturo P\u00e9rez-Reverte translated by Margaret Jull Costa (1998) Don Jaime Astarloa is the fencing master of Madrid. He has a fencing school, and has private clients, including Luis de Ayala, the Marques de los Alumbres, but Don Jaime is getting old. His world is disappearing into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/07\/Fencing-Master.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":157,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/157","url_meta":{"origin":99,"position":1},"title":"The Flanders Panel","author":"Michelle","date":"November 8, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The Flanders Panel (1990) Arturo Perez-Reverte translated by Margaret Jull Costa I enjoyed The Fencing Master so much that I picked up The Flanders Panel and two other of Arturo Perez-Reverte's books to read, in the hopes that I would like them just as well. While restoring the painting \"The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Historical"","block_context":{"text":"Historical","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/historical"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/11\/Flanders-Panel.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":183,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/183","url_meta":{"origin":99,"position":2},"title":"The Nautical Chart","author":"Michelle","date":"January 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Nautical Chart (2000) Arturo Perez-Reverte Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden It took me awhile to get into The Nautical Chart. The other books I have read by Arturo Perez-Reverte have drawn me in immediately, but not so for this book. I started reading the book back in December, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fiction"","block_context":{"text":"Fiction","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fiction"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/Nautical-Chart.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":160,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/160","url_meta":{"origin":99,"position":3},"title":"The Queen of the South","author":"Michelle","date":"November 25, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The Queen of the South (2002) Arturo Perez-Reverte translated by Andrew Hurley If you'd like to know the power of Arturo Perez-Reverte's writing, pick up this book, read a few pages, then put the book down and try to forget the story. A couple of months ago I picked up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/11\/Queen-South.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":199,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/199","url_meta":{"origin":99,"position":4},"title":"Captain Alatriste","author":"Michelle","date":"February 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Captain Alatriste (1996) Arturo Perez-Reverte translated by Margaret Sayers Peden My mistake came in reading this after reading Steven Brust. Following one swashbuckling adventure with another is bound to lead to comparisons, and as there are few whose writing I love more than Steven Brust, anything else is going to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fiction"","block_context":{"text":"Fiction","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fiction"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/02\/Captain-Alatriste.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":338,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/338","url_meta":{"origin":99,"position":5},"title":"Purity of the Blood","author":"Michelle","date":"January 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Purity of the Blood (1997) Arturo Perez-Reverte translated by Margaret Sayers Peden Purity of the Blood is the second Captain Alatriste book. Inigo continues the story of Captain Alatriste, who remains in Madrid, still talking of returning to war, but still looking after Inigo, and still taking commissions to make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fiction"","block_context":{"text":"Fiction","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fiction"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/01\/Purity-of-the-Blood.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}