Paula Alvarez-Couceiro – La Dame aux Camélias (excerpt)

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Paula Alvarez-Couceiro – BIR 2016 Student. IE Business School.

Reading:

La Dame aux Camélias (excerpt – chapter 2, page 37) by Alexandre Dumas, fils, 1848.

Set, in an oval of indescribable grace, two black eyes surmounted by eyebrows so pure a curve that it seemed as if painted; veil these eyes with lovely lashes, which, when drooped, cast their shadow on the rosy hue of the cheeks; trace a delicate, straight nose, the nostrils a little open, in an ardent aspiration toward the life of the senses; design a regular mouth, with lips parted graciously over teeth as white as milk; colour the skin with the down of a peach that no hand has touched, and you will have the general aspect of that charming countenance.

The hair, black as jet, waving naturally or not, was parted on the forehead in two large folds and draped back over the head, leaving in sight just the tip of the ears, in which there glittered two diamonds worth four to five thousand francs each.

How it was that her ardent life had left on Marguerite’s face the virginal, almost childlike expression, which characterized it, is a problem which we can but state, without attempting to solve it.

En un óvalo de gracia indescriptible, colocad unos ojos negros coronados por cejas de un arco tan puro que parezca pintado; velad esos ojos con largas pestañas que al descender proyecten una sombra sobre la tez rosada de las mejillas; trazad una nariz fina, recta y graciosa, con ventanas algo abiertas porque aspiran con ardor a la vida sensual; dibujad una boca regular, cuyos labios se abran graciosamente mostrando dientes blancos como la leche; coloread la piel con ese terciopelo que cubre los melocotones que ninguna mano ha tocado, y tendréis la imagen de aquella cara cautivadora.

El pelo, negro como el azabache, ondulado, no sé si de forma natural o no, se abría en la frente formando dos grandes bandas que se perdían por detrás de la cara y dejaban ver parte de las orejas, en las que brillaban dos diamantes que valían de cuatro a cinco mil francos cada uno.

No me queda más remedio que constatar que la ardiente vida de Marguerite no le impedía conservar la expresión virginal, incluso infantil, que la caracterizaba, aunque no entiendo cómo lo lograba.

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