French pancakes and Accountants

Prince Andrei followed with the suite. The party consisted of an officer of the suite, Bagration's personal adjutant, Zherkov, an orderly officer, the staff officer on duty riding a fine bobtailed horse, and a civilian official- an accountant who had asked out of curiosity to be present at the battle. The accountant, a fat man with a fat face kept looking about him with a naive smile of delight, cutting a queer figure among the hussars......

.....' He wants to see a battle' said Zherkov to Bolkonsky, pointing to the accountant 'but the pit of his stomach is turning already.'
'Come that's enough!' exclaimed the accountant with a beaming smile that was at once artless and artful, .......

... they were all nearing Tushin's battery and a ball struck the ground in front of them.
'What was that that fell?' asked the accountant with his naive smile.
' A French pancake' said Zherkov

War and Peace, part II, chapter 17, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy

I am gripped by War and Peace and enjoying Tolstoy's ability to switch gracefully between the majestic sweep of the period and also the minute detail of the events.

When I did A level history half of the course was devoted to Europe in the 19th century and a lot of time was devoted to Napoleon and his impact on Europe; I studied the Russian campaign in detail. It's tremendous going back to it now.

I laughed out loud at this minor episode of the accountant visiting the battlefield. I knew that often sightseers would visit the battlefields to watch the battles in progress, but I hadn't realised that people tagged along onto the thick of it. It's so bizarre!

D told me that he read all of W&P when he was 16 after his O levels, so I wonder if this was in mind when he trained to be an accountant!! Maybe, maybe not!


(I might start doing a Tuesday teaser like a lot of other people are doing- a random extract from whatever book is on the go, to encourage more people to read good stuff. I'm enjoying reading other blogger's contributions!)