Alfredo Behrens

leer en españoller em portuguêsAs a doctoral student at Cambridge, I researched the public archives of the UK government. Reading the indexes, I drew attention to the torrent of letters between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government of Her Majesty and Edward Swann. The saga of this individual, fighting for three decades against the indifference of empires, captivated me and copied all exchanges. I carried this correspondence with me for four decades through seven cities on three continents, until I wrote it in Oporto.In the middle of the 19th century, Edward, a student from Cambridge, went to the Amazon to defeat the core of Darwin's theory of evolution. Unfortunately, a corrupt delegate accused Edward of spying for the British. Edward was imprisoned in the dungeon of a hamlet o...

ler em português read it in English Al cambiar de país tenemos mucho que aprender. Vengo de un lugar con mucha gente joven. Allá hay jóvenes paseando perros, hasta una docena al mismo tiempo. Se parecen a Charlton Heston conduciendo su carroza en Ben-Hur. Si no te pareció extraña la alegoría es porque tienes más o menos mi edad. Por aquí, vi una paseadora de ancianos hace un rato. Ella tampoco era joven y caminaba apuntalando cinco ancianas al mismo tiempo. La paseadora iba en el centro del grupo, dos de las más viejas a cada lado y a los lados de estas, las que quedaban. Todas iban con pasos temblorosos, aferrándose unas a otras lo mejor que podían. Parecía que si una cayese todas caerían desparramadas en el suelo. Verlas fue tan hermoso cuanto angustiante. Visiones apocalípt...

leer en españoller em portuguêsWhen changing countries we have a lot to learn. I come from a country with a lot of young people. There are young people walking dogs, up to a dozen of them at the same time. Those young men look like Charlton Heston driving his carriage at Ben-Hur.If the allegory didn't seem strange to you, it's because you're more or less my age.Around here, I saw an elderly walker a while ago. She was also not young and walked propping up five old ladies at the same time. The walker was like in the center of the gang, two of the oldest on each side and on the sides of these, the ones that were left. They all went with shaky steps, clinging to each other as best they could. It seemed that if one fell they would all be scattered on the ground. Seeing them was as beautiful as...

ler em português read it in English Hay muchos tipos de trabajo y alguien tiene que hacerlos. Pero hay límites, y ese sería el caso de esta barbera. Era portuguesa y recortaba la barba y cortaba el pelo en las Islas del Canal. Puede que no haya sido fácil, pero pagaba mejor que en Portugal. Sin embargo, estaba sola en el Canal y fue allí, en uno de esos recortes de barba, que un cliente la invitó a cenar. No daba para más, pero ella estaba sola y, por lo que parecía, él, un médico escocés, también estaría solo. Fueron a un pub y el médico se acercó a la mesa con dos pintas de cerveza y unos maníes. No fue exactamente una cena portuguesa, pero para quien estaba sola, la alternativa podría haber sido beber cerveza en lata mientras veía televisión. La conversación transcurría bien h...

leer en españoller em portuguêsThere are many types of work, and someone has to do them. But it has limits, and that would be the case with this barber. She was Portuguese and trimmed beards and cut hair in the Channel Islands. It might not have been easy, but it paid better than in Portugal. However, she was alone on the Channel, and it was there, on one of those trims, that a customer invited her to dinner. No big deal, she was alone and by the looks of it, he, a Scottish doctor, would be alone too.They went to a pub, and the doctor came to the table with two pints of beer and some peanuts. It wasn't exactly a Portuguese dinner, but for those who are alone, the alternative could be drinking canned beer while watching the TV.The conversation went well until she couldn't resist and alluded...

ler em portuguêsread it in EnglishJuan podría ser el fruto de los libros que leyeron sus padres.A Juan nunca se los leyeron, no tuvieron tiempo. Se peleaban mucho y su padre dejó la casa y sus libros cuando Juan era un niño aún. La madre los guardó en un altillo como poniendo un cordón sanitario entre Juan y los libros del marido huido.Con el tiempo Juan descubrió esos libros y empezó a leerlos. Así fue descubriendo a su padre. Uno de ellos se llamaba Desfile de las estrellas. Era sobre las estrellas, sus distancias, luminosidad y otras yerbas. Las estrellas tenían nombres como Sirius, Betelgeuse. Nada que ver con las revistas sobre las estrellas que leía su madre, que suscribía a una revista de nombre Écran. Ahí desfilaban las estrellas de cine con nombres como Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak...

leer en españoller em portuguêsJuan could be the fruit of the books that his parents read.They never read them to Juan, they did not have time. They fought a lot and Juan's father left the house and his books when Juan was still a child. The mother kept the books in a loft as if putting a sanitary cordon between Juan and the books of her husband who fled.Over time, Juan discovered those books and began to read them. This is how he discovered his father. One of those books was called The Pageant of the Stars. It was about the stars themselves, their distances, luminosity and other herbs. The stars had names like Sirius, Betelgeuse. Nothing to do with the magazines about the stars that his mother read, called Écran. There movie stars paraded with names like Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak.Juan g...