(Spoilers)
My reading of Les Miserables continued with Volume II: Cosette. This volume comprises 232 pages, eight books and spans a time period of less than one year of the main story. While Volume I: Fantine has its title character descend into misery, Volume II’s title character, who was born in misery, slowly starts to emerge out of it. Volume II also has some long digressions, moreso than Volume I. Much of it is Hugo talking to the reader.
The volume begins with a 47-page digression about the Battle of Waterloo. It gives long descriptions of the battlefield and how the armies are arranged including how the field resembles a letter “A” and most of the fighting takes place in the top triangle of the A. All the description of the setting is rather tedious, though Hugo does reassure the reader that “one of the scenes that gave rise to the drama which we are describing hangs upon that battle.” (p. 265) The prose gets a bit more readable once the battle is underway, though it can get a bit hard to follow with all the action. Hugo doesn’t always say to which side he’s referring. I have to go by whether the names of the commanders sound French, English, or German. I’m not sure who is being referred to as “the man of Marengo was wiping out Agincourt.” (p. 277) I just know that around the time I read this we had driving north on Marengo Avenue in Pasadena.
Hugo often waxes philosophically as he describes Waterloo just as he does at many other points in the book. He believes that by the time of Waterloo it was time for Napoleon to fall because “the excessive weight (as in power) of this man in human destiny disturbed the equilibrium.” (p. 280) This description reminded me of the character in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series known as the Mule. He could control entire worlds with his mind and his emergence in power was not predicted by the Foundation psychohistorians. Back to Waterloo, it isn’t until the end of the book about it that the reader learns how it applies to the main story. After the battle, a prowler searches the bodies for valuables. He takes a ring from a presumed dead French officer. But the officer is not dead and the prowler carries him to safety. The officer asks the prowler his name and the prowler answers, “Thenardier.” The officer then gives his name, “Pontmercy.”
The volume contains another digression about Paris in the 1820’s and 1830’s. Hugo describes how when we live a place we feel indifferent towards most of the streets, windows, roof, and doors that we see every day. “But in aftertimes, when we are there no longer, we find that those streets are very dear, that we miss those roofs, those windows, and those doors.” (p. 378) Two later books in Volume II, VI. Petit Picpus and VII. A Parenthesis, are about nuns and religious orders (VI) and Hugo’s opinion that religious orders are obsolete (VII). I mostly just had to dig my way out of these books. There were only a few interesting bits such as one nun “known in the convent only by the horrible noise she made in blowing her nose. The pupils called her Racketini.” (p. 421)
The digressions can be long and tedious to read through especially that book VI: A Parenthesis that’s a digression of a digression. But between these sections the story itself is compelling and exciting. I learned details such as how Jean Valjean escapes after being captured and sentenced to life in prison. While on work detail on the ship Orion that’s dock in Toulon, he dives into the sea and is presumed drowned. I got a clear picture of Cosette’s miserable life with the Thenadiers. She doesn’t fantasize about a “Castle on a Cloud” as in the musical but the book does refer to Thenardier as “Master of the House” (p. 322) Thenardier also has a monologue that mentions “to sell to the first comer …”, “… empty small purses and honestly lighten large ones …”, “… to charge for the open window, the closed window, the chimney corner …”, “… to make the traveler pay for everything even to the flies his dog eat!” (p. 323) I found compelling Jean Valjean’s attempts to evade Javert through the dark streets of Paris. At one point Hugo writes, “If Jean Valjean had a kingdom, he would have given it for a rope” (p. 387-388) alluding to Shakespeare’s play “Richard III”. In this volume, Jean Valjean acquires another alias (in addition to Monsieur Madeleine from volume I), Ultimus Fauchelevent.
Within the story Hugo cannot help but include bits of commentary on the class struggle, on how the rich live in a different world from the poor. When the ship Orion approached the port of Toulon, her pennant “entitled her to a regular salute of 11 guns which she returned shot for shot: in all twenty two.” Hugo goes on to describe how for all similar salutes the civilized world fires off “daily 150,000 useless cannon shots. At 6 francs per shot, that would amount to 900,000 francs per day or 300 million per year, blown off in smoke. This is only an item. Meanwhile, the poor are dying of hunger.” (p. 310) I’m not sure where he got the 150,000 figure. That seems like a lot for the salutes in one day. When describing how Thenardier’s daughters, Eponine and Azelma, treat Cosette like she’s below them, Hugo interjects, “These three girls could not count twenty-four years among them all, and they already represented all human society; on one side envy, on the other, disdain.” (p. 341) In a digressive unrelated note, Eponine and Azelma are described as “regnant” a word I hadn’t known before that means “reigning in one’s own right and not as a consort” according to my Random House dictionary.
Not all the commentary is serious. Hugo includes a few humorous anecdotes. When Jean Valjean and Cosette first move to Paris, they rent lodging at Gorbeau House, and naturally, Hugo gives the entire history of the place. He tells a story of two attorneys named Corbeau and Renard who worked at the same law office. Their names translated to “crow” and “fox” respectively and the law clerks always made up silly songs about them and laughed. The attorneys petitioned the king to change their names. Corbeau became Gorbeau that has no meaning and Renard became Prenard that means “a grasping fellow” and the law clerks continued to laugh at him. Hugo adds a bit of morbid humor later in the volume. He writes, “It is, however, true; gravediggers themselves die. By dint of digging graves for others they open their own.” (p. 466)
Coincidentally, as I was first writing the preceding paragraph while riding the Metrolink train to work (at around 6:20 am on February 9, 2010), I noticed part of the name tag of the guy sitting next to me. On the top part was written what looked like “Los Angeles” in a logo. Below that was his first name in big bold type and below that in smaller type was the word (or name?) “Javert”. Speaking of coincidences, while I was reading the long digression about Waterloo in mid-January that name came up in some other contexts. We used MapQuest to get driving directions to Club Spaceland in Silverlake and one route has us taking a bunch of little side streets, one of them called “Waterloo”. One of the opening bands at Spaceland, either Rabbit or Arms Control, sang the song “Waterloo Sunset” that’s originally by the Kinks. Around that time there was a contestant on Jeopardy! who was a graduate of the University of Waterloo in Ontario.
Wow, I didn’t think this review would go this long. Compared to the first volume not as much happened in the second and, of course, there were all the digressions. Some do relate to the story and help explain some things such as the non in perpetual adoration in the chapel. But much of it is tedious. Still, the gripping story is worth it.
My reading of Les Miserables continued with Volume II: Cosette. This volume comprises 232 pages, eight books and spans a time period of less than one year of the main story. While Volume I: Fantine has its title character descend into misery, Volume II’s title character, who was born in misery, slowly starts to emerge out of it. Volume II also has some long digressions, moreso than Volume I. Much of it is Hugo talking to the reader.
The volume begins with a 47-page digression about the Battle of Waterloo. It gives long descriptions of the battlefield and how the armies are arranged including how the field resembles a letter “A” and most of the fighting takes place in the top triangle of the A. All the description of the setting is rather tedious, though Hugo does reassure the reader that “one of the scenes that gave rise to the drama which we are describing hangs upon that battle.” (p. 265) The prose gets a bit more readable once the battle is underway, though it can get a bit hard to follow with all the action. Hugo doesn’t always say to which side he’s referring. I have to go by whether the names of the commanders sound French, English, or German. I’m not sure who is being referred to as “the man of Marengo was wiping out Agincourt.” (p. 277) I just know that around the time I read this we had driving north on Marengo Avenue in Pasadena.
Hugo often waxes philosophically as he describes Waterloo just as he does at many other points in the book. He believes that by the time of Waterloo it was time for Napoleon to fall because “the excessive weight (as in power) of this man in human destiny disturbed the equilibrium.” (p. 280) This description reminded me of the character in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series known as the Mule. He could control entire worlds with his mind and his emergence in power was not predicted by the Foundation psychohistorians. Back to Waterloo, it isn’t until the end of the book about it that the reader learns how it applies to the main story. After the battle, a prowler searches the bodies for valuables. He takes a ring from a presumed dead French officer. But the officer is not dead and the prowler carries him to safety. The officer asks the prowler his name and the prowler answers, “Thenardier.” The officer then gives his name, “Pontmercy.”
The volume contains another digression about Paris in the 1820’s and 1830’s. Hugo describes how when we live a place we feel indifferent towards most of the streets, windows, roof, and doors that we see every day. “But in aftertimes, when we are there no longer, we find that those streets are very dear, that we miss those roofs, those windows, and those doors.” (p. 378) Two later books in Volume II, VI. Petit Picpus and VII. A Parenthesis, are about nuns and religious orders (VI) and Hugo’s opinion that religious orders are obsolete (VII). I mostly just had to dig my way out of these books. There were only a few interesting bits such as one nun “known in the convent only by the horrible noise she made in blowing her nose. The pupils called her Racketini.” (p. 421)
The digressions can be long and tedious to read through especially that book VI: A Parenthesis that’s a digression of a digression. But between these sections the story itself is compelling and exciting. I learned details such as how Jean Valjean escapes after being captured and sentenced to life in prison. While on work detail on the ship Orion that’s dock in Toulon, he dives into the sea and is presumed drowned. I got a clear picture of Cosette’s miserable life with the Thenadiers. She doesn’t fantasize about a “Castle on a Cloud” as in the musical but the book does refer to Thenardier as “Master of the House” (p. 322) Thenardier also has a monologue that mentions “to sell to the first comer …”, “… empty small purses and honestly lighten large ones …”, “… to charge for the open window, the closed window, the chimney corner …”, “… to make the traveler pay for everything even to the flies his dog eat!” (p. 323) I found compelling Jean Valjean’s attempts to evade Javert through the dark streets of Paris. At one point Hugo writes, “If Jean Valjean had a kingdom, he would have given it for a rope” (p. 387-388) alluding to Shakespeare’s play “Richard III”. In this volume, Jean Valjean acquires another alias (in addition to Monsieur Madeleine from volume I), Ultimus Fauchelevent.
Within the story Hugo cannot help but include bits of commentary on the class struggle, on how the rich live in a different world from the poor. When the ship Orion approached the port of Toulon, her pennant “entitled her to a regular salute of 11 guns which she returned shot for shot: in all twenty two.” Hugo goes on to describe how for all similar salutes the civilized world fires off “daily 150,000 useless cannon shots. At 6 francs per shot, that would amount to 900,000 francs per day or 300 million per year, blown off in smoke. This is only an item. Meanwhile, the poor are dying of hunger.” (p. 310) I’m not sure where he got the 150,000 figure. That seems like a lot for the salutes in one day. When describing how Thenardier’s daughters, Eponine and Azelma, treat Cosette like she’s below them, Hugo interjects, “These three girls could not count twenty-four years among them all, and they already represented all human society; on one side envy, on the other, disdain.” (p. 341) In a digressive unrelated note, Eponine and Azelma are described as “regnant” a word I hadn’t known before that means “reigning in one’s own right and not as a consort” according to my Random House dictionary.
Not all the commentary is serious. Hugo includes a few humorous anecdotes. When Jean Valjean and Cosette first move to Paris, they rent lodging at Gorbeau House, and naturally, Hugo gives the entire history of the place. He tells a story of two attorneys named Corbeau and Renard who worked at the same law office. Their names translated to “crow” and “fox” respectively and the law clerks always made up silly songs about them and laughed. The attorneys petitioned the king to change their names. Corbeau became Gorbeau that has no meaning and Renard became Prenard that means “a grasping fellow” and the law clerks continued to laugh at him. Hugo adds a bit of morbid humor later in the volume. He writes, “It is, however, true; gravediggers themselves die. By dint of digging graves for others they open their own.” (p. 466)
Coincidentally, as I was first writing the preceding paragraph while riding the Metrolink train to work (at around 6:20 am on February 9, 2010), I noticed part of the name tag of the guy sitting next to me. On the top part was written what looked like “Los Angeles” in a logo. Below that was his first name in big bold type and below that in smaller type was the word (or name?) “Javert”. Speaking of coincidences, while I was reading the long digression about Waterloo in mid-January that name came up in some other contexts. We used MapQuest to get driving directions to Club Spaceland in Silverlake and one route has us taking a bunch of little side streets, one of them called “Waterloo”. One of the opening bands at Spaceland, either Rabbit or Arms Control, sang the song “Waterloo Sunset” that’s originally by the Kinks. Around that time there was a contestant on Jeopardy! who was a graduate of the University of Waterloo in Ontario.
Wow, I didn’t think this review would go this long. Compared to the first volume not as much happened in the second and, of course, there were all the digressions. Some do relate to the story and help explain some things such as the non in perpetual adoration in the chapel. But much of it is tedious. Still, the gripping story is worth it.
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