Huh. Chakotay’s Maquis ship was named Valjean.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Val_Jean
#StarTrek #LesMiserables
Tag: LesMiserables
All I wanted to do was fix a pair of broken links. Then I went …
All I wanted to do was fix a pair of broken links. Then I went down the rabbit hole trying to figure out why digital editions of #ClassicsIllustrated's entire line seemed to have disappeared from the net.
New blog post:
https://hyperborea.org/les-mis/about/comics-disappearing/
#comics #LesMiserables #ebooks
Fiction can’t *prove* a point about about reality, but it can make you *think*…
Something I wrote after my third time through #LesMiserables:
Fiction can’t *prove* a point about about reality, but it can make you *think* about it, and consider connections or perspectives that you might not have considered before. And that’s a very valuable thing.
Les Mis, goose, dream
I dreamed that Jean Valjean convinced Javert to rescue an injured goose like he helps rescue Marius in the original. Javert took the goose to the station, issued it its own photo ID (it was a modern retelling), and the goose proceeded to follow Javert around everywhere for weeks until it got homesick and wanted him to take it back to the lagoon where Valjean had found it. Somehow it managed to convey this to him and he brought it back.
Still a bit rough around the edges, but my Gemini conversion for my Les Misérables …
Still a bit rough around the edges, but my Gemini conversion for my Les Misérables commentary is up! The blog is now available both on the web and via Gemini.
It features commentary from two full read-throughs (in different translations) plus reviews of movie, stage, radio and comic adaptations.
Gemini: Re-Reading Les Misérables
Web: Re-Reading Les Misérables
Looking for a non-Kindle place to link to a couple of #LesMiserables translations opened up …
Looking for a non-Kindle place to link to a couple of #LesMiserables translations opened up a can of worms because (1) eBook stores generally don’t tell you which translation is in the book and (2) they’re *flooded* with editions using the public-domain 1862 Wilbour & 1887 Hapgood translations.
I decided to sort it out myself and make a page of links to each English translation at Project Gutenberg & 6 different eBook stores.
It’s not just Javert
New blog post:
A lot of #LesMiserables adaptations tend to put extra focus on Inspector Javert’s role as Jean Valjean’s persecutor, making it personal. It makes for good drama, but it misses Victor Hugo’s point that the justice *system* is unjust. Javert is only its face.
Oddly related to the post I found earlier: I was listening to the Broadway album …
Oddly related to the post I found earlier: I was listening to the Broadway album of #LesMiserables for the first time in ages.
1. I know this version of the show well enough that the gaps in the recording are as distracting as the changes in the current production & movie.
2. On My Own & A Little Fall of Rain still hit me.
3. Bring Him Home hits me now. I wasn’t expecting that. But now I associate it with the moment in the movie when Javert finds Gavroche’s body.
The latest episode of the #LesMiserables Reading Companion podcast covers the amazing scene where Eponine …
The latest episode of the #LesMiserables Reading Companion podcast covers the amazing scene where Eponine single-handedly stares down 6 hardened criminals and wins.
As always, their analysis turns up some really interesting connections with other parts of the book – like the fact that Eponine channels both Javert and Thenardier, the two main antagonists, but uses their traits to act heroically.
https://readlesmis.libsyn.com/ep40-iv8i-v-the-dangers-girls-face
#books
Les Miserables Reading Companion. Up to the introduction of Patron-Minette & the “Jondrette” family.
Listened to the latest episode of the #LesMiserables Reading Companion. Up to the introduction of Patron-Minette & the “Jondrette” family.
1. Wow, the callback to the miner’s candlestick from back in Digne (lost in the Denny translation).
2. I hadn’t made the connection between Éponine’s 1st & Fantine’s last appearances.
3. Three times through the book & I never caught on to the implications of just how far Thénardier goes in exploiting his daughters. Ugh.
https://readlesmis.libsyn.com/ep30-iii7i-iii8iv-miners-tools
While I finished reading #LesMiserables last month, I’m still listening to a podcast about the …
While I finished reading #LesMiserables last month, I’m still listening to a podcast about the book. The podcaster is a French professor who uses the book in her class, and each week she discusses a few chapters of the book. She’s a little way into Part Three at this point, up to the introduction of the ABC society.
Its been fascinating to listen to, and I’d recommend it to anyone else who’s a fan of the book or is interested in reading it and wants more context.
I finished the June Rebellion chapters of #LesMiserables early afternoon on June 6, the same …
I finished the June Rebellion chapters of #LesMiserables early afternoon on June 6, the same time that the barricade fell in the book. That was kind of weird.
Lots of commentary and philosophy on revolution & urban/civil warfare, presented as supporting for the story, but I realize now it’s the other way around.
I’ve finished part 3 (of 5) of #LesMiserables, which ends on a solid cliffhanger….
I’ve finished part 3 (of 5) of #LesMiserables, which ends on a solid cliffhanger.
Something I realized is a major difference from the last time I read it: I’m looking ahead for connections, not just backward. Since It’s only been 5 years since the last time, I remember more of the book (and not just the musical).
I’ve also started listening to a weekly podcast that’s also going through the book this year, which has been fascinating: https://readlesmis.libsyn.com/
Les Mis: Marius/Cosette Courtship
One of many things that gets lost in adaptation is the extended courtship between Marius & Cosette (usually condensed to love at first sight). They pass each other in the park on a daily basis w/o paying much attention to each other, until she hits puberty & they start stealing glances at each other, trying to keep Valjean from noticing. She’s a lot better at that part than he is, though, which gets funny at times.
#LesMiserables
It does get creepy later on when Marius starts, well, creeping around her garden at night.
But at this point, it’s funny watching Marius hide behind trees so he & Cosette can make eyes at each other w/o Valjean seeing, make a fool over himself with the handkerchief he thinks she dropped (it was actually Valjean’s, so she can’t understand why he’s so fascinated by it), etc.
And when Valjean gets suspicious, and sets traps? Marius blunders into every single one.
Marius’ grandfather, after reading the morning news, rants about kids these days, their sloppy dressing, …
Marius’ grandfather, after reading the morning news, rants about kids these days, their sloppy dressing, entitlement, disrespect for political systems that were good enough back in his day, disparages their masculinity, makes racist comparisons, & declares all news media a scourge.
It’s presented as ridiculous. And it is.
But it’s also depressing in how familiar it is. >150 years later, it’s exactly what you’d expect from an old man shouting at the news today. #lesmiserables
introductions time!
#introductions time! I’m an LA-area programmer, #scifi / #comics / #fantasy fan & hobbyist photographer. I’ve been @kelsonv for a while, but I keep meaning to look for a more specific instance for fandom-related discussions. It looks like this might be it?
Watching #iZombie, #TheFlash & #TheMagicians, way behind on a bunch of other shows. Favorite comics ATM are #Saga & #AstroCity.
In the middle of re-reading all of #LesMiserables, currently on the chapters introducing Marius.
It’s weird how it hides the instance name…my other accounts are on mastodon.social (my main one) and photog.social (my photography). Maybe I should’ve picked different usernames as well just for clarity?
#LesMiserables update: 19% through the brick, according to Kindle, but notes start at 85%, so …
#LesMiserables update: 19% through the brick, according to Kindle, but notes start at 85%, so I’ve already passed 22% of the actual novel.
I miss page numbers.
Fantine pretends to be a widow when she meets Mme Thénardier. If Valjean went years …
Fantine pretends to be a widow when she meets Mme Thénardier. If Valjean went years undiscovered w/a new ID, could she have invented a dead husband & kept Cosette?
How detailed were records in small-town France in 1818? “Madeleine” arrives under circumstances that distract officials from checking his ID, but would they have bothered to check papers of a young mother & child?
And if she lived openly as a widow, would the busybodies have cared as much to dig up the truth?
#LesMiserables
Marius’ Friends
After the wedding, Cosette starts spending time with “new acquaintances brought to her by marriage.” Who? All of Marius’ friends are dead.
Note: this is in the middle of a much longer blog entry. Need to decide whether to link just the picture, or u-syndication the whole thing, or what.
On Tumblr (Re-Reading Les Mis)Eye, Eye, Eye!
Cosette keeps her feelings hidden, and Marius makes an ass of himself over and over. Hugo says it’s a rule that in these sort of courtships, “the girl never falls into any trap and the young man falls into all of them.” Valjean is convinced that Cosette has no clue who Marius is, so he starts looking daggers at Marius while Marius is making goo-goo eyes at Cosette. At one point, Valjean glares at Marius in a way that “even he could not fail to notice.”
It’s like an eye conversation.
Marius’ eyes (shouting): I LOVE YOU!
Cosette’s eyes (whispering): I love you too.
Valjean’s eyes (whispering coldly): Stay the hell away from my daughter.
On Tumblr (Re-Reading Les Mis)