Fandom Promo: Quatrevingt-Treize (Ninety-Three) by Victor Hugo

[primeideal]

Did you like Les Miserables but think it needed even more melodrama? Do (overly) principled characters like Enjolras and Javert turn you on? Do you think the historical Marat was actually a vampire?

If so, you may enjoy "Quatrevingt-Treize," a novel about the French Revolution. It's shorter than Les Mis, but features similar digressions and wall-of-texts. One of the recurring themes is "do the ends justify the means," not only in the sense of "can we do violent things to achieve good" (possibly the goal of the revolution) but the flip side of "what if doing a good thing has a bad consequence?"

It's set in the year 1793, and divided into three parts. The first section is about the aftermath of a sea battle carrying a ~mysterious person~ (there's a lot of "and then an old man who is totally the old man from three chapters ago showed up," in the Les Mis vein). The second section is set in Paris and features Hugo's monologues about why the revolution was great, including dialogue from Robespierre, Danton, and Marat.

"How old are you, Danton? Thirty-four years. How old are you, Robespierre? Thirty-three. Well, as for me, I have always been alive; I am suffering humanity, I am six thousand years old." - Marat the eternal

The last part involves the clash between the "idealistic" and "fatalistic" elements of the Revolution as the Parisian troops fight in La Vendee.

Content warnings: oooh boy, there is a lot. First of all, there are Hugo's author tracts which are kind of weird about women (mothers are described as animalistic in their love for their children, which has some positive aspects but is basically dehumanizing) and rural people/peasants (they're so supersititious, they need the central government to come enlighten them!) Lots of violence and death. Hints of offscreen sexual violence (nothing graphic). Spoilery note:

Suicide. Also, there are children in peril for a large portion of the story, but that threat is defeated and the children are not harmed in the end.

It's available in the public domain, there's a 1900 translation on Wikisource!

PS forgot to mention, it passes the Bechdel Test in the prologue! ...and probably not again.

Comments

[sailorkitty]

Ohhh! This looks interesting, I love what I have read of Hugo's chatter, so I might like this! Is there any preferred translation?

[primeideal]

I'm not sure actually! When I read it hardcopy, it was still a fairly old translation so I don't think there's a "nice" modern one. I can ask around though!

[sailorkitty]

That would be lovely, but don't feel pressured. The one on the internet looks nice enough, especially being from the early 1900's :)

[isis]

Man, I tried to read this, but got very very bogged down. I guess I could try again one day.

[primeideal]

Between you and me, I miiiiight be able to tell you the parts you can skip. ;)

[sunlit_stone]

Oh man, that looks amazing! Thank you :)

[primeideal]

Hope you enjoy!

[regshoe]

I've been vaguely aware of this book for years but never managed to get round to it—but this does sound very good! I shall bump it up the to-read list... :D

[wickedlittletown]

That sounds like a good read. Thank you for introducing it to unaware persons like me :)

[iberiandoctor]

I've skimmed this, as I've skimmed many Mis-adjacent canons. Sounds like I should be giving it a deeper dive! Thanks for recommending!