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primeidealDid 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.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?"
"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:
( Read more... )
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.
