I have not kept up with my blog for reasons, and I do not know if this post will change that. I’ve been exorcising whatever need I have to share by using Instagram for the most part, and keeping good old fashioned notebooks for that which I do not need to share. I am beginning to read another Big Book, however, so I was reminded of the last monster I tackled and how I posted about it here.
This past February, Les Miserables was touring through Chicago, and I went to see the production for probably the sixth time ever. Yet, having seen it so many times did not prepare me for how moved I was by an early scene between the bishop and Jean Valjean. I know this musical backwards and forwards; it was the first musical I ever saw live, I knew what was going to happen, and which scenes usually get me. The emoting usually doesn’t begin until several scenes later with a main character’s death! I guess not this time. So I decided I wanted to finally read through Les Miserables to see if there was more to the theme of mercy and forgiveness, to see if there’s a reason why this particular scene reaches me now, in 2023. I will be reading it as a buddy read with @bookish_lizzi, one of the group of bookish women with whom I’m rereading Louise Erdrich’s books this year.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo was first published in 1862. I learned through a quick internet search that there have been eight translations of Les Miserables from French to English. In about 2008 or 2009 I read half of the Julie Rose translation, which was new in 2007. And actually, I tried to have a book club around it with friends, and when it came time for the meeting, 6-8 people showed up to my studio apartment to drink wine and eat crepes, cheese, and grapes. A neighbor across my courtyard took a shower without pulling down the shade so we had a bit more excitement than most book clubs boast, though no one read more than half of the book, and most read none at all. Discussion was replaced by a singalong to the musical by Boublil and Schonberg. I have no complaints about that evening, but I’ve always meant to come back to the text.
Since it’s 15 years later, I decided I would have to start over again, not necessarily choosing the Rose translation. I used this translation guide to land on a newer translation from 2013 by Christine Donougher, which is supposed to be modernized but not too modern, and with helpful notes. I am trying to fit the book in before a family vacation at the end of June, reading one part each week, but the best laid plans and all that. As with any project, if it isn’t the book for me right now, it is subject to abandonment. (Too many books, not enough time.)
Maybe I will see this blog again in the near future. If not, then not. :)
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