This page permanently redirects to gemini://hyperborea.org/les-mis/book/.
I first read Les Misérables in high school, back in 1992 or 1993, after discovering the musical. The 2012 movie rekindled my interest, and I re-read it (the Norman Denny translation) with an entirely new perspective, writing commentary as I went.
In 2018, I came back to it again, reading the Christine Donougher translation. It was interesting to compare the translations, and to see how my perspective changed again after just five years.
=> Translations
=> The Bishop! | Part 2…4601 | Sunday in the Park with Fantine | Righteousness vs “Righteousness” | Who IS This Guy, Anyway? | Get Me To The Courthouse On Time
=> Waterloo | Off the Deep End | Escape from Montfermeil | Valjean sure knows how to pick a hiding place | Getting Un-Convent-ional | Buried Alive!
=> Paris Has the Best Street Urchins | Meeting Marius | Get to Know Your ABCs | Poor, Poor Marius | Stealth Courtship | The Scumbag Report | Ambush in the Slums
=> You Say You Want A Revolution | Just a Lark | Meanwhile, Back at the Rue Plumet... | Epic Fail at Mugging | Creeping Around the Garden | Gavroche and the Adventure of the Incognito Family | Argot, F-- Yourself | Over the Edge | A Revolting Development | (From) Drinking to Revolution | Hey, Barricade, Who's in Charge Here?
=> Barricades of Future Past (Plus Cannon Geekery) | Passing Peak Ammunition | Last Stand | What a Wonderful Smell You've Discovered | Jumper | Don't Worry, Be Happy | This is the End
=> Second Chances | What’s “Good” for Valjean and Javert | Recurring Background Characters | I Am The Night | The Wretched of the Earth | Heroic Javert | The Lark | Agency: Cosette vs. Éponine vs. Florence | Tholomyes the...Dad? | It's Not Just Javert. It's the System | Authority | It's 1817 All Over Again
Over the next few years I watched and reviewed various movie adaptations (and parodies).
I came back to the book again, this time reading the Christine Donougher translation (2013).
=> First Impressions of the Donougher Translation | Valjean and the Bishop | Fantine Before the Fall | Fantine: Alternate Possibilities | Parallels | The Crimes of Jean Valjean | The Mysterious M. Madeleine | No Such Thing as Coincidence | Convictions | Javert vs. the One Who Got Away | When Javert Loses His Cool
=> Return to Waterloo | Back on the Chain Gang | How Les Misérables is Like Titanic | Rescuing Cosette | Conventionality
=> Let’s meet Marius! Haha just kidding, here’s a street urchin first | Let’s introduce ALL of Marius’ grandfather’s friends (and then ignore them for the rest of the book) | Marius' Connections | Getting Schooled | Marius' Timeline and the Missing Revolution | Two Old Men | The Underminers | Undermined | Wretched in Every Sense of the Word | Now I Remember... | Javert and the Citizen | The Ambush | Javert in his Element
=> Dominoes | Aftermath of an Ambush | Now Arriving at Rue Plumet | Mugging Fail | Marius: Stalker | Gavroche and his family | Slang, Theme and Digressions: Getting the Point Across | The Bubble Bursts | Two Old Men in Decline | Paris has the Best Riots? | Let's Go Build a Barricade! | Commandeering the Tavern | Hitting the Fan | Jealousy | Valjean's Hidden Decisions and the End of Resilience
=> On the Barricade | Into the Dreaded Sewers | Derailing Javert's One-Track Mind | Cosette is Separated from Another Parent | Valjean's Depression Pretends to be his Conscience | Marius Joins the Persecution | Third Time Through
Thoughts and commentary on Victor Hugo’s masterpiece.
text/gemini;lang=en-USThis content has been proxied by September (ba2dc).