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A place for the educated exchange of information about books, reading, writing, and more. Format: title "Title of book" by Author. The post is the synopsis from the back of the book. Your comments are your feelings on the book, author, writing style, etc. Your comments are where you make your connections to the book and talk about what the book means to you and WHY!
One I enjoyed (and which took up most of my time) was Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. It's basically an adventure story buried under Hugo's thoughts and opinions about almost EVERYTHING. For every one chapter of solid plot, where something exciting happens to move the story forward, we get two chapters of his musings about personalities, the importance of every French uprising ever to have occurred, the role of monasteries in modern life, or the progress of young love. Sometimes, these can be interesting, but I have to admit I jumped pages at times. You also have to know your French history (at least of the 18th and 19th centuries) very well. Some characters call him "Napoleon," some call him "the Emperor," and some call him, "Bonaparte," and these different names apparently reveal very important differences in beliefs.
ReplyDeleteDespite all the wordiness, it's a good summer read. Something to slow down with when you have the time. And plenty of fodder for philosophical thought.
I will admit to not having read Les Mis since high school when I read it in French, I have seen the various movies over the years since then, and I remember thinking, "my these are so very... fluffy". I also remember Hugo guiding me along in my study of French philosophy...
ReplyDeleteReading Les Mis sounds a bit like reading Umberto Echo's The Name of the Rose. There I began to wonder, "what does the author feel his responsibility to his readers is? Is it to guide us in moral thought, or to entertain?"
Let's think about Dante next and Inferno in specific, was he simply poking fun at all the naughtiness around him, wondering if all the common people of the world were sheep for the sheparding by self-indulgent leaders?
Comparing the thoughts of the three, and many other "classics", I wonder if "modern" writing isn't more about entertainment, less about enlightenment?
How about everyone else? How do you compare Alexandre Dumas (Les Trois...), Voltaire (Candide), Steinbeck (Mice), C.S. Lewis (Lion) who would all be considered classic authors with J.K. Rowling, Rick Riordan, Susan Collins and other very modern writers?