![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Dumas/Hugo Verse?
So, some years ago, I was very entertained by Dickensian, a tv miniseries that smashes various Charles Dickens canons into each other on a general prequel basis, i.e. lets their backstories take place simultanously and in connection to each other, with the death of Jacob Marley (which is a murder to be solved) as the narrative read thread holding the different stories together, by and large.
I was wondering whether this was possible with a 19th century French novelist as well, but got immediately sidetracked by thinking not of a fusion of canons from the same novelist but two of the best known novels of the two romantic titans, to wit: a Les Miserables/Count of Monte Christo crossover. I mean, Javert's bound to have done some police work in the time jump between Valjean and Cosette entering the nunnery and leaving it again, or even after but pre ending that's unrelated to Valjean and/or the 1832 uprising, and there are the various murders among the Villefort family to be solved, to pick the most obvious possible intersection. Valjean would disapprove of the Count's grand revenge scheme even before there's lethal collateral damage, of course, but otoh they could relate about lengthy prison sentences and kindly clergymen who change your life. Edmond/the Count would not understand why Valjean doesn't solve his Javert and Thenadier problems by a complicated scheme during which one is set against the other. Albert de Morcerf and Franz d'Epinay could hang out with Marius and compete in well meaning cluelessness. And maybe what Eponine needs to distract her from unrequited love to Marius is a flirt with Eugenie Danglars when the later catches her stealing?
I was wondering whether this was possible with a 19th century French novelist as well, but got immediately sidetracked by thinking not of a fusion of canons from the same novelist but two of the best known novels of the two romantic titans, to wit: a Les Miserables/Count of Monte Christo crossover. I mean, Javert's bound to have done some police work in the time jump between Valjean and Cosette entering the nunnery and leaving it again, or even after but pre ending that's unrelated to Valjean and/or the 1832 uprising, and there are the various murders among the Villefort family to be solved, to pick the most obvious possible intersection. Valjean would disapprove of the Count's grand revenge scheme even before there's lethal collateral damage, of course, but otoh they could relate about lengthy prison sentences and kindly clergymen who change your life. Edmond/the Count would not understand why Valjean doesn't solve his Javert and Thenadier problems by a complicated scheme during which one is set against the other. Albert de Morcerf and Franz d'Epinay could hang out with Marius and compete in well meaning cluelessness. And maybe what Eponine needs to distract her from unrequited love to Marius is a flirt with Eugenie Danglars when the later catches her stealing?
no subject
(Valjean, you are right and you should say it! :P )
Edmond Dantes: Easy for you to say. You were put in prison and then given ever lengthier sentences by the system, not by four particular individuals. Also, if they'd been model citizens ever after screwing me over, I couldn't have done anything. I gave Caderousse every chance for a happily ever after by giving him money, and it just made him a greedy murderer, like admittedly I guessed it would, but he could have chosen to retire with that money. As for Danglars, come on, is anyone really sorry I gave him the chance to ruin himself financially? He starved my father to death! And if Fernand Mondego hadn't betrayed Ali Pasha after ruining me, he'd still be smugly enjoying the benefits of that particular crime, as it was Haydee's testimony and her revenge which okay, I enabled, that did him in. And Villefort committed infanticide, or thought he did, when I was in prison, and that's what I used to bring him down.
Valjean: It wasn't all you used, though. You deliberately gave his second wife a crash course in poisoning people knowing she wouldn't be able to resist offing anyone between her son and a lot of money to inherit. Those deaths are on you as much as on her.
Edmond Dantes: Point. That's when I realised I went too far.
Valjean: You should have realised before. If you want to repent while posing as a gardener in a cloister, I can recommend one. Or you could starve yourself to death in self loathing while denying your loved ones the chance to see you.
Edmond Dantes: No thanks, I'd rather head towards my personal luxurious island in the Mediterranean, having realised my young sexy ward loves me not as a father figure but as her husband of choice, and marrying her. Valjean, you really need to chill. Might I reccommend smoking some pot? My author Alexandre Dumas and I are both big fans of hashish, and I think you would benefit from trying either it or laudanum instead of going for the martyr angle.
Valjean: Are you sure you are the hero and not the villain of your novel?
no subject
I mean. Over-the-top revenge plots are wildly entertaining to me, so... no :P
having realised my young sexy ward loves me not as a father figure but as her husband of choice, and marrying her.
Valjean: Ew. EW. That is SUPER GROSS and you should let her find someone her own age! I know it's tough, it took me a couple of tries too.
Valjean: Are you sure you are the hero and not the villain of your novel?
LOLOLOLOL! Well.