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Of Midwives and Victor Hugo
Dec. 29th, 2012 11:31 amThe Christmas special of Call the Midwife was lovely. ( Spoilers ensue. )
In Yuletide news, I got some lovely comments on both stories by now; more on the official assignment than on the treat, but that was to be expected because of the fandoms in question. Also, I spotted the assignment story recced on the journal of someone who is a complete stranger, which is extra thrilling. For all the fretting, that's the charm of the anonymous period before the reveal: getting comments, and perhaps being recced, solely on the basis of the story itself.
I haven't had the chance to watch the film version of Les Miserables yet for the simple reason it hasn't been released in Bamberg (but I'm off to Munich again next week, which is when I'll also go watch The Hobbit for a second time in the undubbed version). However, being familiar with both the novel and the musical meant I've been leisurely reading through reviews. Some comments about Marius reminded me that Hugo is a good example of reader/viewer training clashing with authorial intent, and not in the usual way. Because I don't think Marius is meant to be the young romantic hero of the tale (and failing at it). Hugo, writing from exile on his channel island because of his anti-Napoleon-III. pamphlet Napoleon Le Petit, isn't exactly charitable towards Marius ; ( spoilers for Les Mis ensue ) And yet Marius is still the most sympathetic variation of a certain type that shows up in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Le Roi s'amuse, the drama which forms the basis of Verdi's opera Rigoletto (Verdi had to transport the whole plot to Mantua and make the king a duke in order to get around the censor), always in conjunction with an amazing woman in unrequited love with him. ( Spoilers for Notre Dame and Rigoletto ensue, along with ramblings on a favourite Hugo trope. )
In Yuletide news, I got some lovely comments on both stories by now; more on the official assignment than on the treat, but that was to be expected because of the fandoms in question. Also, I spotted the assignment story recced on the journal of someone who is a complete stranger, which is extra thrilling. For all the fretting, that's the charm of the anonymous period before the reveal: getting comments, and perhaps being recced, solely on the basis of the story itself.
I haven't had the chance to watch the film version of Les Miserables yet for the simple reason it hasn't been released in Bamberg (but I'm off to Munich again next week, which is when I'll also go watch The Hobbit for a second time in the undubbed version). However, being familiar with both the novel and the musical meant I've been leisurely reading through reviews. Some comments about Marius reminded me that Hugo is a good example of reader/viewer training clashing with authorial intent, and not in the usual way. Because I don't think Marius is meant to be the young romantic hero of the tale (and failing at it). Hugo, writing from exile on his channel island because of his anti-Napoleon-III. pamphlet Napoleon Le Petit, isn't exactly charitable towards Marius ; ( spoilers for Les Mis ensue ) And yet Marius is still the most sympathetic variation of a certain type that shows up in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Le Roi s'amuse, the drama which forms the basis of Verdi's opera Rigoletto (Verdi had to transport the whole plot to Mantua and make the king a duke in order to get around the censor), always in conjunction with an amazing woman in unrequited love with him. ( Spoilers for Notre Dame and Rigoletto ensue, along with ramblings on a favourite Hugo trope. )
