#here specifically i’m referring to brick!jehan

[chrysalismandtea]

it’s great being in the les mis fandom because every time my clothes don’t feel right i remember jehan prouvaire and his ill fitted clothes and then i magically love the outfit or at least feel more comfortable in it

[meta-squash]

Brick Club 1.3.2 “Double Quartet”

According to wikipedia, a double quartet is a musical composition made for eight voices or instruments, or made up of two string quartets, that are often written in a call-and-response style. Also, I’m not quite sure if this is relevant, but wikipedia specifically mentions German composer Louis Spohr in the section on double quartets. Spohr wrote an opera in 1816 called Faust (which was drastically different from Goethe’s plays), to which wikipedia gives this synopsis:

Faust is torn between his love for the young Röschen and his desire for Kunigunde, the fiancée of Count Hugo. He makes a pact with the devil Mefistofeles which allows him to rescue Kunigunde from the clutches of the evil knight Gulf. Faust obtains a love potion from the witch Sycorax which he gives to Kunigunde during her wedding celebrations. Outraged at the sudden passion his bride shows for Faust, Count Hugo challenges him to a duel. Faust kills Hugo and flees. Meanwhile, Faust's first love, Röschen, drowns herself in despair. Mefistofeles seizes Faust and drags him down to Hell.

Again, I don’t know if that is relevant, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless. Especially considering the “lover flees, young woman is ruined” motif. I have no idea if it was popular or even known in France at the time, but it was part of the Romantic movement, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was part of Hugo’s repertoire.

But it’s interesting that Hugo names this chapter after a call-and-response style of music. This chapter specifically is set up that way: we get information on the women, and then the men. Their affairs later on seem to also line up with this call-and-response, at least until the end of the dinner, when one half of the strings drop away and the other four are left on their own.

I don’t know enough about the different areas of France, so I’m wondering if where the men are from is at all important?

Also, who is the “Oscar” Hugo is comparing the group to?

Hugo establishes the men as “insignificant,” which I think is actually quite significant. To the other grisettes, and probably most other grisettes in their circle, these men are (as Hugo explains) common little flings. So to make someone who is insignificant to most, significant to Fantine is an interesting move. Hugo kind of does this with all his characters, on a larger scale. Aside from Valjean and Enjolras, who are exceptional, most of his other characters seem to be relatively normal people who aren’t necessarily special in a big way. The fact that he decides to focus in on them is what makes them special. And yet here it’s Tholomyes’ insignificance that highlights how unusual Fantine’s attachment to him is.

“...and in their souls that flower of purity which in a woman survives the first fall”. I don’t really know what to make of this line considering how a paragraph later he seems to insinuate that all but Fantine have already “fallen” due to their many affairs. (Which he then softens by blaming society for the women’s problems.)

“Poverty and coquetry are fatal counselors; the one scolds, the other flatters, and the beautiful daughters of the people have both of them whispering in their ears, one on each side. Their ill-guarded souls listen. Thence their fall, and the stones that are cast at them. The are overwhelmed with the splendor of all that is immaculate and inaccessible. Alas! Was the Jungfrau ever hungry?”

Hugo referencing the fall of man here, although this time it seems like only the women are punished, and not the men. Also, another Faustian reference, this time Marlowe, with the “good angel and bad angel” imagery. More references to life choices and the whole concept of having two potential paths and choosing the “wrong one.” Like with Valjean’s original crime, Hugo seems to criticize this behavior here while simultaneously pointing out the way that society demonizes these women and hurts them. I’d love to know why he uses the German “Jungfrau” here instead of just saying “maiden” or “virgin.”

We get a lot of information on Favourite in this chapter, and not that much on the other girls. She’s the eldest at 23, born out of wedlock, and has her own home. I love that she’s like Jehan--adding an extra letter to her name for the fanciness of it. We basically get an illustration of her as the sort of “leader” of the group, with everyone else looking up to her. She’s then contrasted with Tholomyes, the men’s “leader,” who is also the eldest of his group, I assume. Favourite seems closer to Bahorel’s “laughing mistress” or Musichetta than the other three; aside from her mother barging in on her life and being a nuisance, she seems much more stable than any of the others, financially (she’s been to England!) and emotionally/socially (her friends all look up to her). (I think it’s interesting that she’s not paired with Tholomyes, who seems to be her masculine counterpart?)

Fantine is “wise” while the other women are “philosophical.” Also, Hapgood translates “sage” as “good” instead of wise, for some odd reason. It seems as though Fantine is wise in the same way that Valjean has that divine element of goodness that can be kindled and relit. It’s something that she is not necessarily aware of. I’m also wondering how Hugo defines “wise” vs “philosophical.” I’m guessing that wisdom is closer to intrinsic, instinctual knowledge, while philosophy is more thought out and pondered upon. (Perhaps these definitions are based on a popular philosophy at the time? If so I have no idea which one.)

In any case, part of what makes Fantine wise is her capacity to passionately and loyally love. Which I think is an interesting move, to praise someone’s social (and possibly emotional) naivete as wise, only for her to be completely ruined because of the person she’s devoted to. Her capacity to love is also the vulnerability that manipulative men see as a good opportunity to latch on to and use her.

This “wisdom” thing is also a weird call considering Fantine’s utter lack of pretense. The other three grisette’s go by fake names, have had a number of affairs and seem more playful than thoughtful when it comes to the affairs with this group of men. Fantine is just...Fantine, and she’s the youngest, and she hasn’t had the experience the other girls have had, and she’s about to make a huge mistake (rather, by this time she already has, and Cosette is an infant). Presumably the other three women learned somehow that their affairs were just affairs, why didn’t they clue Fantine in on this game? Later on we see Favourite thinking that Fantine is “putting on airs;” but she’s also the only one tu’d instead of vous’d and they all know she’s the baby. Are the other three just wrapped up in their own stuff and too preoccupied to think that maybe Fantine doesn’t realize this isn’t a real, permanent thing? Or is this a situation of three older girls being latched onto by a younger one who doesn’t really know what to do, and aren’t really a fan of the burden of being teacher? She’s been in Paris at least 4 years and yet she’s never had friends like these grisettes? I don’t exactly know the social mores of back then, but I assume that having friends then was similar to having friends now: gossip and talk about relationships and flings and one night stands. Interesting that she either never really learned by inference that this might be that, or that perhaps she just blindly assumes that this isn’t like that because this is real.

And here we get Fantine’s backstory, and her symbolism as the Universal Grisette. So many of Hugo’s characters that are blatant “universal” symbols are either orphans or abandoned quite early in life. And so many we get a certain period of their life, then a jump, then more. What happened between infant-Fantine being found and her working on a farm? Hugo does this time-jump with Valjean and the Thenardiers, and Marius, too. I think Fantine’s about 19 when we’re first introduced to her, if my math is correct? Hugo also foreshadows the sale of her teeth and hair here.

“Fantine was beautiful and remained pure as long as she could.” An interesting callback to a few paragraphs ago. Hugo seems to imply that the other girls gave in to those “whispers” quite quickly, while Fantine did not. Part of her purity, too, is her trust and devotion to Tholomyes; she’s not giving in to promiscuity or shallow affairs like the other three, she is genuinely in love.

The way Hugo uses beauty and ugliness is so interesting. “Beautiful�� Fantine paired with “ugly” Tholomyes, as with Enjolras and Grantaire, and even to some extent Cosette and Eponine.

What stands out to me is Tholomyes and Grantaire both specifically being characterized as “doubting” and also described as ugly. Grantaire gets the actual word “ugly” while Tholomyes gets this horrible description (weirdly tempered by the fact of his humor and gaiety). I know that technically Courfeyrac is paralleled with Tholomyes, but I always seem to see more similarities between him and Grantaire. The difference being that Grantaire changes and Tholomyes does not. There also seem to be bits of each of Les Amis in Tholomyes (Grantaire’s doubt and ugliness, Bossuet’s irony, Bahorel’s age, Courfeyrac’s womanizing ways, Joly’s illness, etc) but all from the negative.

Tholomyes is described in a really awful way. That “he had a play refused at Vaudeville” and “doubted everything with an air of superiority” always has me reading him as this MRA type loser who thinks he’s better than everyone else and that that’s why people hate him. He’s charismatic, but in a slimeball sort of way. Hugo tempers Tholomyes’ awfulness with gaiety and then immediately turns around ruins that “but he was funny!” by telling us this awful prank.

Oh, and then Hugo stops to interrupt himself with a question about linguistics regarding the word “irony” and whether it’s based on the English word “iron,” like, the metal. Which...???? I don’t really know what to make of? Is he trying to say something here, because if he is, I don’t get it.

“Saint January” is Januarius, the patron saint of Naples, whose “miracle” is the annual liquefying of the phial of his blood. Apparently people gather to witness this annual miracle three times a year (as well as during things like papal visits). Interesting that Tholomyes compares his rather unpredictable and cruel “surprise” with the predictable, annual miracle of the blood liquefying. It makes me wonder whether this is not the first time he has done this (he is 30, after all, and I assume has had many affairs), just with a different group of friends.

We are just as in the dark about the surprise as the women are. Hugo does the same thing here that he often does with Valjean’s thoughts. He remains an outsider to the thoughts of any of the characters in the scene, and remains in a specific location within the scene, so when the characters leave, any following dialogue or action or thought is obscured from him as a narrator.

[pilferingapples]

@firebird-and-pegasus  asked: 

 I am reading the brick right now and have just been ‘introduced’ to the les amis, and isn’t Prouvaire the one described as not necessarily having the best fashion sense? Do you think large amounts of bold patterns like this could be what Hugo was referring to? Or was it something even more obnoxious? I am just trying to figure out what each of the character is like just based off of the book descriptions and not just going off of fan-art. Since Hugo specifically gave that bit of info about him (and that most of the amis do not have many clear physical descriptions so far) I figure that it must be important for his character. 

I am delighted you asked!:D   You’re right, Hugo doesn’t give us a lot of description of most of the Amis.  But he gives us more for Prouvaire than for most of them! It just takes a little translating across time and culture to figure it out. 

The big clues Hugo gives us for Prouvaire are that he’s a Romantic, he’s a medievalist apocalyptic  Romantic, and he “dresses badly”. 

the Young Romantics of the late 1820s -1830s were... they were amazing delights for character design, is what they were XD. They had Fashions all OVER the place and the only real rule was that Under No Circumstances should you look respectable  or --the Worst-- bourgeois. XD   So a lot of wildly anachronistic clothing, or clothes worn down way past the level of wearable, Fashionable But With Startling Elements (Bahorel is in this line), etc.  Since Jehan “dresses badly”, we can disregard in his case the example of Romanticist fashion plates like Alexandre Dumas , Eugene Deveria, or Petrus Borel (who in any case is more properly a reference for Bahorel:P). But that still leaves things like : 

Medievalist or other Anachronistic Fashion: we’re talking things like doublets, (so many doublets) thigh boots, retro-Incroyable looks,   Romanticized Pirates, the works. Even just full-on cosplay! Goethe’s Young Werther was a fave, (Gerard de Nerval, who was probably an inspiration for Prouvaire, had a Werther Outfit!)  as was any Hugo or Dumas character.  

Awkward Cultural Appropriation:  Jehan is  “something of an Orientalist” , which in canon era tended mean less “China/Japan/India” (that would happen a little later)  and more “Greece/Spain/Egypt”.  “Spanish” fashions in particular were very popular with the Young Romantic crew after Hugo’s Hernani  in 1830! Here are some concepts of “Spanish Fashion” of the time.   Turbans, banyans/”Oriental” robes, etc, were also really popular!

Just utter fashion disasters-- worn out clothes, mismatched fabrics , Way Too Matchy fabrics, things that didn’t fit properly,etc (that amazing plaid suit might work for this!  Especially if it fits Prouvaire as badly as it does that mannequin.)  Here’s an account of Hugo and Balzac really showing how that’s done:P 

More reference/links!

A collection of sketches and caricatures of Young Romantics around the Hernani Era

A Somewhat Joking list of Romantic Style Approaches

I hope some of this is useful!  Please take all this stuff only as it serves your concept of the character-- I’m really excited that you’re coming up with your own ideas for character and clothing designs for these characters, and I can hardly wait to see what you come up with!

[pilferingapples]

Sorry to bother you, but i was wondering if you knew of any name-puns that hidden in les mis? I know Enjolras seems similar to enjôleur, Marius and Marie, Combeferre and -maybe?- comburere or feros, Joly and joli, Montparnasse and Mount Parnassus (I don't know why, but Parnassianism came after the brick was published so it can't be that) but I'm not quite sure if i can find any others, or if I'm thinking too much? I love your blog btw! you feel like a wonderfully sweet person!

Aw, thank you very much!  And thanks for the question, this is always a fun topic!:D 1.-Probably the best Name Pun in the book is “Jean Valjean”. Take a deep breather for this one: it depends on knowing that Jean  and gens, French for “people” , sound a lot alike, and on knowing some Christianity references, and on Hugo’s full explanation for JVJ’s name– that it’s a contraction of “Jean, Voila Jean” – “Jean, look/behold, there’s Jean” .  

So to translate, it sounds a bit like “People, look at the people” or “behold the people”. Which in turn is a reference to Ecce homo , the phrase supposedly said by Pontius Pilate when he presented Jesus to the crowd that had sentenced him to the crucifixion (and Hugo later gives Marius the phrase there is the man , or  Behold the man -Voilà l'homme–directly,in acknowledging Valjean as his savior). 

So Jean Valjean isn’t just “Johnny Everyman” (although it’s that too!). It’s Hugo saying “Here is The People”, and implying “here is the man” , too:  Here is the people, condemned by the people. Here is the man, the savior of the people, chosen as sacrifice by the people. 

It is what Hugo might class as a Very Serious Pun. 

Moving on to something lighter!  

Bossuet– the nickname for Legle,who’s from Meaux- - is a punning reference to Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet– the Bishop of Meaux, sometimes called “the eagle of words” – L’aigle des mots (sounds like Meaux).  Double damage pun!XD

A feuille  is a leaf–as in a tree leaf, or a sheet of paper. Feuilly  is a fan maker, someone whose career is heavily about manipulating sheets of paper (and , probably, about painting a lot of decorative foliage).

Grantaire sounds like Grande Air,  which is…exactly what it sounds like, Big Air, like putting on airs or being full of hot air XD . It may also be an Art Pun; salons at the time sometimes marked rejected canvases with a Capital R , a hint as to the level of Grantaire’s artistic success. 

Two of my favorites!The “Jehan” of Jean Prouvaire’s name is exactly what Hugo says it is– a reference to the Romanticist movement’s fannish embrace of the Medieval era. But the Prouvaire  in his name is another medieval reference– it comes from a Middle French word meaning Priest, tying Jehan into the spiritual role that Hugo saw as an essential part of a good Romantic Poet’s calling.  And! it is probably also  a reference to the Rue des Prouvaires– specifically the Rue des Prouvaires conspiracy, a legitimist conspiracy that also hoped to overthrow the new king in 1832. Why associate republican,revolutionary Jehan with a royalist, legitimist conspiracy?  Probably because Gerard de Nerval– a blushing, awkward, badly dressed poet, young republican activist, and old friend of Hugo’s, and the guy Jehan seems to be a full on character homage towards –had been mistakenly arrested in association with that conspiracy (on account of some very bad timing). Which is to say: it’s a fandom buddy in-joke (and memorial).

Bahorel is another Romanticist-in-joke/homage name; pronounced with a silent H, the name,along with everything else about the character, is a pretty blatant reference to  openly republican Frenetic Romantic  Petrus Borel, another of Hugo’s friends from the Wild Young Romantic days. 

As for Montparnasse, that had been the name for a section of Paris (on the left bank) for ages. Given the rather morbid description of the character, I suspect Hugo was trying to specifically evoke Montparnasse cemetery; he is, after all, the dandy of the sepulchre,  with a lot of dead bodies to his name. I’m also still not sure it isn’t a bit of a friendly dig at Parnassianism; afaik the “official” name of the movement comes from the journal launched in 1866, but the people who were part of it had been in contact with each other as a group and talking over Art Movement Things for a good while longer, and Hugo had been in correspondence with a lot of them , too.  So I can’t say for sure it is, but I really harbor a sneaking suspicion, especially given the insistence on Aesthetics Over All..! 

–phoo, I’m not even scratching the surface here! But here is another post with more Name Puns; and there are probably many many more to be discovered!  If you find one I don’t have listed anywhere, please let me know!:D