#we read the bricc

[transrevolutions]

DAY SOMETHING OF THE BRICC: W A T E R L O O

-before we get to waterloo, a few other notes:

-valjean has identity crisis again (seeing a pattern here?)

-valjean’s doppelganger’s name is Champmatheiu and no I don’t no how to pronounce that either.

-Champmatheiu gets arrested instead of valjean. big oof.

-valjean spends 80,000 years trying to decide whether or not to turn himself in

-spoiler alert: he turns himself in

-everyone hates him now, poor valjean

-even more poor fantine tho, she is getting more sick

-valjean’s cart breaks on the way to the town where the trial is and he has to get a new one. he questions his life choices.

-he still feels bad about that kid he accidentally took money from by the way. dude, let up on yourself.

-javert is suspicious. 

-fantine thinks valjean is going to get cosette. again poor fantine

-fantine dies :(

-much sad. I like fantine.

-oh yeah valjean breaks out of the city jail

~~~WATERLOO~~~

-we all knew it was coming. just... not so soon...

-iT rAiNeD dUriNg tHe bAtTLe oF wAtErLoO

-thicctor huge-o, we don’t care.

-napoleon and a psychology lesson

-why was this necessary

-napoleon’s bombs got ruined by the rain so his epic plan failed

-big oof napoleon

-marius still likes you tho, dw

-combeferre doesn’t tho haha

-the battle was really close

-underdog victory (england)

-why

-really why though, thiccy?

-questioning my life choices rn

-I was screaming by the time I finished

-war strategy that I don’t care about

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

Translation Elitism

I'd like to open by saying that I have definitely been guilty of this in the past, which is one of the reasons I think this post is all the more important to make.

We as a fandom need to stop shaming people for reading/enjoying the Denny translation. Seriously, cut it out. Norman takes a different approach to the material than translators before or since him, it's true, but it's also worth nothing that he was the first translation since Hapgood (1887 -> 1976), and the thing is, compared to Wraxall and Wilbour and Hapgood, Denny's translation is extremely approachable.

If someone is really committed to having the most precise and accurate translation, fine, steer them toward others, but there has been a really disappointing amount of general shaming of the Denny translation, and that's a really shitty thing to do to people who come in having only ever read (and enjoying!) this translation. It tells the same story with almost all the same beats, and what is different is mostly only noticeable if you're doing side-by-side comparisons with other bricks.

All I'm saying is, if we can respect the musical and the anime and little chocolate wrapper adaptations, I think we can accept a translation that shortens a couple of scenes.

[lawisnotmocked]

Hey! New les mis thing that Jean and I found earlier today that we haven’t seen on tumblr yet!

It looks like a new French graphic novel that covers part one of the bricc and was published in October last year (2019) uwu

ALSO just look at this art style look at this Valjean I love this I really wanna read it ;w;

Anyway if you wanna know more about it here’s their site ^w^

http://www.editions-jungle.com/livres/les-miserables/les-miserables.html

[mars-the-4th-planet]

MisterCrimeBoks8 is gay and does crimes.

It was a quiet, uneventful day at the California State Library. A small out of the way place to look at books and movies, and maybe play Carmen Santiago on the boxy computers. A nice place to be, for sure. Isaac Munger from the Isaac Munger show sat on the couch with his girlfriend Ko from the Ko Sho. She was not wearing a wife leash today, but how much trouble could she get up to sitting on the couch with her Box? Ko was content having Box read BNHA manga today. But on the north facing side there was a large glass door, and through that door prepared to ruin everyones day was... Yes, Mister Crime Boks 8.

MisterCrimeBoks8 was an illegal man, who looked very similar to Isaac Munger. Not that most would know because he was wearing a crime mask and a hoodie. In his hand he carried a 1979 Authentic Knife. Sharp on both sides of the blade and short enough to hide, it was perfect for carrying around in secret.

Instead of opening the door, he dramatically decided to kick it in. But his foot bounced off as the glass was quite thicc. So he picked up a loose bricc and smashed it like an absolute dicc.

With the glass door shattered in pieces he walked in, now having gotten everyones attention. He almost casually strolled up to the woman behind the checkout desk and demanded: "Give me your money!"

The desk lady looked at him confused. "Huh? Sir this is a library."

"Money! NOW!"

The librarian shrugged and handed him a tin can with 1.65$ in late fees. "Here you go I guess?"

"teh fuck is this?"

The desk lady cringed at his use of "teh"

"Dude, why are you trying to rob a library? Ever heard of a bank?" Jukebox asked, while his girlfriend glared as MisterCrimeBoks8.

"I tried the bank first. They shot at me and instead of getting money they just gave me more debt."

"I See."

The desk lady sighed. "You got your money, please leave before you break something else."

MisterCrimeBoks8 pointed his knife at her. "Oh God why does he have a knife?!" Someone shouted from the back.

"Give me the biggest book you have!" He demanded.

"I wish you let me carry my knives around..." mumbled ko sadly. "Maybe I could fight him..."

"No ko," box whispered. "I would not want to risk you getting hurt. I would take the knife and fight him myself anyway. You know the rules, no wife leash in public means no knives in public."

Ko pouted.

The desk lady handed MisterCrimeBoks8 a Bible. "Is this big enough?"

"No! You can get these for free, why would I want that? Get me the biggest VALUBLE book you have!"

The desk lady waved over her assistant librarian, a young woman training to become a desk lady. Sort of like an apprentice. She was not used to robberies because this was her first one, and she shook a little from nerves.

"This bastard wants a valuable book to steal."

The assistant nodded and handed him her diary.

MisterCrimeBoks8 growled like an animal which made everyone cringe and tossed it in the trash. "I said a BIG ONE!"

"D-Do you want a g-guide on how to... Um... Live a life that is more likely to have an autobiography about i-it?" She asked nervously, presenting a large unwieldy book. "It cost us a lot..."

"Hmm... Yes. That sounds valuable." He said, not knowing it was a stupid book that the library considered a waste of shelf space because no one ever wanted to read it. They had not even bought the thing, it had just been dropped off in the book return one day without any library sticker. The only other books that had been dropped off this way were the twenty-five bibles the library was trying to get rid of.

"But I also want money! You! Dumbass!" He marched up to Isaac Munger and brandished his knife. "Give me money!"

Ko jumped into jukebox protectively. "No! Dont rob my boyfriend!"

He pointed the tip of the knife at her. "Move or I will stab."

"Nope. IM A GIRL DOING NOTHING TO YOU SO YOU CANT HURT ME HA!" Ko pointed out and laughed.

"Ah, but you see..." His eye did an anime twinkle. "I am gay, so the 'you cant hurt girls when it is not self defense' rule does not apply to me."

"Dammit! Thats how the law works!" Isaac Munger exclaimed from under Ko.

Ko continued to use her body as a shield regardless. She closed her eyes and winced in anticipation.

"It sure is." Came a voice from over by the smashed door.

MisterCrimeBoks8 backed away from the two, and turned to look. It was Justin Case! And four policemen!

"This library has an automatic emergency alarm door. It was sounded to us as soon as you broke it, idiot American!" Justin Case laughed. He was aiming a four-barrel shotgun at MisterCrimeBoks8 and each police officer was also pointing a pistol at his chest.

"I suggest you lay your knife down and surrender."

"Never!" Justin Case raised his arm with the knife ready to throw it. "I will kill the librarian unless you drop you weapons and leave!"

Ko and Jukebox tackled him from behind and together they were able to wrestle him down. The police came over and took over restraining him and began dragging him away for a good whooping as usual in Californian law, since their policy was to rough up prisoners before taking them to jail so it would look like there was more resistance.

"Yay, we did it!" Ko said cheerfully.

"No, I did it. Good job to me. Another case solved by Justin Case!" Justin Case began puffing on a pipe and began to cough before throwing it away. "Never mind, I look cool enough already that I dont need to destroy my lungs."

"Hey! Did he take this?" One officer said holding up the stolen book.

"Yes but you can keep it." The desk lady smiled.

"Sweet, I always wanted an autobiography." The officer replied.

"Mom- I mean, Miss Klobuchar, did I do good in that robbery?" The assistant librarian asked.

"Yes you did. I will send a letter of recommendation to the higher ups so you may become a full librarian soon!"

The assistant librarian squealed and hugged her boss happily.

"What a good outcome for everyone except MisterCrimeBoks8. Wait... I didnt get anything! And they call this a happy ending..." Jukebox grumbled a bit.

Ko kissed him.

">_<" he could only blush in response.

[patronsaintofbooks]

Book Review 3: History is You Left Me by Adam Silvera

“History is nothing. It can be recycled or thrown away completely. It isn’t this sacred treasure chest I mistook it to be. We were something, but history isn’t enough to keep something alive forever.” -History is All You Left Me

Once again, this book has so many amazing quotes, and it’s so hard trying to find just one that remotely does it justice. But now let me tell youuu, I just can’t even. I went through all my posts about books and my thoughts and favorite quotes from them from earlier in the summer, and apparently, I neglected to write about the first book that just really broke my heart this summer. I read all 3 of Adam Silvera’s books, and he does not know how to be happy. This was the last one I read, and it was my favorite out of the 3. They were all amazing, but this one really made me feel, so of course, I hate it. Lol.

I really don’t even know where to begin with this story. Every time I think of this book, I get excited. It’s been on my mind almost as much as A Little Life, for really similar reasons. Whenever I see a quote or post about the story, I immediately want to reach for the book even though I don’t own a copy, and then I start really thinking of the book. At first, I think of the book very fondly, and then I’ll start thinking about how I want to reread it. I start thinking more about the story, and then I come back to the realization that I also hate this book. I may hate this book more than A Little Life. I love it just so much, but it hurt to read it so much. I could literally feel Griffin’s grief of losing Theo, before and after Theo’s death. I could put myself in his shoes, and feel his pain. I could even slightly relate to his compulsions, especially having to do things in evens because I prefer things in evens. I can relate strongly to his destructive tendencies, and yet I still can’t truly fathom how he must’ve felt.

I struggle with releasing my emotions, especially crying even when my eyes are watering. But this book? It made my chest hurt so much from the emotions it made me feel. From how I could feel and relate to Griffin’s pain. My eyes would water, and I’d be so close to crying, closer than I ever was with A Little Life, and yet the tears wouldn’t come, but when I got halfway through the book, ‘Blue Ain’t Your Color by Keith Urban’ started playing on my speaker, and I sobbed. This book made me sob. That’s how powerful it is, and so I absolutely love this book, and I absolutely hate it. I also hate Jackson, but that’s mostly because of my bias to the main character, Griffin. I wholeheartedly recommend this book, All of Adam Silvera’s books, but especially this one, especially if you just need to feel. There are so many songs that could go well with this book, especially if you really need to let out those tears, that I wouldn’t even know where to start. Maybe ‘The Good Side’ by Troye Sivan or ‘Leave Your Lover’ by Sam Smith. You know what? I’m just going to put some songs down, some are sort of close to what would go well with the book just a little, mostly little things or scene/emotions.

If I Had a Heart by Call Me Karizma (Griffin to Theo)

Leave Your Lover by Sam Smith (Griffin to Theo)

Naked by James Arthur (Griffin to Theo)

The Good Side by Troye Sivan (Theo to Griffin)

When Did You Stop Loving Me by Hunter Hayes (Griffin to Theo)

True Love by Dove Cameron (Griffin to Theo)

This is My Version by Conor Maynard (Griffin to Theo, a couple lines)

Blue Ain’t Your Color (Wade to Griffin)

Better than Me by Hinder (Griffin about Theo, just a little)

Suicide by James Arthur (a couple lines: Griffin to Theo)

Lead Me Out of the Dark by Crown the Empire

End by Jeremy Zucker

Clumsy by Sam Tsui (little Theo to Griffin/Griffin to Wade/Wade to Griff)

What Hurts the Most by Rascal Flatts

Wasted by MKTO (Griffin thinking of his possible relationship to Wade)

Unhinged by Nick Jonas (Griff about Wade)

Talk Me Down by Troye Sivan (Griff to Theo/Wade to Griff)

Life of Regrets by Chester See (Griff)

Better With You by Jesse McCartney (Griff to Wade in the end)

Blue by Troye Sivan (Wade to Griff)

Dreaming with a Broken Heart by John Mayer

I Can’t Make You Love Me by Shane Filan (Wade to Griff)

Turn Right by Jonas Brothers

Fools by Troye Sivan

Too Young by Sabrina Carpenter

Lovely by Bllie Ellish and Khalid

Skinny Love by Birdy

Jealous by Chester See (Griff to Theo)

Stone Cold by Demi Lovato (Griff to Theo)

Our Time Together by Ivan B

If by Chance by Ruth B

Last Love Song by ZZ Ward

Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy

Songs I Can’t Listen To by Neon Trees

I really just pulled up one of my depression playlists and went for it. Here is the spotify playlist link:

https://open.spotify.com/user/bricc/playlist/1Wu0bzM9RK91cChSIU4J37

-Cabria Sha-Nae’

[gnvocaine]

Actually let me reblog this again and tell the story of Marital Sabotage, the fanfiction that cemented my friendship with my best friend, if only for my personal records.

When I was about 13, my best friend and I had just met a year ago, and we would send each other all kinds of fanfiction (via email, throwback).

One night I was up until about 3 am when I read a fanfic called Marital Sabotage and I sent it to her with an email saying “this is it. This is the one.”

She read and it and we talked about it the next day at school. Was it high literature? No. Was it riddled with cliches and fandom favs? Absolutely. Were we 100% projecting ourselves onto the leads? Oh yeah.

But we treasured it like gold. For her 16th birthday I made a collage of our friendship that was themed on that fanfic and to this day it’s one of my best creations.

One day, I went to read it and noticed that it had been taken down. I panicked and messaged her, and this was during a time when our friendship was a bit rocky due to my mental illness and inability to handle it in a healthy way for both of us. We immediately sprung into action and posted all over the internet looking for someone who had a copy saved.

Somehow, we found a copy and I have it saved on my desktop now and on about three separate flash drives just in case. It didn’t fix our relationship, but it brought us back together and reminded me of the very real value between us. I reread it rarely, but I check that it’s there every so often.

We based our prom photos on an inside joke from that fanfic. When she told me she had a boyfriend in college my reaction was a quote from it. My password to this day is a reference to it. I know when she gets married, I’ll have jokes lined up that only she will get because of it.

It’s been almost a decade since I first read it at 3 AM and sent it to my best friend in a flurry. But it had GOOD jokes and perfect timing and yes, a cliche plot that I still adore.

Not to get soppy, but fanfiction is not only beautiful but also just as meaningful as a way of connecting to others and sharing experiences. I have a very similar story with another friend and Les Miserables, the thiccest bricc ever written.

I’d like everyone to see this

{Credit to amalasrosa on Twitter}

[transrevolutions]

~bricc day ?~

w e    h a v e    c o m p l e t e d   t h e   d r e a d e d   w a t e r l o o

-okay so apparently thenardier fought in waterloo and saved marius’s dad’s life. and robbed him. go figure.

-*,`jean valjean has been recaptured`,*

-spoiler alert he escapes

-okay but how he escapes is like... so classically jean valjean. he’s on a boat and some guy falls over the edge so he pulls the guy back onto the boat before jumping into the water and swimming away... like... chaotic good energy 100%

-meanwhile, cosette is living with the thenardiers. eponine and azelma exist. gavroche exists but he’s a baby. the thenardiers are not good parents. they are even worse parents to cosette. they make her do a lot of work.

-aw poor cosette

-there’s a moment of purity where eponine and azelma are dressing their cat up in tiny outfits and cuddling with it <3

-cosette has to go fetch water for some guy’s horse. she does not want to because she is scared of the dark.

-she sees a really nice doll and is sad because she cannot have it.

-jean valjean approaches her. in the woods. late at night. he just sees her and assumes she’s cosette, even though there are probably several dozen children her age in the town.

-’what’s your name. how old are you. where do you live.’ wow valjean... you totally sound like a philanthropist and not a kidnapper right now

-thenardiers scam valjean. cosette is sad because eponine has a doll and she doesn’t.

-valjean buys cosette the doll she wanted earlier.

-valjean spends the night in the inn and gives cosette a gold coin because it’s christmas eve. why did he not give azelma and eponine anything? I don’t know. why did he not give gavroche anything? because he’s like, one. he does not know what christmas is yet.

-cosette beheads flies in her free time. this kid is metal.

-valjean pretty much buys cosette off of thenardier but then thenardier changes his mind.

-valjean gives him money though so everything’s fine

-cosette gets a new papa :)

-ep, zelma, and gav are still stuck with thenardier, who treats them sort of decently because they have money. but still thenardier is a bad parent who feeds my son cat liver excuse me how dare you

-that’s all for now. more to come.

[transrevolutions]

bricc day... what is it? 4? 5? idk

-valjean has Identity Crisis™ and struggles with himself for a while about whether or not to steal the bishop’s candlesticks and silver (spoiler alert: he does)

-the bishop doesn’t really care all that much anyways, but his sister complains that they have to use pewter silverware now.

-valjean gets caught (surprise surprise), and the bishop lets him go. the bishop also gives him silver candlesticks so he can get money, but he tells valjean to be honest now and not steal anymore.

-valjean leaves and immediately steals money from a kid who dropped it on the ground. but then he feels bad, has another Identity Crisis™ and tries to give it back. He spends a while searching for the kid and then cries when he realizes he can’t find the kid. oh well, you tried your best.

-on a completely unrelated note, fantine and her friends are dating some rich guys. fantine’s boyfriend is named tholomyes and I still don’t know how to pronounce that or spell it consistently.

-fantine is apparently really modest and innocent and she’s the youngest of her friend group so she’s not that world-wise

-fantine, thomolyes, and company go on a trip to the countryside, where there is an amusing sequence where they trade an ass (donkey) for an exotic shrub (???) and they keep talking about ‘getting the ass’ and ‘paying with the ass’ and it’s all around very amusing.

-tomoyeles gets drunk and yells about philosophy in the middle of a restaurant. (remind you of anyone?) except he’s kinda a sexist jerk about it. 

-thoylemelsyoes ditches fantine. problem is, fantine is pregnant. rude, toymelsheylesoys.  

-poor fantine nothing goes right for her TmT

-let me just say that fantine is perfect and she deserves so much better than thyomeolseisoylieoys.

-okay I promise this is the last long name tholomyes joke. i’m only doing it because he’s a jerk. normally I don’t make fun of people’s names so please don't @ me.

[transrevolutions]

I will admit that when I first got into the fandom, I thought we were all reading a bit into the enjoltaire stuff, as tumblr often does, because I thought, well, 1830s, probably kinda taboo back then sadly...

I have just started the ABC part of the brick. Turns out it was NOT exaggerated. In fact, it is even MORE gay than we usually say it is.

...in other news I never thought I’d feel sorry for Marius ‘Noodle’ Pontmercy but his grandfather SUCKED.

[transrevolutions]

okay I read through the petit-pictus digression (oof) and valjean’s coffin escapade and lil cosette

THEN WE HIT THE GAVROCHE CONTENT I CAME ALL THIS WAY AND LOOK AT MY SON IM SO PROUD OF HIM CAUSE CHAOS YES YOU GO CHILD CLIMB THAT ROOF SMASH THAT LAMP DO WHATEVER YOU WANT U LIL CINNAMON ROL

BEST CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE BOOK

EVERYTHING HE DOES GIVES ME SERATONIN

also I just remembered that as per policy thiccy viccy’s kneecaps are mine now

[transrevolutions]

bricc day something

-wow a lot happened today

-fantine dropped cosette off with the thenardiers

-they are mean to cosette... poor cosette

-even more poor fantine, metaphorically and literally

-let’s just appreciate fantine, okay

-in other news, jean valjean is now called monsieur madeleine, aka the mayor.

-he runs a bead factory.

-yes, you read that right. a  B E A D  factory. He got rich off inventing a new way to make beads.

-he breaks into houses to leave people money

-victor hugo I don’t care about exactly how beads are made

-javert hates him and doesn’t really know why

-fantine works at the factory and has good luck for one (1) chapter and then she gets fired

-thenardier and co keep trying to rip off fantine.

-she sells her hair and teeth and stuff. poor fantine, she needs a kitten

-valjean aka madeleine saves some guy from a cart and javert gets suspicious

-fantine gets arrested for fighting back after some guy threw snow down her dress and insulted her

-valmadeleine lets her go tho and javert gets confused

-oh also the bishop dies but he was really old

-fantine gets sick

-javert tries to fire himself because he thinks he screwed up

-gee javert take it down a notch

-jean valjean has a doppelgänger who got arrested

-APPRECIATE FANTINE YOU COWARDS!!

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

Les Misérables is written about three or four different time periods depending on the given chapter and the level on which you're reading it (literally versus historically versus philosophically, etc.). I don't think I appreciated until episode 7.13 of Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcast when he broke down how intensely all of the political factions involved in the 1848 revolutions were influenced by their opinions of the French Revolution, however, how much Les Mis talks about 1848.

I'm gonna be making a post later with a theory about Hugo's characters and structure they pertain to this history and these factions and most especially Cosette's future, but in the meantime, I've transcribed from around 13:10 to nearly the end of the episode so that you all can also appreciate how many levels were involved and have it in writing to refer to and research as you like, because I think it also summarizes pretty well the non-Bonapartist political forces in play at any point in the bricc.

(I also cannot recommend this podcast highly enough for jumping into not just the world of French Revolutions but also Western Revolutions in general.)

So at one end of the spectrum, we have those who looked back at the French Revolution with nothing but horror and disgust and who believed that above all and no matter what the cost, Europe must be kept free of the menace of revolution.  But this category of anti-revolutionaries divided up into three broad groups who agreed on practically nothing but the fact that revolution was abhorrent.

First and most obviously, we had the conservative absolutists who returned to power after the Congress of Vienna. The chief leading light of this group was Metternich, and the spectre of the French Revolution haunted no man so much as Metternich. Men like Metternich were so opposed to revolution that they were even opposed to reform. King Louis XVI had invited reform in 1789, and look what had happened to him. So across Europe in 1848 there were conservative writers and members of the clergy and major landowners who believed that you could not even let three guys sit down for a drink or they'd start plotting revolution. You certainly couldn't have a free press. You had to be stubborn, unfair, and ruthless. It was simply too dangerous to be anything less. And this extended to things even as seemingly banal as allowing a kingdom to have a nominal constitution, because in the conservative mind, once you granted the premise that rights came up from the people, rather than down from God through the king, you could just kiss the whole thing goodbye. These conservatives still pined for the days before 1789, and they hated the memory of even the most moderate of French revolutionaries, whose seemingly innocent and earnest appeals for reform had simply been the thin end of the wedge.

But absolutist conservatives were not the only ones who recoiled at the memory of the French Revolution and who wanted to do everything in their power from ever letting it happen again. So this second group of anti-revolutionaries were constitutional liberals who worshiped the rule of law and for whom revolution was anathema to everything they held dear. In France, we would put both Louis Philippe and François Guizot into this category, even if they had oh-so-ironically come to power thanks to the July Revolution [of 1830]. Both men admired the principles that had animated the men of 1789 but who had nonetheless concluded, no less than Metternich, that acquiescing to reform was only the beginning of a very slippery slope. Guizot himself had written a history of France and believed that the king's concessions in the early days of the Estates-General had led directly to the Reign of Terror — and remember, Guizot's father had perished in the Terror, as had King Louis Philippe's [Louis Philippe II, Philippe Égalité]. By the mid-1840s, both men had become stubbornly convinced that everything that needed to be achieved had been achieved and that any further reform would invite that slip into radicalism and the return of Madame la Guillotine. This kind of thinking could also be detected in the minds of rulers over in [modern-day] Germany, where we've discussed that there were these constitutional regimes — Ludwig in Bavaria, Leopold of Baden, and Frederick Augustus in Saxony. Those constitutions existed more as a stopper to prevent revolution than any kind of liberal expressionism.

Finally, there was a third group that cringed at the idea of the French Revolution but who drew the opposite conclusion from Guizot and Metternich: where Guizot and Metternich thought that reform was an invitation to revolution, they felt that reform was a necessary release valve to prevent revolution.  So in this category you would find Odilon Barrot and the dynastic left in France who wanted to save the monarchy by reforming the monarchy.  You would also find in here a guy like Alexis de Tocqueville, who would go on to write his own book on the French Revolution where he would argue that all of the quote-unquote “gains” of the French Revolution had already started under the Ancien Régime and that basically you didn’t need revolution to change society, you just needed continuous, gradual improvement.  We’ve also discussed so far two massively influential reformers in [modern-day] Italy and Hungary who fit this same basic mold.  In Italy, we talked about the Count of Cavour in episode 7.09, and in episode 7.08 I introduced István Széchenyi.  Both of these guys have broad, sweeping visions for the futures of their respective countries.  They believed in liberal constitutional government, economic modernization and social improvement, they simply did not believe revolution was the means of achieving their ends; in fact, this was the very lesson they had drawn from the French Revolution, that the ends had been just, but the means counterproductive.  The attempt to cram a century’s worth of work into a single year had not just had disastrous consequences, but they had upset the whole project of reform.  I would also throw into this group of anti-revolutionary reformers all of the Austrian liberals in Vienna, who we also talked about in episode 7.08. They believed that the stubborn brittleness of Metternich’s government was inviting a revolutionary upheaval that could be headed off by intelligent and necessary reform.

So those are the guys who desperately wanted to avoid another French Revolution, who instantly shuddered at the idea of ever having something like that happen again. But is that how everyone felt? Oh my goodness, no. There were those who had picked up the thesis of Adolphe Thiers and believed that the revolution of 1789 had been a good thing, a project launched for noble reasons and in fact launched because the existing regime was simply too stubborn to change without revolutionary energy. In this telling, men like Lafayette and Mirabeau were heroes to be emulated while you kept on constant guard against villains like Robespierre and Saint-Just. As you can imagine, this was a very attractive thesis among liberals in Germany and the Austrian empire who saw their own situation as analogous to the Ancien Régime of 1789. Their kingdoms were reeling from an economic crisis, their governments were financially shaky, their natural rights were trampled on by tyrants. So the French Revolutionary project that unfolded between 1789 and 1792 was absolutely a model to be emulated. Bring the liberal, educated intellectuals of the country together and force the kings to grant them a constitution and to guarantee basic civil rights. If they were going to be denied a constitutional place in government, if their local assemblies were going to be neutered, if they were not allowed to vote, if the government was unresponsive, then it was perfectly acceptable to look to 1789 and say, “Yes, we want that too. A moment when men of good will and conscience join together to define the rights of man and the citizen.” Now of course, these neo-1789ers knew the lesson of history well, and they knew that they would need to guard against the villains of 1792, but they did not believe that the Reign of Terror was necessarily inevitable. It had simply happened that way in France thanks to a variety of coincidences, mistakes, and bad luck, so liberals across Europe believed that they could forge constitutional governments that defined civil rights and popular sovereignty without falling prey to the Reign of Terror. Thus, the spectre of the French Revolution would loom very large indeed in the minds of these liberal revolutionaries as the course of 1848 rapidly progressed faster than they could keep up with. As we will see, they will all hit a moment of truth where they have to decide whether to keep pushing and join with more radical forces or quit the whole project, reconcile with the old conservative order, and fight against those radical forces that might lead to the new Reign of Terror.

But there were also those who rejected this whole contrived moralizing of the “good” revolution of 1789 and the “bad” revolution of 1792.  They did not recoil from the insurrection of August the 10th, the First French Republic, or the Jacobin Committee of Public Safety.  They idolized not the buffoon Lafayette and hypocritical traitor Mirabeau, but rather, the steely resolve of men like Danton and Robespierre and Saint-Just and Marat.  These had been men who saw the tyrants of Europe for what they were and knew that one must stand up when the going got tough, not go hide in the corner.  These more radical republicans further believed that there was just as much injustice perpetrated by comfortable liberals as conservative absolutists, so they saw the Revolution of 1789 as merely the precursor for the much more important, much more glorious, and much more necessary Revolution of 1792.  So though they were enemies of each other, these radicals actually agreed with Metternich that reform really was just the thin edge of the wedge, that it would lead to a greater revolution that would overthrow the despotic monarchies of Europe.  In their minds, the widespread slandering of the First French Republic and even the portrayal of the Reign of Terror as the most terrible crime in the history of the world was the nefarious propaganda of the comfortable classes, whether of conservative or liberal stripe.  Their propaganda emphasized the dramatic horror of the guillotine in order to cover up the horrors the common people of Europe lived with every day, and the best summation of this argument actually comes from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain. 

Now the book wasn’t published until 1889, but in it, Twain writes a passage that would have had a lot of radicals nodding their heads in 1848.  He wrote, “There were two reigns of terror, if we would but remember and consider it.  The one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood.  The one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years.  The one inflicted death upon ten thousand persons; the other, upon a hundred million.  But our shudders are all for the horrors of the minor terror, the momentary terror so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of the swift ax compared with lifelong death from cold, hunger, insult, cruelty, and heartbreak?  What is swift death by lightning compared with death by slow fire at the stake?  A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief terror, which we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over.  But all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real terror, that unspeakably bitter and awful terror, which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves.” 

(Sounds an awful lot like like a certain conversation our favorite bishop has with a certain conventionist, no?)

Now granted, I don’t think many of these radicals were actively pursuing a new Reign of Terror, but they were also not planning to settle for a constitutional monarchy bought by and for the richest families of their country.  And as we’ve already seen in France, these guys were not going to let the blood of patriots be spilled simply so they could swap one Bourbon for another and give another hundred thousand bankers and industrialists the right to vote.  What in that represented the nation?  Where in that were the people?  Where was liberty leading the people?  Oh right, that painting was locked now in the attic so it did not offend the forces of order.  In Italy, these radical republican forces who celebrated 1792 rallied around Giuseppe Mazzini and later Garibaldi; in Hungary they would rally around Lajos Kossuth, and when I get back from the book tour, I will introduce you to the radical leaders in Germany, who would not be satisfied by the mere token reforms promised by men who celebrated 1789 but feared 1792, men like Friedrich Hecker, Robert Blum, and Gustav Struve.  Everywhere, they would find their support not solely in the salons and cafés but among artisans and workers and students.  Those who would mount the barricades not just for the right to publish an article or to mildly criticize the government or the right to vote if you made a gargantuan amount of money: they fought to topple the king and to bring power to the people — all of the people.

So, so far we have men who idolize the conservatives of 1788, men who idolize the liberal nobles of 1789, and men who idolize the Jacobin republicans of 1792.  Well, there was also in 1848 also [sic] now emerging a small clique of men for whom even 1792 was not enough.  These guys believed that 1789 had been merely a step to 1792, but also believed that 1792 was simply a step to something greater.  So where did these guys look?  That’s right: they looked to 1796.  “1796?” you say.  “  What are you talking about?  The Directory?  Surely not.  Nobody says, ‘Ah, yes, the good old days of the French Directory, let’s definitely go back to that.’”  And no, of course I’m not talking about the directory, I’m talking about Gracchus Babeuf and the Conspiracy of Equals.  With the small but ever-growing, increasingly influential spirit of socialism and communism beginning to take root, men like Louis Blanc and Karl Marx looked to Babeuf and his gang as the first example of what the force of history was aiming to make of humanity.  Communities and nations that shared not just political rights but the wealth of the nation.  How indeed are you going to sit back and say, “Ah, yes, the declaration of the rights of man and the citizen, and one citizen should have one vote,” and then call it a day when so few had so much and so many had so little?  The vote was nothing to an entire family — dad, mom, children, who were all stuck working eighteen hours a day for starvation wages.  It was thus not the spirit of 1789 or the spirit of ‘92 that moved them, but the spirit of 1796; and it was not the name Robespierre that got their hearts thumping, but rather Babeuf.  Babeuf had been among the very first of the socialist revolutionaries who had not stopped short at merely answering the political question, but who wanted to answer the social question as well.  And as we’ll see as we move further down the road on 1848, that the memory of Gracchus Babeuf was not simply a matter of picking some obscure hero out of the historical record: there was actually a direct line of revolutionary succession, because one of Babeuf’s fellow conspirators in the Conspiracy of Equals was an Italian revolutionary socialist named Phillipe Buonarroti [Filippo Buonarroti].  Buonarroti was in prison but later released and would then go onto a long and active career inside the revolutionary secret societies that sprang up after the Congress of Vienna, and we’re gonna talk more about the role that Buonarroti played in kindling and spreading this revolutionary socialism, but for his small cadre of disciples, the revolutions of 1848 would be a chance not to complete the work of Lafayette in 1789 or Robespierre in 1792, but the work of Babeuf in 1796.

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

Isn’t that very ungenerous reading of grantaire? I know he’s the worst amis out there (not counting Marius), but he still made the choice to be there about to be counted as a part of the inner circle. To me, he’s more of a drunk friend rambling on the side as opposed to an active antagonist. He focuses on his personal love and liberty, but the basis is still there. If he’s that much of a garbage person wouldn’t a) the amis just kick him out or b)he go off and be literally anywhere else?

RIGHT, so, I was anticipating this ask.

I definitely don’t read him as an active antagonist, and I’m not sure anyone would.  The point is, before his transformation in OFPD, he’s a net zero: he shows up, he rambles about his own thing without contributing to the conversation at all (not even to argue or debate: straight-up Zero Interaction with the subject matter), sometimes sexually harasses a waitress, and Leaves.  We have an actual in-text example, even, of him offering to do something outside of the liminal space of a meeting ... and not doing it.  That isn’t to say that he doesn’t wish that it were true, as Hugo says: Grantaire admires the ideal.  He just doesn’t see himself as part of that narrative until he invites himself to be in OFPD, 

which is the point.

Grantaire is symbolic of this complacent upper-middle class who sees the problems of the world but decides without even trying that it’s not their problem!  Grantaire’s death and the significance of him offering to die by Enjolras’s side isn’t “I’ve loved him the whole time and have known better and been enlightened the entire time and want to make sure this naïve idealist doesn’t die alone,” because nothing about that matches the narrative or characters that Hugo has spent so much time setting up: the significance of Grantaire dying at Enjolras’s side is that the upper-middle class have finally invited themselves to the table, with no expectations of being accepted or it making a difference, and against all of their expectations and preconceived notions they were accepted.  Grantaire was finally ready to be at that table, had finally gone through the emotional development he needed to go through to be ready, and when he was, The Revolution was ready for him, even if he was late.  The efforts were still accepted, and they still mattered.

But until then?  He wasn’t doing anything.  Grantaire’s character is significant and named and existent because of that moment, that change, and its significance.

And you bring up a really good question: why didn’t the amis just kick him out?  I mean, we can observe how Laigle, Courfeyrac, and (most famously) Enjolras have all literally told him to shut up during his rants because they’re so off-base, offensive, and, at times, undermining their efforts (not to mention Grantaire’s canon propensity toward inviting himself to places that he was not invited ie bini’s oysters at the Corinthe aka How Grantaire was Accidentally at the Barricades), but we also see examples throughout the bricc of the amis putting up with some rather off-color behavior from one another.  What does this mean?  Is it another juxtaposition regarding the relative harmlessness of some assholery versus others?  (Because while Grantaire’s sexism is pretty gross, it’s far from Tholomyès levels of bad.)  Does Vicky simply find this sexism acceptable or not even to be an issue?  (We have to remember that the author is inherently flawed and was known far and wide for his own promiscuous behavior.)   Perhaps Hugo even intentionally seeks to have this example of pre-redemption behavior available for us to compare against what Grantaire could be, a Before picture as compared to the much more respectful Joly/Courfeyrac/Bahorel’s behavior toward women (however we may interpret their behavior in 2021 outside of its native period French culture).

In any case, Vicky says repeatedly, in every description and metaphor and symbol, that Grantaire as he is prior to OFPD is not who we should aspire to be if we want to be a responsible citizen of the world, and it is only through his actions in OFPD that he is redeemed.  Grantaire is a valuable character who represents a valuable message!  But glorifying who he is and how he behaves prior to that realization, in my opinion, is entirely missing the point of his story arc and why he is significant enough to be mentioned. 

To answer your original question: I cannot say how generous or not my reading is, only that it is how I perceive Vicky to have wanted us to read Grantaire.

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

How dare you assume that Vicky has ever made a reasonable point in his life.