"Did a voice whisper in his ear that he had just passed through the decisive hour of his destiny, that there was no longer a middle course for him, that if, thereafter, he were not the best of men, he would be the worst, that he must now, so to speak, climb higher than the bishop or fall lower than the convict; that, if he wanted to become good, he must become an angel; that, if he wanted to remain evil, he must become a monster?"
- Victor Hugo (I.2.xiii)
Day Count: 55
Page Count: 500
I'm hitting a major milestone tonight - the fifth hundred page of Les Misérables!
...but that's not why I called you here tonight.
Actually, I had what I initially considered a great post all lined up, but I decided midway through construction that it was all wrong for the current direction of the blog. So... I'm just gonna make something up on the fly and, if you like, you can come along with me. Cool? Thought so.
As I was reading through the Waterloo scene in Les Mis, I couldn't help but be reminded of the battle scenes in Tolstoy's War and Peace. Come to find out that Les Mis, while released only seven years prior to Tolstoy's magnum opus, was read, admired, and apparently emulated by Tolstoy. While visiting France in the early 1860s, Tolstoy met with Hugo, who showed him a copy of his recently-finished novel, which Leo loved (of course!).
Not sure what that anecdote has to do with anything, but I found it really interesting. Like the last couple of years of my literary life are connected somehow. I'll be interested to see how the great classic authors that I read over the next several years connect with the amazing classic works I'm reading right now.
Should be fun!
Stay tuned...
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