Fluorish

Hi! I'm Flo and this is my indie rp blog! This is a multimuse multifandom, multiship & multiverse blog, I'm oc superfriendly and only semi selective! } Read the rules and always specfy he muse you want to rp with! ; I trag flxvrish

[literarysins]

Neoclassicism in Les Miserable; or, Why Grantaire and Enjolras Were Probably Banging

I thought the Grantaire/Enjolras shipping was something for the hell of it. Not really based in reality, but it kinda fits, it’s fun, shipping is fun, no one was harmed in the making of this ship, Victor Hugo might be turning in his grave but hell he’s dead, la de da.

Nope, Victor Hugo actually compares Grantaire to Hephaestion, Patroclus, Nisus, Pollux, Eudamidas, and Pechmeja. Let’s look at these people in history for a moment. Their names all appear in partnership with another person, with the exception of Eudamidas and Pechmeja. If you don’t care about them, skip the next paragraph.

I researched Eudamidas and Pechmeja, but couldn’t find any trace of their partners… Eudamidas turns up vague mentions of a brother, but he was a pretty obscure person in Lacedemonian history. He shows up in a few things passingly. Pechmeja, full name I think Ange Pechmeja, might have been a poet, but all pages found on him were in French. Which I do not speak, read, or write.) 

So there’s these different kinds of relationships in Greek culture that basically throw out the whole “you can be friends or romantic partners and THAT IS IT” thing that the Western world so loves to perpetuate (I’m not really a fan). Very briefly, when you say “Greek Love”, it refers to pederasty, involving the “active” lover, the erastes, and the eromenos/pais, the “boy”, which Wikipedia tells me is an affectionate name, not actually referring to age. No, it isn’t pedophilia, that’s a different, modern term. My sources involve Wikipedia and various classes, so make of it what you will). Suffice to say, the general (grumbled) consensus is that oftentimes these relationships were romantic, close, and often sexual in nature. It wasn’t really “gay” as we now know the identity, but it was a same-sex relationship. It didn’t exclude them from sleeping with women, either. Sexual identity was very different. 

Anyways.

Patroclus and Achilles were one such pair. Acknowledged by Plato and Aeschylus to be lovers, their status is of course, still in limbo, as Medieval Christianity erased any sense of homoeroticism, while Shakespeare embraced it in Troilus and Cressida. The problem with all these relationships being called such is that centuries of various cultures and historians glorifying or condemning homosexual relationships cloud things quite a bit. All I can really say with certainty is that some historians believe they were more than Good Friends. 

Hephaestion and Alexander the Great were one of these pairs. Look them up. There’s about 8 primary sources in the entire world regarding Alexander, possibly less. Not a ton of reading. They were never acknowledged as lovers in the primary sources, however, they did compare themselves to Patroclus and Achilles, who at the time, were believed to be in a relationship, see above paragraph. 

Nisus and Euryalus were yet another pair, in Virgil’s Aeneid. Their love is acknowledged by Virgil as following the Greek Love pattern of relationships, and is called “pius”, or honorable. 

And Pollux and Castor were brothers. They don’t particularly fit this theory, but the implication is that Grantaire and Enjolras were very close, I believe.. They were twins. 

The original quote is referring to Grantaire,

“There are men who seem born to be the opposite, the reverse, the counterpart. They are Pollux, Patroclus, Nisus, Eudamidas, Hephaestion, Pechmeja. They live only upon condition of leaning on another; their names are continuations, and are only written preceded by the conjunction and; their existence is not their own; it is the other side of a destiny which is not theirs. Grantaire was one of these men. He was the reverse of Enjolras.“ 

- Victor Hugo, Les Miserable, pg. 651

So basically Victor Hugo said that these two were intimately close, possibly banging, in the Greek Love sort of way. 

It is also worth mentioning that Napoleon Bonaparte’s rule coincides with the neoclassicist movement in France- that is, the idolization of Greco-Roman culture. For example, the Josephine, or empire, waist on womens dresses was to create a Greco-Roman statuesque silhouette. Les Amis are all, of course, definitely not loyalists (as this is what caused Marius to fall out with his grandfather, among other things), and Marius himself turns into a fervent supporter of Bonaparte (despite being several years too late to do anything about it). 

In conclusion, they were probably banging, or at least very emotionally intimate, and Victor Hugo implies as much. The End.

[literarysins]

So this, this took off again. This was written four years ago you guys, like holy hell who found this. I’m not even in the Les Mis fandom anymore. I’m not even in fandom much at all. That said, I did end up a sociologist, and historical discourse analysis is my fucking jam, hence this addition with brand new information. 

The wonderful @draaaaaagoooooons messaged me, to 18-year-old-me’s great satisfaction, to tell me who the fuck Pechmeja was, as they are a native French speaker and can read these sources. It turns out Pechmeja was Jean de Pechmeja, a writer, poet, and professor. He was known mostly for his friendship with a guy named Dubreuil.

The original essay-post was written about references to Patroclus and Achilles. You can see where this is going.

They were childhood friends, from the region of France where Hugo writes that Enjolras and Grantaire are from. Pechmeja moved to Paris to study, but got sick, so Dubreuil moved to go live with him and take care of him. They were basically life partners, shared everything, etc.

Fast forward a bit, now Dubreuil is sick, yikes. Pechmeja takes care of him so intensely that it gets like, talked about. Dubreuil wouldn’t let anyone take care of him but Pechmeja, turning away all other visitors. 

This being 17th or 18th century France, healthcare sucked, Dubreuil dies. Bummer. Pechmeja inherited everything, but either he also inherited Dubreuils illness or he died of a broken heart, 20 days later. It’s said that he requested that Dubreuil’s grave be left open in order to be buried with him.

So they’re buried together, there’s a stone on their grave detailing their devotion to each other. They pretty much just didn’t live without the other. 

Referring back to the original post’s point, Grantaire was compared to Pechmeja in the original Les Miserable text. 

Jesus, Victor Hugo: ease up on the foreshadowing.  

[theparisiancatologue]

snow in paris

[starkinbound]

Vision: *shuts down*

Peter, screaming: PUT HIM IN RICE

[winelike]

can my life be a dreamy french movie with roses and moonlight and vintage perfume and art im tired

[allthecanadianpolitics]

what a convenient date 🤔🤔🤔

–

Submitted by @goshgay.

[pinkprincessrei-deactivated2020]

For everyone who doesn’t know there’s a strike against McDonald’s on that date. Don’t fall for this. Support striking workers.

[hotboyproblems]

[roumroum-deactivated20190414]

Poncho the Spanish police doggo performing CPR

[freshbrewedlife]

Margo Hupert | @margo.hupert.art

[carswells]

“Dusk: a blade of honey between our shadows, draining.”

— Ocean Vuong, from “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” Night Sky with Exit Wounds (Copper Canyon Press, 2016)

[heavensghost]

the smiths

First person to put a ┼ in my inbox gets to be my boyfriend/girlfriend for a week.

[secretmellowblog]

Writers on Tumblr: If I don’t choose the right name for my character, the story won’t feel right… I need to think very carefully about name choice… :(

Victor Hugo, writing Les Mis: My main character’s name is John McJohn, his dad’s name was John and his mother’s name was Joanne, and here’s a group of revolutionaries who I won’t bother to give first names except for the one guy who’s first name is also John

[flxvrish]

Add me on Kik!

“Ohforfucksakej “

[bowlcutprotag]

[mae0x]

name two things better than self isolation and the refusal to face reality

[proseirpina]

greek mythology: hades, god of the dead and king of the underworld

In Greek mythology, Hades was regarded as the oldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although the last son regurgitated by his father. He and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated their father’s generation of gods, the Titans, and claimed rulership over the cosmos. Hades received the underworld, Zeus the sky, and Poseidon the sea, with the solid earth—long the province of Gaia—available to all three concurrently. Hades was often portrayed with his three-headed guard dog Cerberus. 

HAIDES (Hades) was the king of the underworld and god of the dead. He presided over funeral rites and defended the right of the dead to due burial. Haides was also the god of the hidden wealth of the earth, from the fertile soil with nourished the seed-grain, to the mined wealth of gold, silver and other metals. 

Haides desired a bride and petitioned his brother Zeus to grant him one of his daughters. The god offered him Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. However, knowing that the goddess would resist the marriage, he assented to the forceful abduction of the girl. When Demeter learned of this, she was furious and caused a great dearth to fall upon the earth until her daughter was returned. Zeus was forced to concede lest mankind perish, and the girl was fetched forth from the underworld. However, since she had tasted of the pomegranate seed, she was forced to return to him for a portion of each year.

Haides was depicted as a dark-bearded, regal god. He was depicted as either Aidoneus, enthroned in the underworld, holding a bird-tipped sceptre, or as Plouton (Pluton), the giver of wealth, pouring fertility from a cornucopia. The Romans named him Dis, or Pluto, the Latin form of his Greek title Plouton, “the Lord of Riches.”

SYMBOL(S): Cerberus, cornucopia, sceptre, Cypress, Narcissus, Keys, Serpents. 

“We are three brothers born by Rheia to Kronos (Cronus), Zeus, and I [Poseidon], and the third is Aides [Haides] lord of the dead men. All was divided among us three ways, each given his domain. I [Poseidon] when the lots were shaken drew the grey sea to live in forever; Aides drew the lot of the mists and the darkness, and Zeus was allotted the wide sky, in the cloud and the bright air. But earth and high Olympos are common to all three.”

Homer, Iliad 15. 187 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.)

[bellamy-ooc]

Sleeping!Avi