Brick Club 5.2.5, 5.2.6
I would agree with Hugo’s estimation of the sewer, that’s what it looks like today, at least if you take a tour down there and, call me radical, I think that’s okay. I don’t really need sewers to be dark, dank, dastardly places, except in my fantasy novels. “The filth comports itself decently.” Which is a phrase I need tattooed on me yesterday. I particularly like the use of the word ‘comport’ which conveys a level of physical movement on top of attitude and bearing which is really delightful since we’re talking about sewers, known conveyors of material of all physical and symbolic variety.
The language in this chapter is really just excellent. Hugo laments (actually I can’t tell if he’s upset or just unimpressed) that “the cloaca has now nothing of its primitive ferocity” because now everything is in the style of “the classic rectilinear alexandrine.” What a flurry of concepts. But, hold on! There’s been a revolution here too!
I’ll be honest, my eyes glazed over for the majority of this detailing of the geological and geographical nature of digging sewer yardage. It’s no Transcontinental Railroad (‘Merica). I’m just very much unfamiliar with any of the places Hugo is referencing, I have no picture in my head. If you’re French or even European is this any more parsable?
It’s genuinely astonishing that there weren’t massive cholera epidemics constantly in Paris, being a disease characterized by its spread through contaminated water. And it’s a little surprising that Hugo only briefly mentions the major influence of the cholera epidemic on urban planning particularly in regard to sewage systems from 1832 onward.
