#lm 3.3.1

[les-mis-daily-doodles]

look at them all having a good time! such fun and politics! i’m sure all of those people wanted to be there

[cliozaur]

Enter Marius. A lover. A hero. A booby.

P.S. And a legendary translator who could translate entire books from German and English after just a couple of months of learning these languages. A patron saint of all translators.

[lmchaptertitlebracket]

Round 1, Matchup 109: II.vi.9 vs III.iii.1

Which chapter title do you prefer?

A Century Under the Veil

An Ancient Salon

Voting ended onMay 7, 2025

[pureanonofficial]

LES MIS LETTERS IN ADAPTATION - An Ancient Salon, LM 3.3.1 (Les Miserables 1925)

M. Gillenormand was always accompanied by his daughter, that tall mademoiselle, who was over forty and looked fifty, and by a handsome little boy of seven years, white, rosy, fresh, with happy and trusting eyes, who never appeared in that salon without hearing voices murmur around him: “How handsome he is! What a pity! Poor child!” This child was the one of whom we dropped a word a while ago. He was called “poor child,” because he had for a father “a brigand of the Loire.” This brigand of the Loire was M. Gillenormand’s son-in-law, who has already been mentioned, and whom M. Gillenormand called “the disgrace of his family.”

[dolphin1812]

This chapter has so many historical references! It’s fun to see how much Hugo can add for context; most of the references are difficult to catch now without familiarity with the period (I personally don’t understand most of them, even if I like seeing them), but for a contemporary reader, they likely added a lot of information about the exact sort of discussions in these salons. The specificity is nice in combination with humorous lines like this one:

“As he had a double measure of wit, in the first place, that which was born with him, and secondly, that which was attributed to him, he was even sought out and made much of.”

Mocking Gillenormand is always entertaining, but the aristocracy that esteems him is even more absurd.

It’s interesting to see the state of the French aristocracy through this salon. On the one hand, it’s maintained a fair amount of power and many of its structures (the salon itself being one of them). Their political situation may have been more precarious, but the Bourbon Restoration was a moment of hope for them (based on the salon conversations). At the same time, we once again see the effects of the French Revolution. La Baronne de T likely fled France with her husband (his “emigration”) during that period, for instance, and while his bankruptcy could have just been from his lavish lifestyle (French aristocrats weren’t known for being economical), it could have also been tied to property losses during the Revolution, either while fleeing, because the government confiscated it, or both.

Through these royalists, we also get further insight into the breadth of French political ideas at the time. Although we’ve seen vague support for a monarchy before (with Myriel), the fact that this salon centers around politics means that we’re getting more details on the forms of royalism. Hugo’s mentioned the charter that limited the king’s power before, criticizing it (as the narrator) for creating an image of liberal government without actually recognizing the need for the people to govern themselves (as the charter still allowed for a monarchy). To royalists in Gillenormand’s camp, however, the charter is too much; any limitation on the king is unacceptable (except, perhaps, limitations from aristocrats, but that doesn’t seem to have featured as prominently in their discussions; Bonapartists and republicans likely felt like bigger threats to them than other royalists). The environment is also telling. While they do seem to discuss current issues, the emphasis on mocking republicans, Bonapartists, and so on makes the salon seem rather smug and self-assured. For them, the humor is probably entertaining, but it does feel like fun is the point rather than complex political theorizing. Given that Gillenormand’s grandson is there, it wouldn’t be surprising if he was expected to learn to parrot these ideas. Gillenormand certainly wouldn’t want him to explore alternatives, and his home environment and the salon don’t seem conducive to independent thought. He is, however, seven, so I’m sure the salon is probably more of a chore for him than anything else anyways.

I also think it’s fascinating how Hugo portrays this group as equal and opposite to the Revolution, focusing on violence in particular:

“In that society, they parodied the Revolution. They used I know not what desires to give point to the same wrath in inverse sense. They sang their little Ça ira [ . . . . ] Songs are like the guillotine; they chop away indifferently, to-day this head, to-morrow that. It is only a variation.”

Characters like the Conventionist have defended what are seen as the excesses of the French Revolution, and while Hugo himself is ultimately in favor of social change, he’s also deeply uncomfortable with the violence of the guillotine specifically (also seen with the bishop). For him to assign the guillotine to the changing song of the royalists, then, is to suggest a horrific capacity for harm. As the “inverse” of the Revolution but its equal in “wrath,” they’re at least comfortable with that form of terror in support of old systems instead of in tearing them down. Their “parody” might also imply an element of hypocrisy, as for all that they hate the French Revolution, they still represent the worst of it (just directed in a different direction).

[lmchaptertitlebracket]

IIi.iii.1 Un ancien salon

Which is your favorite translation of this chapter title?

An Old Salon

An Old Drawing-Room

An Ancient Salon

An Old-Time Salon

An Old-World Salon

A Salon of the Past

Voting ended onDec 29, 2024

An Old Salon: Wilbour, Gray, FMA

An Old Drawing-Room: Wraxall

An Ancient Salon: Hapgood

An Old-Time Salon: Denny

An Old-World Salon: Rose

A Salon of the Past: Donougher

[cliozaur]

“Poor child!” they would exclaim about Marius. And indeed, why torment a seven-year-old by taking him to quasi-political salon! No, really, taking him there is nothing but M. Gillenormand's attempt to indoctrinate his grandson with "correct political ideas" from a young age, hoping to prevent him from following in his father's footsteps or worse, joining the ranks of the "friends and brothers" (spoiler alert: it won't work).

It’s interesting to note that despite the abuse, Marius has “happy and trusting eyes.” I believe this is due to inconsistency in Hugo’s narrative.

As for the salon itself… To be honest, I am already weary of M. Gillenormand and his preferences and whims, be they political or otherwise, so I won’t comment on him. However, I know quite a few things about salons in the Enlightenment, and it’s interesting to compare what we have here with what they used to be. It’s important to know that we are talking about salons after their decline (which occurred in the last decades of the eighteenth century). I can identify at least three features that render the salon of Madame la Baronne de T. quite authentic. First, it is run by a woman – salons were unique spaces within the emerging public sphere where women (the hostesses) played a crucial role, deciding whom to invite, setting the agenda, and determining the topics of discussion etc. Second, it is “far from the Court” – salons emerged as an opposition to the court (ironically, this salon, despite its royalist sentiments, despises the king and the court's affairs). And third, it is socially inclusive — they have no qualms about welcoming bourgeois individuals like M. Gillenormand, as long as they share the same political views. In the Enlightenment, it was important to be educated, sociable, and polite in order to participate in the public sphere, including salons. To tell you the truth, I quite like this baroness, despite her political views. She somehow manages to support herself, even as a widow of a bankrupt émigré. She can afford to distance herself from the court, remaining "proud and poor," and she chooses not to publish her late husband's ridiculous memoirs about Mesmer (again, out of pride). Moreover, she successfully organizes a popular salon (regardless of its quality). It's a significant achievement, and only women with great charisma were capable of such feats.

[fremedon]

Brickclub 3.3.1, “A Salon of the Past”

Donougher has her usual thorough footnotes and endnotes explaining all the references and jokes in this section--and translates the verse, which FMA does not, though I wish she would give side-by-side translations--and I was looking forward to seeing how context would illuminate this section.

And it doesn’t.

I’m not going to type out any of the explanatory notes because they don’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. These people are exactly what they seem on the surface: petty, exclusionary, hypocritical, vain, and vicious. Gillenormand’s jokes are obvious and mean and he’s still the only funny one of the lot.

No wonder Marius is so lost when he meets the Friends of the ABC, if this is his context--for political discourse, for wit, for conversation.