#lm 5.2.5

[the-wraxall-illustrations]

[lmchaptertitlebracket]

V.ii.5 Progrès actuel

Which is your favorite translation of this chapter title?

Present Progress

Current Progress

Present-Day Progress

Voting ended onMar 28, 2025

Present Progress: Wilbour, Wraxall, Hapgood, Gray, Denny, FMA

Current Progress: Rose

Present-Day Progress: Donougher

[cliozaur]

The best part of today's chapter: "This network of cellars has its immemorial population of prowlers, rodents, swarming in greater numbers than ever; from time to time, an aged and veteran rat risks his head at the window of the sewer and surveys the Parisians; but even these vermin grow tame, so satisfied are they with their subterranean palace."

[dolphin1812]

“To-day the sewer is clean, cold, straight, correct. It almost realizes the ideal of what is understood in England by the word “respectable.””

A hilarious start.

(The description as a whole is hilarious - with “beautiful sewer,” allusions to poetry, and so on).

The tradesman-become-councillor hints at social mobility, a key feature of the Napoleonic era to Hugo (at least in its myth). 

Overall, Hugo seems to claim that Bruneseau “civilized” the sewers to an extent, lending them some organization by mapping them and then cleaning them in addition to the symbolic name changes. That being said, the sewer remains threatening. I think calling it “hypocritical” is a particularly funny way of conveying that, but it’s an apt descriptor.

[everyonewasabird]

Brickclub 5.2.5 “Present progress”

Oh, this feels so ambiguous. The sewer was an inefficient disaster of the ancien régime before, always in danger of backing up and clogging the streets, and always giving shelter to those outside the law or morality by virtue of sheer inefficiency and confusion. There are good things and bad things about that, and I don’t think this is a book that’s going to rush to condemn the grotesque--or to entirely condemn sheltering the people at the edges of the law.

It’s turned into... it seems mean to say it, but it turned into Javert.

The sewer has now assumed a cer­tain official aspect. Even the police reports of which it is sometimes the object are no longer lacking in respect for it.

It’s now the best version of a thing that--under the set of assumptions Hugo started this digression with--shouldn’t exist at all. Both the old and new sewer waste something valuable out of the populace; the new one just does it so efficiently that no one complains anymore. The bad system is entrenched by its own efficiency and by the way it makes sure never to inconvenience the bourgeoisie.

Which makes future revolutions a whole lot harder to pull off.

It is more hypocritical than irreproachable.

“Irreproachable” is an idea I associate with Javert, though even with him, at this point in the book, I do in fact find him more hypocritical than irreproachable.

Plus, he’s as efficient at sending humans to prison (a thing that shouldn’t happen) as the new sewer is to sending sewage into the river (also a thing that shouldn’t happen).

And then we end by laying all this at the door of Bruneseau, who we’ve been pretty positive about up till now.

I imagine Hugo is going to be connecting the dots in the next chapters.

[lmchaptertitlebracket]

Round 1, Matchup 38: I.v.1 vs V.ii.5

Which chapter title do you prefer?

A History of Progress in Black Glass Beads

Current Progress

Voting ended onApr 23, 2025

[cliozaur]

It appears that Hugo harbours conflicting feelings about the modernization of sewers. As a proponent of Progress, he should find it gratifying: well-organized, straightened, and no longer dark. Even the police reports show increased respect towards it. My favourite image depicting the present 'respectable' state of the sewer is that of contented, well-fed rats peering through its windows: “This network of cellars has its immemorial population of prowlers, rodents, swarming in greater numbers than ever; from time to time, an aged and veteran rat risks his head at the window of the sewer and surveys the Parisians; but even these vermin grow tame, so satisfied are they with their subterranean palace.”

However, Hugo as a Romantic writer seems to feel nostalgic for the previous state of affairs. My dear Villon is mentioned again: he would hardly recognize this place now that it's lost its former sombre mystery.

Hugo uses the term 'transmutation' from alchemy (the same in the original French text) to describe these changes, highlighting the magical aspect of this process. He also labels it a revolution, likening old man Bruneseau to a revolutionary in this transformation.