tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post2870085716840004314..comments2023-09-15T01:33:18.857-07:00Comments on Humble Musings of a Literary Kind: Hugo, his Detractors, a Defense of Digressions and the Opulent Opus of An AgeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18156605759733149704noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-62323339056583712572013-03-11T18:45:19.637-07:002013-03-11T18:45:19.637-07:00Thank you Daron for visiting my humble musing and ...Thank you Daron for visiting my humble musing and your kind comment - both of which are greatly appreciated. I am thrilled that you enjoyed this post.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18156605759733149704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-35209655713674607702013-03-07T16:49:40.244-08:002013-03-07T16:49:40.244-08:00Thank you for this article. I enjoyed the manner ...Thank you for this article. I enjoyed the manner in which you tackled the issue behind this novel with substantive argumentation and literary style.<br /><br />Thank you. Daron Hensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10705561475185397346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-60817466955832240142013-03-07T06:59:34.508-08:002013-03-07T06:59:34.508-08:00Thank you so much James, I am so delighted by your...Thank you so much James, I am so delighted by your visit and your comment inscribed on my binary wall :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18156605759733149704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-50171783971527189092013-03-06T08:52:42.279-08:002013-03-06T08:52:42.279-08:00May we live in interesting times. I agree with you...May we live in interesting times. I agree with you and Upton Sinclair and also with you and Marta that there is little in contemporary literature to compare to the true masters. I delight in your description of this book and your reactions to it.<br /><br />James Rothjmvrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09362299493154113405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-38167488243544259522013-03-04T04:44:59.676-08:002013-03-04T04:44:59.676-08:00Yes indeed! And Aeschylus and Sophocles...would yo...Yes indeed! And Aeschylus and Sophocles...would you not say the latter dealt obliquely with politics in Oedipus insofar as kingly traits/expectations were concerned?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18156605759733149704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-5156120074168682202013-03-02T18:06:46.675-08:002013-03-02T18:06:46.675-08:00If we talk of Classics (not just Modern Classics) ...If we talk of Classics (not just Modern Classics) I'd go straight into the Greeks, both tragedy and comedy. It's quite interesting, for example, that Greek comedy dealt with politics (Aristophanes is the best example), which tragedy did not do, ever. And the passage from that kind of comedy into the ones that emerged as such as from the 17th century,Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15249891006083336192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-40418083671697790042013-03-02T07:36:11.851-08:002013-03-02T07:36:11.851-08:00Indeed it would be an honor Marta - what an utterl...Indeed it would be an honor Marta - what an utterly delicious anticipatory pleasure at the thought! Perhaps we would start at the beginning...what would you consider the earliest classic to be deserving of the name? (That in of itself is rather an intriguing exercise!)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18156605759733149704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-16149732773633640482013-03-02T04:21:03.318-08:002013-03-02T04:21:03.318-08:00It would an honor to be deranged in your company. ...It would an honor to be deranged in your company. Can you imagine the pleasure of exchanging our views on the classics? And I mean the long list!<br /> Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15249891006083336192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-26395986318883128242013-03-01T20:54:54.098-08:002013-03-01T20:54:54.098-08:00Dearest Marta - I utterly agree - I too am a class...Dearest Marta - I utterly agree - I too am a classics-aficionado and prefer those above all else. In the few and far between attempts to delve into contemporary literature I have been oft-disappointed and find it simpler by far to delve deeper into those authors I already have developed a deep affection for - more Hugo, now Balzac (thank you!), Shakespeare is always there...and so many others. So perhaps my dear friend, we can be deranged together?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18156605759733149704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-67718167727090772382013-03-01T20:50:34.711-08:002013-03-01T20:50:34.711-08:00Yes indeed! Thank you dear Shari for your most ins...Yes indeed! Thank you dear Shari for your most insightful contribution to this musing - exactly - Hugo's particular environment was within a period of incredible political and social upheaval - with the country itself being torn between a monarchism that no longer quite worked and an increasingly belligerent people that felt intrinsically denied of their rights with a recent history of how best to acquire it - revolution. His digressions, I felt, provided glorious insight into his perspective regarding the respect he had for Louis-Phillippe but the sympathies he held as a liberal republican - and then throwing the utter destitution of the vast majority into the mix....depicting beautifully how hunger gives fuel to rage of one kind or another - to be vented eventually in the ousting of a king. I do utterly love this book. :) Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18156605759733149704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-54575235803727153352013-03-01T14:06:44.933-08:002013-03-01T14:06:44.933-08:00Dear PJ, I am enthralled by your analysis of *Les ...Dear PJ, I am enthralled by your analysis of *Les Miserables* and your deep insight into Hugo's "raison d'etre." I believe we are all a product of our time, our conditions and our environment - a seemingly simple statement, but very complex when you consider that Hugo produced an evolutionary piece of epic proportions that reflects both the internal struggles of his household and personal rebellion, as well as the external conflicts of political and social upheaval. He was an incredibly observant, intuitive and sensitive individual with an unwavering social conscience.<br /><br />Incidentally, the Spanish Academy of Languages has an "Argot" dictionary dedicated strictly to the maintenance of slang terminology which is separate from the formal Spanish Language Dictionary. I believe the French have the same.<br />Shari LeKanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05764921433989389867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-5712216213945864112013-03-01T07:49:17.209-08:002013-03-01T07:49:17.209-08:00Dear PJ, it took me years to read Balzac's com...Dear PJ, it took me years to read Balzac's complete works, so I can see your point. I go back to them quite often, as you do with Hugo. <br />But then I'm going back to this or that writer all the time, and read less and less of what's being currently published.<br />I have a terrible resistance to 21st century writing, which would include my own. <br />It's said you need a degree of derangement to be a creator. Perhaps mine is an overdose. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15249891006083336192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-21865448282406118142013-03-01T04:55:59.953-08:002013-03-01T04:55:59.953-08:00Thank you dearest Marta for stopping by! I am utte...Thank you dearest Marta for stopping by! I am utterly ashamed to confess that I have read only one Balzac novella - a shallow dip into a deeply rich pool - but loved his description of the gradually-impoverished wardrobe of a young man declining into poverty - it was lushly evocative. Your wonderful connection of these two great writers has prompted me to order three additional Balzac novels which I will stack lovingly on my bedside table in the fervent hope I will find time to read them in the next ten years - so long is the must-read list! :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18156605759733149704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925449466467205516.post-34689125447734494242013-02-28T16:53:09.895-08:002013-02-28T16:53:09.895-08:00As usual, you leave me speechless. Anything added ...As usual, you leave me speechless. Anything added to such thoroughness would be vanity.<br />So I only have a question: in your view, how does Hugo compare to Balzac?<br />Thank you for sharing your clarity of analysis once more!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15249891006083336192noreply@blogger.com