Discussion Post 2.3.2

[thjazi]

A post for discussions of...political architecture?
(edited because I AM SO SORRY FOR MY NUMBER TRANSPOSITION,WOW.)

Comments

[primeideal]

Question (this is what I was confused about the other time)--does your 3.1.2 start with "The fourteenth of July" and go through "the garden where the people came and went" or something? Either way I will try to catch up soon and bring back my previous retroblogging! :)

[thjazi]

Yes, it does! :D and there's no chapter title or anything. Aaaand I still don't know where we're going with this. BUT I AM TRYING TO FIND SOMETHING TO SAY.

[primeideal]

Wonderful, thank you! (I'll blab about this when I cover 2.3.1, it's confusing!) Unfortunately the rest of these "chapters" are all gonna be like that. :/

[primeideal]

As a counterbalance (see what I did there?) to my last “it’s good we’re slowing down” part: it’s also sort of bad we’re slowing down because this really can be boring. And so is the next section, unfortunately. Many boring dense allusions. So, if you’re feeling lost…yeah, that’s how it goes, even the second time around. We’ll get through this. To more heartwrenching emotional bits. Can’t win with Hugo.

So okay, section two. Like Danton was saying, a bunch of events in the French Revolution are identified by their dates and years in the old calendar, the reformers’ instincts notwithstanding. Insead of the dawning of the age of Aquarius, we have the revolution showing up as a Libra, the scales of justice. Wikipedia reminds us that Libra is the only sign not named after a living creature—justice is important, but lifeless.

"Every idea must have a visible covering; every principle must have a dwelling-place; a church is God within four walls; every dogma must have a temple." It’s necessary to have a location in mind for the physical work of the revolution to be done. But, in general Hugo doesn’t seem to be big on limiting immense abstractions by human institutions, when possible. (Compare Enjolras’ speech: "for religion heaven, God the direct priest, human conscience become an altar…") If we all had direct access to the sublime, we wouldn’t need imperfect human organizations to do that work for us. But, as it is, we need to allow some practical considerations to mix with the ideal.

"The king returns; whoever cheers him will be beaten, whoever insults him will be hanged." So it’s important to stifle dissent where possible, but even more important to take the high ground, of sorts? Don’t resort to the level of insults…or else.

2.3.2: I'm confused, what are we reading?

[bobbiewickham]

Because my last post was on THE ENTIRE CONVENTION CHAPTER. Not just the first little Roman numeral. So I'm on "Marat in the Wings" now.

So is Gauvain going to get his head chopped off for helping an insurgent escape out of mercy? And will Cimourdain be responsible for ratting him out? I expect something along these lines to happen, but certainly with a twist: maybe Cimourdain will be inspired by the Power Of Love to save Gauvain, or die alongside him.

In case we thought the republicans were all benevolent humanitarians, we hear at the end of this chapter of the decree that any city sheltering rebels will be demolished. It doesn’t exactly SAY that the city’s inhabitants will be slaughtered en masse, but one can infer that the city’s inhabitants would have good reason to flee and not get caught by the republican army. Of course, in case we forgot that the royalists are even worse, the Duke of Brunswick promises to shoot any French person who offers armed resistance to his foreign invasion and to raze Paris to the ground if a hair falls from the king’s head.

Despite this background of death and terror, though, Hugo does a really good job of highlighting the petty human conflicts and concerns, like people gossiping about Marat from a distance while falling silent near him, or the “you’re a noble!” “yeah, well, you’re a priest!” sniping of Chabot and Montaut.

Re: 2.3.2: I'm confused, what are we reading?

[primeideal]

(Sorry, trying to repost in correct place:)

Yeah, the different editions give different chapter enumerations (here and maybe one or two future sections). I think we're going through each subheading of The Convention a day at a time.

Re: 2.3.2: I'm confused, what are we reading?

[thjazi]

yyyikes, yeah, you're now TEN DAYS ahead of us. You have free time, I guess? Because we're only on the third subsection of The Convention! You...could comment on other entries? :[

Re: 2.3.2: I'm confused, what are we reading?

[bobbiewickham]

...ahahahahahahahaha. Well. That is a SENSIBLE plan, which I should have taken part in. Whoops, now I'm ahead of the game! Thanks for explaining.

Re: 2.3.2: I'm confused, what are we reading?

[bobbiewickham]

I will have fun doing so!