I have not read this book yet, but am now intrigued by what you've written here. I have only attended the plays and seen the movie. Surely the book is better than the movie, as in most cases. What translation are you using, please? Thank you for this!
Hi Dana. I’m so glad that this post has encouraged you to read Les Misérables. I am enjoying it so much. I’m am reading the Christine Donougher translation from Penguin Classics and it is truly excellent. By all accounts it seems to be the best version. It is a model of how translation ought to feel to the reader, in my opinion.
I second this. I have read Hapgood a few times and am listening through Donougher now. I cannot speak to the accuracy of either translation but Donougher feels smooth and much more readable compared to Hapgood.
Sadly in the Evangelical church, difference is often the doorway to division. One Denomination has their favourite Theologian and bangs his drum weekly. Another Denomination doesn’t bang his drum at all, possibly doesn’t even believe literal drums should be in the church… 🙂 …but because there’s ‘difference’, there’s division, them and us. Those of Paul and those of Apollos, but both are in Christ, in whom there is no division, and want those outside of Christ to come into the unity of His Body the church.
Sadly in the Evangelical church, difference within is often the doorway to division. One Denomination has their favourite Theologian and bangs his drum weekly. Another Denomination doesn’t bang his drum at all, doesn’t even believe drums should be in the church… 🙂 …but because there’s ‘difference’, there’s division, them and us. Those of Paul and those of Apollos, but both are in Christ, in whom there is no division, and want those outside of Christ to come into the unity of His Body the church.
Thanks Andrew - this is very well written and very relevant to today’s social and political climate. It is indeed interesting that Bienvenu is written as a near perfect model of Christian virtue (almost to the point of caricature) in all things except this one. I think Hugo writes this section as the ideal of what encountering disagreement with love will look like but then works out the probable (and much more realistic) messiness and nuance of it throughout the rest of the book. Dostoevsky is often credited as being the master of the human psyche but we shouldn’t forget Hugo. While his stories are much more romanticized, they are nonetheless insightful.
If there is one thing I needed from this, it is - “Such learning does not require us to change our views but it might moderate them, or at least inform them of the humanity and decency that can underpin different positions.”
Les Mis is one of my favorites and I’m excited to read more of your writing as you work through it.
I have not read this book yet, but am now intrigued by what you've written here. I have only attended the plays and seen the movie. Surely the book is better than the movie, as in most cases. What translation are you using, please? Thank you for this!
Hi Dana. I’m so glad that this post has encouraged you to read Les Misérables. I am enjoying it so much. I’m am reading the Christine Donougher translation from Penguin Classics and it is truly excellent. By all accounts it seems to be the best version. It is a model of how translation ought to feel to the reader, in my opinion.
I second this. I have read Hapgood a few times and am listening through Donougher now. I cannot speak to the accuracy of either translation but Donougher feels smooth and much more readable compared to Hapgood.
Sadly in the Evangelical church, difference is often the doorway to division. One Denomination has their favourite Theologian and bangs his drum weekly. Another Denomination doesn’t bang his drum at all, possibly doesn’t even believe literal drums should be in the church… 🙂 …but because there’s ‘difference’, there’s division, them and us. Those of Paul and those of Apollos, but both are in Christ, in whom there is no division, and want those outside of Christ to come into the unity of His Body the church.
Sadly in the Evangelical church, difference within is often the doorway to division. One Denomination has their favourite Theologian and bangs his drum weekly. Another Denomination doesn’t bang his drum at all, doesn’t even believe drums should be in the church… 🙂 …but because there’s ‘difference’, there’s division, them and us. Those of Paul and those of Apollos, but both are in Christ, in whom there is no division, and want those outside of Christ to come into the unity of His Body the church.
Thanks Andrew - this is very well written and very relevant to today’s social and political climate. It is indeed interesting that Bienvenu is written as a near perfect model of Christian virtue (almost to the point of caricature) in all things except this one. I think Hugo writes this section as the ideal of what encountering disagreement with love will look like but then works out the probable (and much more realistic) messiness and nuance of it throughout the rest of the book. Dostoevsky is often credited as being the master of the human psyche but we shouldn’t forget Hugo. While his stories are much more romanticized, they are nonetheless insightful.
If there is one thing I needed from this, it is - “Such learning does not require us to change our views but it might moderate them, or at least inform them of the humanity and decency that can underpin different positions.”
Les Mis is one of my favorites and I’m excited to read more of your writing as you work through it.