#lit. les misérables

[can-of-w0rmz]

Cosette Fauchelevent you will always be famous 🫶

[courfaeriec]

i may not have my life together but i DO know a lot more about the parisian sewers than the average person so yknow what i think it all balances out nicely

[nortism]

Les Misérables/Pride & Prejudice crossover where Mr Wickham gets shot at the Battle of Waterloo and Thénardier robs his corpse

[philosophors]

“To love or to have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life.”

— Victor Hugo, “Les Misérables”

[miseria-fortes-viros]

victor hugo really said “to love another person is to see the face of god” and i’m just supposed to be ok with that

[the-most-sublime-fool]

She was musing, overtaken by that feeling of sadness that assails us in the dusk and which perhaps arises—who can say—from the mystery of the grave, of which we have intimations at that hour.

Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (tr. Norman Denny)

[visualnoteslibrary]

What is this blog?

@visualnoteslibrary a.k.a. the illustrator's library is a project wherein I attempt to collect, organize and share all the physical/visual descriptions of characters in classic lit to provide reference to illustrate from! It started as a personal project, as I had been annotating my copy of The Count of Monte Cristo to save all of the quotations referencing characters' appearances to draw them and decided to digitize and share the notes and decided it would be fun to make it an ongoing project. The folder can be found here!

Current Titles

The Count of Monte Cristo

Dracula

Little Women

War and Peace

Les Misérables (work in progress, see this post for more information)

Les Misérables [Version Française] (see above; this version will be updated concurrently)

How is the information arranged/presented?

By character, then by chapter so you can easily find the quotes in context. I also sometimes add a column to easily track characters' ages where relevant/possible. Check out some titles above for examples!

Can you add this book?

For copy-pasting purposes I prefer to do books in the public domain, and I'd only do a book I'd already read, since it would otherwise be pretty spoiler-heavy. I also prioritize books written in English since it's my native language and I'm extremely opinionated about translations and can be skeptical of their accuracy (I hand-typed all the quotes from my favorite translation of War and Peace) but I definitely make exceptions. But please do request titles and if they fit the bill I'll try to get to them!

Do I need to credit you?

Not at all! I'm just pulling quotes from books I didn't write, so I could hardly demand credit. If you'd like to credit me in order to inform people about the project, it would be appreciated! I also love to be tagged (@visualnoteslibrary, #visualnoteslibrary or #visual notes library) so I can reblog your awesome art!!

You missed the part in [book] where it says that [character] is [description]!

Pleeeease tell me these things so I can fix them! I'll even add your URL, name, or whatever moniker you prefer to the bottom of the document and say how you helped.

[maybeitsapineapple]

Notes on the Les Misérables Proshot, Act 1

20th November 1985

RSC Archives at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Reading Room

Lyrics are compared to the audio I've heard from previews, which I'm pretty sure is on yt

I don't recall the original staging very well (or the current one, for that matter) so some of the staging I pointed out might be unnecessary

I assume the audience were told not to clap

There were typos everywhere in the prompt book

Act 2 here

Other notes here

Detailed thoughts under cut

The convicts are digging. I never figured that out

They skipped the "I know she’ll wait" lines, though they were in the script

Roger Allam stands about 1ft behind and slightly stage left of Colm Wilkinson for most of the lines. Slaps the papers into his hand. Baton pull against his neck and keeps him there until the end of the song

The Bishop pulls out the chair for Valjean

Baptistine and Magloire walk off holding hands

"Flight" isn't held YAY

Townspeople crowd around for "Tell His Reverence"

… Earl’s is longer (Ken Caswell didn’t hold the note "God" for very long)

During the soliloquy, Valjean is lit from the left and right, creating two shadows in opposite directions. Changes to top lighting for "Yet why did I allow this man". Changes back to side lights for "I am reaching but I fall". I assume this is symbolic of the two paths before him, the light of God etc

"I’ll escape now from the world" not "that world" which. Oof

Synth in the intro to "At the End of the Day"

Chorus lyrics after "She’ll be out on the street" were on a dress label stuck over a different set of lyrics, some of which were "[…] it’s not what you wanted/It is better than nothing and better than dead […] You must swallow whatever you’re given/We do not have a say […] At the end of the day"

The foreman is not right up in Fantine’s face; it’s not quite so overly-sexual

Intro to "I Dreamed A Dream" not in prompt book

RA has his hands behind his back. No baton

When Fantine is rude to Valjean, RA waves the other officers off from interfering and goes to stand between them and Valjean

Valjean’s lines "Is it true what I’ve done" etc are delivered to Fantine rather than to the side/audience which makes him a lot less insufferably self-absorbed

After the cart, RA and CW stand a good 5-6ft away from each other except when RA is handing over the coat and hat, which still happens at arm’s length. At Valjean’s "You say this man denies it all" lines, CW circles RA at maybe 1-2ft

Cut verse from prompt book after the first "I am damned" — "I stole a loaf a bread/And I have served my time/Have wasted half my life/To wash away my crime/To give my life some worth/And can I go back now/To torture and to pain/The loneliness of men/The whiplash and the chain/That hell on Earth"

At "He gave me strength to journey on" the light points stage right in the direction he later walks off

Fantine gets up off the bed during her song and also doesn’t die immediately after "when I wake"

Javert enters stage right

RA points at himself a lot eg. "I was born inside a jail" and "I will be there"

The chair didn’t break … CW had to pull the leg off

Cut verse from prompt book before "Dare you talk to me of crime" — "I have watched you through the years/Growing rich and full of pride/Looking down on men like me/Hiding what you had to hide/How you loved to see us crawl/How we had to scrape and bow/Now the wheel has come around/Jean Valjean is nothing now"

I always thought the Confrontation was too slow in the OLC recording but it really works on stage. It's tense as opposed to just intense

"Or I’ll forget to be nice" not played for laughs. Eponine pushes Cosette out with the bucket

Various cut lines in the prompt book in the intro to "Master of the House", including "Hell, what a wine/Château Neuf de Turpentine"

"Charge 'em for the lice" lines delivered playing with Eponine. Thénardier generally affectionate with Eponine

Mme. T’s verse delivered while sitting with the customers

Well scene is only the la-la-las, although the "Castle on a Cloud" reprise and "Don’t be afraid" lines are in the prompt book

Comedic attempt to cross himself at "Dear Fantine, gone to rest" and "It's no more than we Christians must do"

Both Ts hug Cosette goodbye

Soliloquy intro plays during the escape to Paris/before Stars

Prompt book lyrics to "Stars": "He’s there in the night/With the creatures who hide from the light/With the prowlers who wait for the shadows to fall/The darkness is his/For he never can change what he is/And the stars in their vigilance/They see it all/Stars in your multitudes [regular lyrics] You fall in flame/And so it has been and so it must be/The lesson is there to learn/That those who falter and those who fall/Must burn/Must burn/There out in the darkness [...] The flame, the sword/And so it has been [...] Must pay the price/Scarce to be counted […] keeping watch in the night"

RA raises his hand on "doorways". Kneels down in instrumental before final verse. Stretches his arms out to the sides when the final verse starts. Stands up on "to order and light". Raises arm again on "you are the sentinels"

I don’t think he’s on a bridge. No hat and no baton. He is lit from both sides but not the top — Valjean, Fantine, and Cosette were lit from the top

There are various extra lines in "Look Down" in the prompt book

Marius doesn’t run into Cosette, they just stare at each other and then Marius rescues her from Patron-Minette

Javert entry with synths but no electric guitar :( Also no baton

Thénardier does not walk over to Javert

Lesgles is mentioned in the prompt book but not the cast list

"They will come when we call" is all on the same note

"Do You Hear The People Sing" is angrier. The words at the ends of lines aren’t held and the whole thing is more staccato

Prompt book lyrics for Cosette’s "There's so little I know" — "There are voices I hear/That come to my mind/Full of noise, full of fear/When the world was unkind/In my life/I’m no longer afraid but I yearn for the truth that you know/Of the years years ago"

Michael Ball really loves throwing his head back as an acting move

At the beginning of the Attack on Rue Plumet, Eponine leans nonchalantly against the gate

Eponine and Thénardier brawl

[toomanytookas]

Discovering Tunes Through Fic: A Rec List

A sequel of sorts to my Discovering Lit Through Fic list from earlier this year (which I desperately need to update)! It's always fun to find mention of a song or musician/artist/band that you love in fic, and I also enjoy how such inclusions can lead to finding new things to listen to (some of these songs made my spotify wrapped entirely because of these fics!).

This list brings together works that I have encountered in my reading travels that have somehow incorporated songs or artists within the work (separate from being inspiration or source of title). If you see an artist or song that is your jam or piques your interest, be sure to give the fic a try—the music was selected with intent, so the work is probably your vibe!

Alpha sorted by character then author then title. I will update as I read more!

Dave

Audience of One - @katareyoudrilling Carmen Fantasy - Pablo de Sarasate

Down Bad & Good Luck Babe - @schnarfer Talk Show Host - Radiohead Angel - Massive Attack

Dieter

Down This Chain of Days - @ghotifishreads Don’t Stop Me Now - Queen

Your Favorite Kryptonite - @kedsandtubesocks Everytime We Touch - Cascada

Making Out to Pablo Honey - @mothandpidgeon Radiohead

Eros & Psyche - schnarfer This is Love - PJ Harvey

Home - @yopossum Dangerous Woman - Ariana Grande

Frankie

Hold Fast - @jeewrites Lil Boo Thang - Paul Russell RV 297 (Winter) - Vivaldi

With No Strings Attached - @jolapeno Elvis

On Call - @luxurychristmaspudding A whole host of songs, which can be found in this playlist

Pickup Truck - luxurychristmaspudding Pickup Truck - Kings of Leon

Tommy’s Party - luxurychristmaspudding Peach Pit

Jack

Whiskey & Westworld - @prolix-yuy Hank Williams George Strait

Javi P

Paranoid Heart - @goodwithcheese On My Own - Les Misérables George Strait Indigo Girls One More Last Chance - Vince Gill

Go Your Own Way - schnarfer Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield

Joel

Aint That a Bite - @almostfoxglove Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets

Cover Me Up - almostfoxglove Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush Cover Me Up - Jason Isbell

Over Again - @burntheedges A bunch of wonderful early 2000s (and adjacent) tracks, as found on this playlist

Interstellar Overdrive - @hypnotisedfireflies An incredible 70s soundtrack throughout, see this playlist!

Happy Tuesday - @maggiemayhemnj I Only Have Eyes For You - The Flamingos

Symphony - maggiemayhemnj Oh, Lady Be Good - Ella Fitzgerald BWV 156 (Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe)

Difficult - schnarfer Every You Every Me - Placebo

Strike - @secretelephanttattoo The White Stripes Red Hot Chili Peppers

Marcus P

All About the Bass - katareyoudrilling BWV 893 Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten - Arvo Pärt Tabula Rasa - Arvo Pärt

Headshots - secretelephanttattoo Just Like Heaven - The Cure

Max P

Warm Hands, Cold Heart - secretelephanttattoo Hypnotize - The Notorious B.I.G  Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt - We Are Scientists

Tim

Undercover - secretelephanttattoo Mr. Brightside - The Killers

*

If you know of or have written works that fit this theme, I'd love to hear about them! Please feel free to shout them out in the comments. Also if you're an author I've read and I accidentally left a work of yours that fits this theme off the list, please forgive my swiss cheese brain and let me know so I can add you!! 💕

Date updated: 29 December 2024 Date published: 29 December 2024 Images are my own.

[oilan]

Usually at bedtime, my toddler and I read one of her books (which she picks) and one of her library books (which I pick). However today when I asked her to pick her first book:

Toddler (imperiously): No. You pick.

Me (bluffing): Les Misérables?

Toddler (brightly): Oh! Ok!

Then she bopped off and got her Lit For Little Hands version of the Brick. Happy Mother's Day to me <3

[can-of-w0rmz]

Whether you interpret Enjolras as a raging homosexual or a proud aroace lad, I find it a little funny that everyone collectively agrees that man does NOT like women. Sure, it’s explicitly in the text, but usually you’d get at least a few people desperately trying to cope otherwise.

[strayheartless]

Empty Chairs at Empty Tables:

A Genesis short

Saw a post by @altocat about Genesis being the only one to get to his thirties and how much guilt he must feel. So obviously I wanted to make it worse, cause ya know… big stick, sad man🤷🏼

“Here they talked of revolution, here it was they lit the flame. Here they sang about tomorrow, but tomorrow never came.” -Les Misérables, Viktor Hugo

***

There are many little lies the WRO tells the populous of edge in order to keep them safe. Don’t go here, stay out of there, derelict and dangerous signs littered the outskirts of Midgar like theatre posters. Genesis never payed it any mind, he knew Midgar was no more dangerous than the smog filled refugee camp they collectively called home. Besides even if it were, what’s the worst that could happen to him, Mako poisoning? Oh no the horror…

The likelihood that he would die from such an affliction was almost laughable. Mako had killed him once and failed, so what was the point in fearing its power now? Most things that tried to kill him failed these days. Whether that be a blessing from the goddess or a curse he could quite puzzle out, but he knew what it felt like. To live while those you have loved are gone is to die and die again each day. To stand where once you stood with them at your side, not a line on your face to suggest the passage of time, nor a legacy to precede you worth the legacy they left themselves… any man would go made from such an affliction.

Standing in the midst of what once used to be the 49th floor of Shinra tower, Genesis felt the absence of his friends more keenly than usual. The dull ache that accompanied his every waking moment, now increased to an agonising fire that spread through his chest. He stood in the hallway - not quite as open to the elements here as it was in other parts of the building- looking down the corridor that had once held their apartments. Each door taunting him louder than he’d like. He knew no FIRST class after Zack had ever been offered apartments here. The whole area, according to Tseng, had largely been abandoned for reasons only Hojo had ever been privy to.

His wing twitched behind him, the only visible sign of his distress as his face maintained a cold detached air that could have put Sephiroth’s to shame. He placed his hand on the door marked Fair, Zack - First Class pushing it open on its broken hinges. He noted Meteors signature lay upon the open plan living area as he stepped in. Upturned chairs, scattered belongings and blown out glass from the floor to ceiling windows made the room look like a dystopian hell scape.

There was no use in righting the pictures that had fallen off of the walls, so Genesis simply rescued them from their broken frames and placed them into his inside pocket. Snap shots of Zack and Angeal during their first mission, Ones of Clouds friend Aerith sat in amongst a veritable Eden. Genesis knew that Zack had loved her, though he had not been there to see the puppies first crush. A photo that had fallen from side table by the upturned Couch caught his attention, showing Zack with his arm slung around a familiar blonde haired infantryman. Cloud was smiling in the photo, a sight Genesis had never been privy to personally. Tifa often said he didn’t smile, or that it was rare and small. Yet here he was grinning up at Zack with clear hearts in his eyes. He wonders if Zack ever noticed that look.

Other than the general destruction left behind by a literal end-of-days, the room was exactly as Zack had left it; Cluttered but neat in that way that only soldiers with a fear of Angeal’s surprise room inspections could be. Genesis could see the empty cereal bowl Zack had left on the floor from the day he’d shipped out to Nibelheim. Several stray shirts lay on toppled dining chairs and a games controller was still hanging out by the brightly coloured bean bag in front of the cracked but wall mounted TV.

Genesis ran his gloved fingers across the dust that lay undisturbed along every surface. It clung to his fingers, joining the blood that already drenched his hands. Part of him thought he should pack all of this up and deliver it to someone who had known and loved Zack, but who was there left? His parents had not known him as he was like this, and Cloud almost certainly would make Genesis regret it. Could Genesis even rightfully be the one to make that decision? Was it Clouds call to make as the last one to have loved Zack?

Disgusted with himself Genesis left the apartment, closing the door on the last vestiges of the boy whose life he ruined.

Across the hall Angeal’s ghost stared at him in the form of yet another broken door. Going into his own apartment felt self centred, going into Sephiroth’s a waste, the man spent so little time in his own quarters it was a wonder why he hadn’t simply moved into either his own or Angeal’s spare room. Most of his belongings had always lived in the others apartments. Thus he could not ignore Angeal’s absent hard stare for a second more. He stepped across the hallway and into the familiar apartments.

The first thing that struck him was that the room seemed to have survived the worst of the meteors destruction. Only a lamp and some trinkets sacrificed to the earthquake that had shook the world over. Perhaps it was the position of the room in the building. Genesis didn’t know, but somehow its preserved remains upset him further than if they had been a mess.

Memories of being in this place flashed through his mind: Angeal making his weekly food schedule at the table; Sephiroth curled in a Sun ray, by the window; Genesis himself, lounging on the Couch, book in hand as Angeal ran his hands through Gens hair and Sephiroth listened to him read. He remembered every argument over shows and books, every vulnerable goddess forsaken moment of their lives, at least the little they had lived.

They had been so young when they had died. All three of them barely even in adulthood by the time the truth came out. He remembers thinking that Sephiroth had been the most damaged of them, and maybe that was true once, but in reality they had been three lab rats huddled for warmth against the cold, cruel workings of the men in power. He had been fed the same lies, choked on the same ideologies. He had towed the party line while his biology ate away at him just as much as Sephiroth or Angeal. And now here he was, JENOVA free and left to live with that knowledge. The knowledge that he survived and they didn’t. That it is because of his actions that they didn’t survive.

He collapses into a dining chair that still stands. The other two chairs sit vacant and mocking, glaringly accusing him of so many truths.

In the middle of the table is a dead plant. The very same that had sat on Angeals table since they were nineteen. It was a mother-in-laws tongue, a Sansevieria. It had been a present from Genesis himself after they had come back from Benora having survived Genesis’ mother. He had thought it funny at the time, and so had Angeal. Now it wasn’t so funny anymore. The sight of the dead plant brought heaving sobs to Genesis Chest. He felt that burn increase to agony in his chest as the weight of his guilt strangled him viciously and without remorse.

He deserved this pain. He deserved to suffer this immortal life knowing he would not join them in their peace. He was not owed peace, he was not owed anything but pain and remorse.

No half empty glass raised to absent friends could wash away the bitter taste of loneliness that sat in his mouth now. No deed could be undone with one more altruistic in nature. He had done this himself, and now all he had to show for it was some pictures taken by the boy he killed and the dead plant he had given to the man he’d driven to death.

What a monster he truly was…

[nortism]

I think the most tragic part of Fantine’s death that is often missing from adaptations is what happens to her and her body after she dies and how it reflects on how poor women were denied dignity even in death.

In a news article published about Valjean’s arrest, it is assumed since she was a sex worker and was being cared for in his home that Fantine must be his mistress. She isn’t named and only gets a sentence dedicated to her. No one cared to find out anything more about her, no one bothered to question whether someone could care for her without receiving sex in return.

Despite Valjean’s best efforts, Fantine was buried in an unmarked grave with other “bodies which had no name”. She wouldn’t be remembered in the town of her birth. Even if Cosette came back to M-sur-M, she wouldn’t be able to find where her mother was buried. It perfectly reflects how she was treated when she was alive and makes the whole thing more tragic.

[prouvairesverse]

bree’s blog intro <3

❀ i’m Bree (or jehan) pronouns are they / fae and i’m 7teen & autistic! my special interest is Les Misérables, my fav characters are Jehan & Montparnasse and i very regularly talk about the two of them <3

❀ artist/cosplayer/writer/editor !! i love making shit lollll

❀ other interests involve different musicals, classic lit, shadow & bone, sonic, tcsm!!! <3

ೃ࿔°❀‎‧₊˚ i have my inbox open for any art or writing requests or feel free to use it for any questions you may have! i’m happy to talk <3 dms are always open too!

✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮ ✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮ ✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮ ✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮ ✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮ ✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮

tags

my art tag -> 🪻art

general art tag (made by others) -> art 2 share

✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮ ✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮ ✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮ ✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮ ✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮ ✧˚₊‧⋆.˚✮

socials

instagram -> redwineandrevolution (cosplay/art)

ao3 -> drunken_devotion

tik toks -> prouvairejehan (editing acc) // prouvairesverse (cosplay)

spotify -> les mis playlists

youtube -> prouvairespoems

other blogs -> @bricktober (LM inktober) // @prouvairespoems (Jehan RP blog)

note/warning i suppose? but i very much only ship jehan and montparnasse with each other so it’s incredibly unlikely ill ever talk about any other ships for them! just to keep in mind <3

(not to say ill get mad over it, i just wont interact with any other ship posts for them! i hope this makes sense ^^)

[unwillingtoreachout]

So.... As the resident English lit Andrew truther I bring you Andrew's curated list of outstanding literature (also this is very much compliant with Yield To It which is my au where Andrew's a literature major)

(side note: I personally think Andrew's a snob and has his own beef with American literature so he reads a lot of european literature)

Anyway....

Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky (very self explanatory, although I think he would enjoy The Brothers Karamazov as well)

Emma by Jane Austen (I think he likes to argue that Emma is the superior Jane Austen book even though he really likes pride and prejudice bc mr Darcy just hits different)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (I also think he would like the beginning of Jane Eyre but not the ending)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (I feel like every queer person who's into literature had a picture of Dorian Gray phase, also it's where the title "yield to it" comes from)

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (also kind of self explanatory bc it's a book about revenge and it makes sense in the context of the au)

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (the jean valjean reference)

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (very much a book about adults not understanding children which I think he would relate to. Also the little prince befriends a fox in this book and I think that whole part reminds him of Aaron)

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (the second American book on the list and also the most red flag book yippeeee. I put it here bc I think he would relate to Holden's desire to protect children's innocence, given his background)

ALSO, Neil works in a bookstore so he reads stuff occasionally (but it's really random bc idk) so these are the books I think he would read:

Little Women

The Outsiders

The Odyssey

Anne of Green Gables

[the-most-sublime-fool]

She was sad with an obscure sadness of which she herself did not know the secret.

Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (tr. Norman Denny)