tales-from-exo-planet

[readingbooksinisrael]

#notyour classics day 4: The Three Musketeers

I didn’t take part in Daily Dracula because I had reread it right before it started, but I did take part in a Count of Monte Cristo read on tumblr back in 2017. I really enjoyed both of these things (in different ways, of course).

Did you guys take part in Daily Dracula? Did you ever take part in a different tumblr read-a-long?

[pilferingapples]

The Eugenie Chapters

For @ratheralark and @needsmoreresearch, and anyone else who wants to read the *really* essential part of Count of Monte Cristo XD

The core Eugenie Story really can stand alone in just a few chapters, XCV-XCVIII.  Father And Daughter, The Marriage Contract, The Road For Belgium, and The Inn of the Bell and Bottle.   That's the story of Eugenie's almost-marriage and her escape with her lover, and it makes a good short story on its own,IMO. 

But she's mentioned and features in a few more chapters:

XXXIX (The Guests) I believe this is the first time she's mentioned? It's only in passing, as Albert says he's engaged, and is clearly Not Excited about it.  LIII- Robert le Diable -- The first time Eugenie actually shows up and gets described at any length.  She's not the focus character, but she does offer some useful commentary.

I think that may be it? @eugeniedanglars , @aporeticelenchus, did I leave anything out? 

[aporeticelenchus]

I really would appreciate a quick Dramatis Personae! I *think* I'm keeping up with the main core characters, but then with name changes and characters being brought in For The Revaaahnge, I keep being confused by possible interlocking motives and all, and it's getting distracting >_

Here’s a cheat-sheet with facts that are relevant to where you are. Feel free to send follow-up questions or ask about other characters!

Edmond Dantes/The Count of Monte Cristo – Notable aliases:

Lord Wilmore. An eccentric, rich English businessman. Associated with thehouse of Thomson and French.

Abbe Busoni. An Italian priest, who claims to have been present at EdmondDante’s deathbed. Also was confessor to Bertuccio, and recommended him to theCount.

Sinbad the Sailor. An enigmatic adventurer who runs with friends on the shadyside of the law. Has a hideaway on the Isle de Monte Cristo.

The Count’s Household:

Haydee. aka The Beautiful Greek. Purchased as a slave, though Edmond likes to remind her that she’s free in France. I don’t think you’ve unlocked Haydee’s backstory yet, so I just deleted a chunk of text that was here. Haydee is presumed by society to be the Count’s mistress, but she clearly isn’t. She’s devoted to him and loves him, but he holds her at arm’s length and tries to treat her as a daughter.

Bertuccio. A servant. Bertuccio used to be a smuggler. He has a grudge againstVillefort and tried to kill him. This led to him discovering and adoptingBenedetto (see below, under “others”).

Baptistin. Another named servant.

Ali. Like Haydee, (formerly) enslaved, but free in France. Had his tongue cut out years ago, and can probably do anything. Like lasso stampeding horses.

The Mondego/Morcerf household.

Fernand Mondego, once a Catalan fisherman (in 1815). He joined the army and became a general at the court of Ali Pasha in Janina, who made Fernand fabulously wealthy. Fernandbought himself a whole new identity as the Count deMorcerf, and tried to hide all evidence of his life as simple Fernand Mondego.

Mercedes. Fernand’s wife, and thus the Countess de Morcerf.

Albert de Morcerf. Fernand and Mercedes’ only child. Fernand has no idea of hisparents’ humble past and believes that they’re from a long line of nobility. Idolizes both his parents.

The Villefort household:

Gerard de Villefort. Chief prosecutor, rose to power by exploiting theknowledge he gained from Edmond in 1815. A royalist who tries to hide hisBonapartist father from view.

Heloise. M. Villefort’s second wife. Much less rich than his first wife, whichshe resents. Interested in toxicology. Hates Valentine because she sees her as a rival to her own son, Edward. (Edward stands to inherit much less money than Valentine).

Valentine. Villefort’s daughter from his firsts marriage. She stands toinherent a massive fortune from her maternal grandparents, as their onlygrandchild, and from her doting paternal grandfather Noirtier. She’s engaged to Franz d’Epinay, but loves Maximilian Morrel.

Noirtier. Villefort’s father. Villefort changed his own name in order to escapeassociation with his father. An ardent Bonapartist. In 1815 he was involved inthe murder of a royalist, and Villefort helped him cover it up. Loves Valentinedearly, and she loves and takes care of him in return.

Barrois. Noirtier’ faithful servant.

Edward. Heloise’s son with Villefort. She spoils him and is extremely jealousover his well-being, leading to her hatred for Valentine. Edward is a generally unpleasant child, and doesn’t get along with Noirtier or Valentine. Noirtier plans to leave all his money to Valentine, none to Edward - another source of tension between Valentine and Heloise.

The Danglars household:

Danglars. An extremely rich banker. In 1815, he was first mate on the shipEdmond was to be captain of. Now a baron.

Hermine. Danglars’ wife. She and her husband don’t get along well, and heappears to know about and have no problem with her affairs. Her current loveris Lucien Debray, and years ago she had an affair with Villefort.

Eugenie. The Danglars’ only child. Eugenie is engaged to Albert, but the twodon’t much like each other. This is only partly because Eugenie is Super Gay.

Louise d'Armilly. Eugenie’s piano teacher and particular friend.

Lucien Debray. Madame Danglars’ current lover. Also a friend of Albert andmember of his social circle. Aspiring politician.

The Morrels:

M. Morrel. Edmond’s old boss, who was like a second father to him. Lord Wilmore and Sinbad the Sailor saved the family name and fortunes.

Maximilian. Morrel’s son, who is in the army and recently returned fromservice. Maximilian loves Valentine, but she’s betrothed to Franz d'Epinay andher father would never allow the match. He’s recently become friends with theCount of Monte Cristo.

Julie. Morrel’s daughter. Married to Emmanuel. Super nice people, both of them. Emmanuel inherited the family business.

Albert’s circle:

Franz d'Epinay. Albert’s bff, who went to Rome with him. Franz’s fatherdied when he was young, and he has no other family. Hence, Franz is the Baron d’Epinay.Franz is engaged to Valentine, and shows no particular feeling one way or theother about the match.

Lucien Debray. See above. A rising young politician, cynical and snarky.

Charles Beauchamp. A journalist. Often seen snarking with Debray.

Chateau-Renaud. “He’s just zis guy, ya know?” (CR is another rich dude whohangs around and doesn’t do anything important except introduce Morrel toAlbert and company. You can safely forget about him.)

Others:

Gaspard Caderousse. A small time criminal (ex-innkeeper),who hasn’t made it big like the rest of Team Screw Over Edmond. Has worked withBenedetto in the past. He’s lying low after committing a murder and losing hiswife, La Carconte.

Benedetto: Bertuccio found Villefort trying to bury a box inhis garden at Auteuil, and in that box he found a baby. Bertuccio’s sisteradopted the baby and named him Benedetto. Benedetto’s Trouble with a capital T,and nearly killed his own adopted mother while trying to extort money out ofher. Bertuccio hasn’t seen him since.

“Andrea Cavalcanti”: An entirely ficticious identity spuninto existence by the count. “Andrea” is a rich, Italian nobleman who has recentlybeen reunited with his lost father. He’s looking for a wife to bestow hismassive wealth on. In reality, Andrea is just Benedetto, whom the count summonedand is paying a huge allowance to appear in society as Andrea. (Benedetto doesn’t know why the Count is interested in him, but he has A Theory. ...it is wrong.)

The house at Auteuil: This house used to belong to theparents of Villefort’s first wife (Valentine’s maternal grandparents). This isthe house where Villefort buried Benedetto as a baby, and where Bertuccioattempted to murder Villefort. The Count of Monte Cristo recently purchased it,prompting Bertuccio to reveal the whole story of his past.

[aflamethatneverdies]

Count of Monte Cristo- Alexandre Dumas

I finished it, ages from when I first started and for a story that was supposed to be a light hearted revenge tale, it dealt with a few themes I was not expecting. For instance, this is less a story about revenge then about redemption. The theme of God was pretty prominent when Edmond was in prison and he felt that God had given him a purpose which was to take his revenge on the people who had wronged him, but through the entire journey, he comes to realize that maybe that was not actually God’s plan. He seemed horrified at some instances about the revenge taken to extremes affecting even people who were innocent, such as Albert and his mother, Eugenie, nearly all of Villefort’s family and resulting in nearly casting suspicions over poor Valentine.

Edmond too undergoes his “tempest in the head”, which is a memorable moment, it is when he realizes that he might be wrong and that he has taken everything to extremes.

I am only vaguely aware of how the real life events that this novel is based on played out, so I am kind of pleased that Dumas chose this alternative and chose to put his main protagonist in the role of a sudden villain and blur the distinctions between the protagonist/antagonist. I like that Edmond realizes that he has gone too far, even his attempts to save people from his own revenge seemed like playing God too much.The way he rescued Valentine from the clutches of death, ‘playing God’ and a matchmaker, annoyed me.

I liked though that somehow he and Mercedes don’t rekindle the romance, there is an appreciation that they have both suffered and many years have gone past and things cannot be the same as they were, so Mercedes instead goes to live in his old house. I also really liked that Dumas did not blame Mercedes for what had happened all those years ago, yes initially Edmond does, but he is hurt but their conversation later on shows that he understands her situation and there was a definite realization that she too has suffered. I think all her scenes were handled really well. I have to say that Dumas is a lot better at writing women, the women don’t appear much in the story, but when they do, they are properly fleshed out (I love the way Eugenie’s arc was played, still my favourite parts of the book).

My favourite characters were definitely Eugenie, Mercedes, Noirtier, Valentine and Albert. I really love how Noirtier’s character was handled throughout the book, even being disabled and having no proper dialogue, he was such a memorable character and I legitimately loved his relationship with Valentine.

Even though some of the villains, like Danglars became sort of caricatures, I did like the parallels between his situation at the end and Edmond’s, since he was the one who was directly responsible for Edmond’s imprisonment, I like that we see a bit more of Danglars character in those scenes and that Edmond ends up seeking redemption instead of revenge. The only person who I think I’m still dissatisfied, how things ended for, is probably Villefort. He was a very worthy antagonist and somehow, I guess I’ve become used to Hugo letting his villains go free and not giving me my satisfying ending (still bitter over Lantennac being allowed to go free) that I sort of wished there was something more than Villefort going mad with grief at the deaths of his family. I didn’t like him, but I respected him as a worthy adversary for Edmond and out of all the antagonists, he was the better fleshed out. 

Also one minor minor point, not related at all, I like how Luigi Vampa (for a cut throat murderer/gang leader) really enjoys reading books. That is somehow very amusing to me. 

In the end though, since Edmond’s revengings are done, he has to take that physical and metaphorical/spiritual(?) journey with Haydee (I find her devotion to him amusing but somehow narratively less satisfying but that’s probably a personal preference. They are kind of messed up in their own different ways and so probably understand each other better but I don’t feel particularly invested in their relationship) after restoring happiness to Valentine and Morrell, who will go on to marry and live with Noirtier. The second generation can live happily, after their elders ruined and revenged on each other (somehow the ending gives me a very Wuthering Heights vibe too).

[formicarum-rex]

Morrel and Villefort's daughter are in love nooo why D= this adds unnecessary complications

[revengesandwich]

Week 9

I dropped the ball while I was traveling last week (and just in general my June has been Very Hectic), so I’m just going to go ahead and make this week 9 by moderator fiat.

Week 9 6/26 - 7/2: LXIX (69) – LXXVII (77)

See you in the tags as I try to catch up!

[ohbthr]

Revenge Sandwich Catch Up Posting

TBH I’m not even sure where I’m supposed to be in the reading rn, but I know I’m not caught up yet, so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ghosts / The Dinner / The Begger (62-64)

Bertuccio has to go through a lot in these chapters, bless him

Edmond, stop showing off you’re fancy fish procuring capabilities to these people, they’re terrible, you’re terrible

Caderousse returns! Still terrible, still The Least Terrible Person In The Room, how does he keep doing this.

I feel like it doesn’t take genius to see that any contact between Andrea Cavalcanti and Caderousse is gonna end soooooo well.

A Conjugal Scene / Matrimonial Projects (65-66)

I don’t know if this is a French thing to be constantly talking about money in this much detail or a banker thing, but either way, it’s weird.

I like seeing the contrast between what Danglar says to his wife about the money he has lost, and then his declarations to the count that it was only her own money that she lost and not his. It’s not like we didn’t know he was slimy and dishonest, but it’s interesting seeing exactly how far down his disassembling goes.

Here we see the start of the Fall of the House of Morcerf, orchestrated by Danglar acting at the behest of the Count. 

[ma-tsi]

I am terribly behind... I want to say it’s because I’ve been really busy, but truth is, I’m moping because in chapter 35 Dumas said Italian food is the worst in the world.

Who knew I had food pride.

[silver-soliloquy]

I'd like to take a moment to congratulate Edmond on finding his Nerd Soulmate at last

[vapaus-ystavyys-tasaarvo]

Monte Cristo maps again: Rome

Ehhh I tried to resist the urge. I told myself I didn’t need to start researching Italian cities too... But what can you do. orz

The map is Monaldini’s 1843 map which I judged to be close enough. You can see it here on Wikipedia.

Map 1: Franz’s original planned route to the Colosseum which they ended up scrapping because of bandits: traversing the boulevards outside the city walls. As you can tell, it really would have been the scenic route. :p

Map 2: The actual route to the Colosseum that they ended up taking. The X’s mark the churches they’re mentioned passing.

Map 3: Various key locations:

Orange: Via del Corso, the street that they keep mentioning A LOT (and when you look at the map you can see why.)

Yellow: Piazza del Popolo, the plaza that also gets mentioned a lot; the location of the executions.

Red: Piazza di Spagna, the hotel is here somewhere (I don’t know where exactly, I don’t even know if it’s a real hotel and I don’t have the kind of resources for Rome that I have for Paris & I don’t know Italian.)

Blue: Palazzo Rospoli/Ruspoli, the Count’s rented windows (for carnival watching)

Green: The Teatro Argentina (the opera)

Teatro Argentina [x]

Piazza del Popolo: the blue X is the palazzo where the Count’s rented window was.

All of these places are on Google Street View btw.

[justlikejosephine-blog]

CoMC Chapter III: In Which Fernand Blames Mercedes for Friendzoning Him After 10 Years and Mercedes is Like 'Dude, No, I've Been Very Careful Not to Lead You On' OR The Scene That Shows How Little Has Changed Between the Publication of This Book and Now

FERNAND: ‘Please, Mercédès... Easter is coming round again; it’s the time for weddings. Give me your answer!’  

MERCEDES: ‘You have had it a hundred times, Fernand, and you really must like torturing yourself, to ask me again.’  

FERNAND: ‘Well, repeat it, I beg you, repeat it once more so that I can come to believe it. Tell me, for the hundredth time, that you reject my love, even though your mother approves of me. Convince me that you are prepared to trifle with my happiness and that my life and my death are nothing to you. My God, my God! To dream for ten years of being your husband, Mercédès, and then to lose that hope which was the sole aim of my existence!’  

MERCEDES: ‘I, at least, never encouraged you in that hope, Fernand... You cannot accuse me of having, even once, flirted with you. I’ve said repeatedly: “I love you like a brother, but never demand anything more from me than this fraternal love, because my heart belongs to another.” Isn’t that what I have always told you, Fernand?’  

FERNAND: ‘Yes, Mercédès, I know... Yes, you have always been laudably, and cruelly, honest with me.'

[readingbooksinisrael]

Count of Monte Cristo-Chapters 111-112

This family is so messed up

—-

Oh, the dramatics. “He took off his wig and let his hair fall around his face.” Dumas has called him a lion enough times for me not to think this is a comparison to a lion’s mane.

—-

As Edmond begins caring for people Dumas begins calling him Dantès instead of the Count or Monte Cristo again. And when his old name is called up he becomes caring again. (actually, this is from chapter 91)

---

F- character development for Mercédès

[pilferingapples]

Still thinking about Count of Monte Cristo

like,for one--while it still feels weird that Fernand was such an almost bit-part, I appreciate Dumas not feeling the urge to illustrate his marriage to Mercedes as abusive/violent/etc. (I mean, beyond the huge violation of trust and her freedom of choice he committed from the outset.) She obviously wasn’t as happy with him as she would have been with Edmond, and may never have been in love with Fernand-- but that’s it, and it seems like they had a generally friendly marriage, as far as she knew, until Edmond came back. A whole LOT of storytellers would have jumped on those years, then and now, to have Fernand being Super Duper Awful and Mercedes suffering  EXTRA, to show ~~ realism or to illustrate how Super Evil the Bad Guy is or something, and, consciously or not, to show Mercedes being Punished. I really sincerely appreciate Dumas trusting the reader to Get that Mercedes has suffered without her having to bleed on the page for us. 

[aporeticelenchus]

CoMC17 chapter 53

53 – Robert le Diable, (Eugenie at last!)

I like this chapter – people out snarking and making jokes and generally having a good, gossipy time. And of course, we get our first sighting of Eugenie, fiancée to Albert and daughter of Danglars.

Château-Renaud: “What, my dear fellow! They find you a fiancée built like Diana the Huntress, and you are not happy!”

Albert: “Precisely. I should have preferred something like the Venus de Milo or the Venus of Capua. This Diana the Huntress, always surrounded by her nymphs, frightens me a little. I’m afraid she might treat me like Actaeon.”

For the non-classically inclined, Diana is the Roman name for Artemis, maiden goddess of the hunt (also affiliated with the moon, twin sister of Apollo, etc.). Diana is famous for being beautiful, but also for not being fond of men. She persuaded her father Zeus to let her eternally remain a virgin and never force her to take a husband, and travels in the company of her band of maiden huntresses.

Actaeon was a hunter who came upon Diana naked at her bath. Furious, Diana transformed him into a deer, and he was chased down and torn apart by his own hounds.

Château-Renaud only means the Diana comparison to reflect on Eugenie’s goddess-like beauty, but by bringing up Actaeon and the nymphs Albert is extending the metaphor to imply that she doesn’t like men and prefers the company of women. (Also: she lowkey terrifies him, and that delights me.)

Eugenie is compared to a goddess or mythical figure multiple times, perhaps reflecting that her peers see her as almost superhuman (for better and for worse).

The other goddess comparison here is to Juno (the Roman name for Hera). Queen of the gods, goddess of marriage, and very much not someone you want to get on the wrong side of.

The goddess Albert prefers and finds Eugenie unlike is Venus (Aphrodite), goddess of love and beauty - specifically as captured in art rather than in her true being. Albert wants the appearance of Venus, but stops short of desiring her true reality. I’m inclined to think this tells us quite a bit about Albert.

(I have a pet theory that Albert is aromantic - I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it seems relevant here as well.)

Eugenie is described as masculine, firm, “muscular.” She’s talented and accomplished, with impressive skill in arts, music, writing and languages. Her hair has a a certain rebelliousness, but she herself is doing her social duty by appearing with her mother and her mother’s lover.

(I don’t know how much of the description of Eugenie as masculine and having traits “appropriate to another sex” reflects some of the 19th century assumptions about lesbians, and how much is particular to Dumas characterization choices for Eugenie specifically and her own gender identity. Either way, Eugenie is the mildly intimidating and brilliantly talented butch lesbian we deserve. Put Eugenie in every book.)

Eugenie is given some small room for gender presentation and behavior rebellion, but it’s very small indeed. The constraints on her because of her sex and social position are pervasive, and we get some small hints in this chapter that they chafe. (I deleted a big block of text elaborating on that, but I think I should wait till later on discussing Eugenie’s circumstances.)

“That woman, Monsieur Lucien,” said Eugenie; “have you noticed how beautiful she is?” “ Really, Mademoiselle, you are the only woman I know who is so generous in speaking about others of your own sex.”

Harold Lucien, she’s a lesbian.

“But what makes a princess, my dear? Diamonds, and she’s covered in them.”

“Too much so, in fact,” said Eugenie. “She would be more beautiful without them, because you could see her neck and wrists, which are delightfully shapely.”

“There speaks the artist!” said Mme. Danglars. “See what an enthusiast she is!”

Lucien: Aren’t Haydee’s jewels pretty?

Eugenie: It’d be better if she were showing more skin, because she’s really hot.

Mme. Danglars: My daughter sure loves art! #justheterosexualthings #galpals

[aflamethatneverdies]

Albert has quickly become one of my favourite characters. His reaction to being kidnapped, ransomed and then being woken up to be told he is free, is hilarious. HOW ARE YOU SO WEIRDLY CHILL, DUDE?! 

[formicarum-rex]

So I’m still (slowly) reading Count of Monte Cristo and Oh. My. God.

“‘This is an odd coincidence,’ Monte Cristo said…'that you should find yourself like this, by chance, with no prior knowledge, in the house which was the scene of an event that causes you such terrible remorse.’”

…my good count, have you NOT noticed the other large “odd coincidences” in this book so far? you should be used to this type of thing by now, my friend! XD like, just this morning Maxime showed up to breakfast!