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Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo, is a 1400 page novel that defies description. Originally published in serial form, I read the Everyman’s edition, which described it as the story of Jean Valjean, and insofar as his story anchors the narrative throughout, that is an accurate description.

But the novel is really epic in proportion, weaving many characters lives together while trying to capture the moment of revolution and the lead up to it.

It is a deep reflection on society and humanity, starting from a reflection on the impact that those who act selflessly can have on the community around them, the corrupting rather than reformative power of the modern carceral system, how a cruel society creates the very people it identifies as aberrations.

While its digressions can at times become tedious, the narrative overall is captivating, propulsive, and in terms of its social commentary, remains deeply relevant to our society today. Perhaps because, despite our striving, we remain in the modern era that Hugo wrote about.

I’ll be spending the next two months on this momentous novel. Come along if you like.

QOTD: Have you read Les Miserables?

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I’m sure you all have seen the TikTok debates about whether books are political or not. In the case of José Rizal and his body of work, his two novels were not only resoundingly political and anticolonial, but Rizal himself was executed by the Spanish colonial regime in the Philippines not because he was a part of the planning of the Philippine Revolution of 1896 (He was not), but because of his novels. The military claimed his novels had incited the revolution.

Imagine being such a powerful storyteller that a corrupt state decides to execute Yu on the grounds that your novels moved people to action. That is the power of storytelling and literature.

Of course, this story remains deeply resonant and relevant not only to the Philippines, but in the U.S., where efforts to ban books rage on, revealing how threatened some officials feel by the power of storytelling even as we’re told that studying literature is frivolous.

Remember José Rizal, and take some comfort in knowing the power of words and the power of communication to effect change.

There is undoubtedly more to be said about the relationship between the novel and the nation, but I’ll leave this month’s series at: I hope you’ll consider reading Rizal.

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In a unique re-imagining of the #RobinHood #legends, this series sets the outlaw archer as a #queer, chaotic-neutral #druid, Marion as #pagan queen who is sister but not wife, & their consort a Christian--and conflicted--nobleman. #histfic #LGBTQ+ #greenman #ladyhuntress #bigbooks
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