So I started reading Les Miserables and in the first sentence I see someone described as the Bishop of D-----. Is this a common occurrence among books of that era? The last time I saw this was in The Count of Monte Cristo and it was incredibly annoying.
Has anyone come across this before? How do you reconcile this in your head while reading?
>>7354890
I saw it in Three Musketeers as well. I don't get why this is done. I would just call him "Bishop D" in my head.
>>7354898
Apparently the Countess G-- in Monte Cristo was a real person
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa,_Contessa_Guiccioli
>>7354890
Holy shit that opening sounds tedious, how do people slog through books like Les Mis? do they just kind of read the words without thinking too much about it so they can post a photo of themselves on instagram reading it with a cup of tea?
>>7354943
Not a clue. I've been trying to read it for the better part of the last two hour and I still don't know what's happening. I haven't actually enjoyed a book since Under Heaven and Leviathan Wakes.
>>7354943
That's what happens when you need money and you get paid by the word.
>>7355224
you better not be conning me, fuckface
>>7355070
look. a misunderstanding has taken place.
somebody somewhen, possibly you, told you that les mis was a book. this is a common mistake. les mis is actually a brick. if you want to ingest/consume/absorb les mis, you are going to have to fucking grind that brick up with your bare hands and eat it. you will get tired and just shove it in your mouth and break your teeth. it will be painful.
eating this brick kept me off 4chan for months. I simply couldn't sink any time here; I had to read and reread pages. I thought I was a competent reader; I was. against les mis, competence is not enough.
Infinite Jest is about the same length- but Infinite Jest gives you tantalizing glimpses of why the fuck you decided to read it until Eschaton, after which it starts breaking loose and you can't put it down. In Les Mis, the action only really comes together in Paris once the ABC begin their revolt. This book is not about action or suspense or mystery.
Les Mis is a straight narrative (with several essays on whatever Hugo felt like: the place of convents in society, the Paris sewer system/catacombs, the Elephant). It's brutal, and honestly if you don't get it two hours in it might be better to schedule a date in a couple days/weeks/months for you to make some tea, lock your doors and just read.
it is a very healthy brick. It will get better.
you may have to level up first though.
>>7354943
Most probably do. I dedicated a month to taking it slow and really reading every word of the unabridged edition back in high school when I had more energy than sense. It starts off torturous but your mind adjusts eventually and it starts feeling like a normal book.
It's definitely worth reading at least once in your life, but you need to do it at a time when you've got a lot of dramatic energy to burn, or else you'll just hate it.
>>7354890
This is also in my translation of The Sorrows of Young Werther - Goethe
Maybe it was to avoid any potential litigation by real persons?
it's immersive. blanking out names makes it seem like they were real names & that the story was real. pretending that the story was real was a big thing in literature.
We have to remind ourselves why we read. Personally, I read so that my mind can visit another place, get acquainted with different ideas and worlds. If something feels dull, and is hard to understand, that's exactly what I'm looking for: let my mind struggle with the new context a bit. If not for the sheer entertainment of the plot, read Les Miserables as if it were a non-fiction, History piece. Once you are done, maybe you will have learned something new that transcends the realm of language. Sorry for the poor English, being a dumbass, and for not actually saying anything.
>>7355245
This begs the question... why read it? If it is a horrendous slog, you are reading it in translation, and the narrative is flat / interspersed with banal op-eds, what is the point? To gain historical context?
>>7354890
>Time News Roman
Bruh.
>>7355791
cause it's good. i shit you not. it somehow becomes enjoyable and you are better for having read it and the ending has this cathartic post-crying kind of peace. it is just very different fare to get used to.
>>7354890
Something similar happens in Crime and Punishment, I remember something like "the bridge of K----"
>>7354890
>Is this a common occurrence among books of that era?
Yes. For some reason, during the 19th century, people abbreviated things all the time like that. Be it Russian, French, British or American, it just seems to have been a convention at the time. I don't know if alluding to existing people/places was an absolute faux pas at the time, or if it was just a way to get away with making shit up or something.
