The Les Misérables Reading Companion
@readlesmispod.bsky.social
The Podcast about Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. In each of the 60 episodes, I comment on a section of the novel, to make it more accessible and less daunting!
Limited podcast series, ongoing conversation, here and at readlesmis.com.
Limited podcast series, ongoing conversation, here and at readlesmis.com.
Part of the suffering of the novel’s misérables is that the rest of the world – of which Marius and Cosette are very much a part now – can’t truly see them.
December 23, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Part of the suffering of the novel’s misérables is that the rest of the world – of which Marius and Cosette are very much a part now – can’t truly see them.
Saying that “M. Fauchelevent” is just a bit odd like this and getting used to their new relationship, allows Cosette not to wonder why he would withdraw, why he’d prefer solitude to family. Not to see the pain he’s hiding.
December 23, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Saying that “M. Fauchelevent” is just a bit odd like this and getting used to their new relationship, allows Cosette not to wonder why he would withdraw, why he’d prefer solitude to family. Not to see the pain he’s hiding.
But maybe that’s not all there is to it. Maybe those surface-level oddities mask something more profound that we *should* allow ourselves to see.
December 23, 2025 at 10:28 PM
But maybe that’s not all there is to it. Maybe those surface-level oddities mask something more profound that we *should* allow ourselves to see.
Because don’t we all explain away others’ oddities, so we don’t have to worry about them? They’re just eccentric, they just prefer to be alone, they just have their little ways.
December 23, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Because don’t we all explain away others’ oddities, so we don’t have to worry about them? They’re just eccentric, they just prefer to be alone, they just have their little ways.
Cosette’s outrage of day one has been replaced by accommodation and acceptance as time goes by. This man who raised her has always been odd, after all…. And that acceptance is the step backward in the chapter title.
December 23, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Cosette’s outrage of day one has been replaced by accommodation and acceptance as time goes by. This man who raised her has always been odd, after all…. And that acceptance is the step backward in the chapter title.
Everyone else is left with only the feeling that Cosette expresses here: that this is WRONG. It makes no sense. And that’s hard to argue with.
December 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Everyone else is left with only the feeling that Cosette expresses here: that this is WRONG. It makes no sense. And that’s hard to argue with.
No one really understands this – even Marius, who knows the reason and agrees that they should minimize contact, has questions, and doesn’t fully understand.
December 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
No one really understands this – even Marius, who knows the reason and agrees that they should minimize contact, has questions, and doesn’t fully understand.
These questions of status – his as convict, hers as the wife of a baron, Marius’s as a lawyer and husband, Gillenormand’s as a property owner and patriarch – they ignore the relationships among the real, live, feeling people.
December 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
These questions of status – his as convict, hers as the wife of a baron, Marius’s as a lawyer and husband, Gillenormand’s as a property owner and patriarch – they ignore the relationships among the real, live, feeling people.
He believes it’s the proper way for an ex-con to interact with a baroness. And without ALLLL the other context here, that might be true. But there is other context.
December 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
He believes it’s the proper way for an ex-con to interact with a baroness. And without ALLLL the other context here, that might be true. But there is other context.
And we see that in Cosette’s response. She’s not wrong: all of Jean Valjean’s behavior here, right down to calling her by the formal “vous,” feels like rejection.
December 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
And we see that in Cosette’s response. She’s not wrong: all of Jean Valjean’s behavior here, right down to calling her by the formal “vous,” feels like rejection.
At the level of the logic of the novel, as we’ve discussed for the last couple of days, this arrangement makes sense. But in the logic of the characters’ relationships, it’s madness.
December 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
At the level of the logic of the novel, as we’ve discussed for the last couple of days, this arrangement makes sense. But in the logic of the characters’ relationships, it’s madness.
This room, complete with bars on the windows and a spider web stretched across a pane of glass, is the backdrop for the scene that Jean Valjean is playing out. But not for the one Cosette had in mind.
December 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
This room, complete with bars on the windows and a spider web stretched across a pane of glass, is the backdrop for the scene that Jean Valjean is playing out. But not for the one Cosette had in mind.
Again, that is NOT the same content I’m posting here; these are just some brief thoughts about each chapter – the podcast is where the real nerdy fun is! 🤓
December 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Again, that is NOT the same content I’m posting here; these are just some brief thoughts about each chapter – the podcast is where the real nerdy fun is! 🤓
If you’re reading a chapter a day, it’s time to listen to the podcast “Ep56 - V,7 - Ash Wednesday.” Available at the website (link in bio) or your preferred podcatcher.
December 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
If you’re reading a chapter a day, it’s time to listen to the podcast “Ep56 - V,7 - Ash Wednesday.” Available at the website (link in bio) or your preferred podcatcher.
“Human waste” like Jean Valjean might be good for something; nettles have many uses. So maybe, just maybe, don’t toss them away? There are no bad plants, just bad gardeners.
December 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
“Human waste” like Jean Valjean might be good for something; nettles have many uses. So maybe, just maybe, don’t toss them away? There are no bad plants, just bad gardeners.
He has the germ of the right idea, though, when he reflects that manure often nourishes a rose, or that a nettle had protected a lily. He just needs to read the sewer digression, or “Madeleine”’s parable way back when about nettles.
December 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
He has the germ of the right idea, though, when he reflects that manure often nourishes a rose, or that a nettle had protected a lily. He just needs to read the sewer digression, or “Madeleine”’s parable way back when about nettles.
For that to work, Marius has got to be an insider now. So we’re, what, shocked that he thinks like one?
December 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
For that to work, Marius has got to be an insider now. So we’re, what, shocked that he thinks like one?
In fact, that’s what makes him the perfect next safe haven for Cosette: this marriage has hoisted her back across the dividing line between what’s inside society and what’s outside, the line that Javert was guarding.
December 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
In fact, that’s what makes him the perfect next safe haven for Cosette: this marriage has hoisted her back across the dividing line between what’s inside society and what’s outside, the line that Javert was guarding.
I think, because Marius is a protagonist and a revolutionary, we expect him to be better. But he’s part of his flawed, broken society, and subject to its mistakes.
December 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
I think, because Marius is a protagonist and a revolutionary, we expect him to be better. But he’s part of his flawed, broken society, and subject to its mistakes.
It’s hard to blame him, in a way. He makes the same mistake that everyone else does, the same mistake that is the central critique of this book: allowing a small legal infraction (like, say, stealing bread) to become social damnation.
December 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
It’s hard to blame him, in a way. He makes the same mistake that everyone else does, the same mistake that is the central critique of this book: allowing a small legal infraction (like, say, stealing bread) to become social damnation.
Self-awareness is a beautiful thing, Marius. And you make an OK start here, recognizing that you can be “Chimerical.” But you still misunderstand EVERYTHING, blind to your own prejudices.
December 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Self-awareness is a beautiful thing, Marius. And you make an OK start here, recognizing that you can be “Chimerical.” But you still misunderstand EVERYTHING, blind to your own prejudices.
Our quarrel isn’t with the fact that he tells the truth – he’s to be admired for that. It’s with the truth that he’s forever condemned to tell.
December 21, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Our quarrel isn’t with the fact that he tells the truth – he’s to be admired for that. It’s with the truth that he’s forever condemned to tell.