Next week (March 7) marks the launch of an incredible read:
FSG’s “The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of ‘Les Miserables’”
by David Bellos http://bit.ly/2mLQzUD.
Yes, that’s a 300-page book about, well, a book. Imagine that
happening today. Or better yet, just read this amazing account of the novel of
the 19th Century by Victor Hugo …
So many gems to love here. But here’s my current fave:
“In his youth, Hugo the royalist had been among the first to
raise the alarm at the dilapidation of the city’s medieval heritage by
profiteers and crooks known as the bande
noire or “Black Gang. His campaign to save old buildings was crowned by [his
first novel,] ‘Notre-Dame de Paris,’ which represents the great cathedral in
the form that it had at the height of its glory in the late 15th
Century.”
Enter the architect Viollet-le-Duc with his vision that
received enthusiastic support from the city council to . . . redo the
magnificent Paris cathedral in what would incorporate the popular novel’s “lavish
descriptions (based on [Hugo’s] extensive research and strong visual
imagination.”
“The Notre-Dame we know was unveiled in 1862, a few weeks
after publication of Les Miserables …”
Cityscapes and their economies reshaped by the persuasive
power of a work of art … Read on. It’s a stunner.
Next: Running for Your Life: If the Greats Were With Us Thursday
