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.
I have this meme hanging in my office, courtesy of a student:
November 20, 2025 at 3:24 AM
I have this meme hanging in my office, courtesy of a student:
For today, one last note: the May 1968 protesters in Paris picked up a line from Bahorel in this chapter for a poster:
October 1, 2025 at 8:48 PM
For today, one last note: the May 1968 protesters in Paris picked up a line from Bahorel in this chapter for a poster:
It decided on its own whether it included the names and other text (which is largely nonsense text). But where names are absent, I bet you can figure out who's who!
June 25, 2025 at 4:41 PM
It decided on its own whether it included the names and other text (which is largely nonsense text). But where names are absent, I bet you can figure out who's who!
Bonus post on Part III, Book 4, Chapter 1, “Un groupe qui a failli devenir historique”: I asked Gemini AI to make cartoon images based on the descriptions in this chapter. The results are... something....
June 25, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Bonus post on Part III, Book 4, Chapter 1, “Un groupe qui a failli devenir historique”: I asked Gemini AI to make cartoon images based on the descriptions in this chapter. The results are... something....
This guy gets it.
June 12, 2025 at 11:54 AM
This guy gets it.
And now, he’s also another sort of villain as well (because he can be both!) Remember all that cathartic crying you do in the second act of the show? You know who pulls the trigger to cause a LOT of those d*aths? THE NATIONAL GUARD.* 5/
June 8, 2025 at 6:52 PM
And now, he’s also another sort of villain as well (because he can be both!) Remember all that cathartic crying you do in the second act of the show? You know who pulls the trigger to cause a LOT of those d*aths? THE NATIONAL GUARD.* 5/
So, in the end...
June 1, 2025 at 9:30 PM
So, in the end...
We said a few days ago that the gamin was a well-known character type who appeared in art and literature at this time – famously in Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People.” I've added a green arrow pointing to the gamin here.
June 1, 2025 at 8:37 PM
We said a few days ago that the gamin was a well-known character type who appeared in art and literature at this time – famously in Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People.” I've added a green arrow pointing to the gamin here.
and Jean Valjean, on weeds:
May 25, 2025 at 10:21 PM
and Jean Valjean, on weeds:
The Bishop, on flowers:
May 25, 2025 at 10:21 PM
The Bishop, on flowers:
The main building forms much of two sides of a trapezoid – and he describes it as a gallows, presumably resembling this one, in one of Hugo’s drawings.
May 6, 2025 at 5:46 PM
The main building forms much of two sides of a trapezoid – and he describes it as a gallows, presumably resembling this one, in one of Hugo’s drawings.
And – I have one!! I’m not a coin collector, but a colleague gave this to me, and I was unreasonably excited, thanks to its role in this book.
April 10, 2025 at 9:21 PM
And – I have one!! I’m not a coin collector, but a colleague gave this to me, and I was unreasonably excited, thanks to its role in this book.
Hugo is more or less right about the “A” here:
March 15, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Hugo is more or less right about the “A” here:
Oops, missed one
February 26, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Oops, missed one
Happy Birthday to Victor Hugo! As a gift (?!) I asked Gemini AI to create some birthday images for him, with some truly unhinged results.
February 26, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Happy Birthday to Victor Hugo! As a gift (?!) I asked Gemini AI to create some birthday images for him, with some truly unhinged results.
And ends with something else new(ish) 8/
February 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
And ends with something else new(ish) 8/
And after this, it picks up lyrically where the main version left off 7/
![Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
[Somewhere*] Beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
*(This word appears in the Finale, not the main version.)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:k2j53g4yp4cuniq4a3xu3ow3/bafkreif4w7wocst77fota4gzqnknstxab7dmubohymmijlwfnx336kjpqe@jpeg)
February 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
And after this, it picks up lyrically where the main version left off 7/
In the Finale version, this is then followed by more new lyrics, which we also hear in the Army Choir video 6/
February 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
In the Finale version, this is then followed by more new lyrics, which we also hear in the Army Choir video 6/
In the key part that we hear in the video, they sing 5/
![[Do you hear the people sing
Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light.
For the wretched of the earth,]
*There is a flame that never dies.
Even the darkest night will end
And the sun will rise.
*(The video circulating starts here.)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:k2j53g4yp4cuniq4a3xu3ow3/bafkreihuf4oqjx4bae5voezfhpp6atcptpuxjhjtg7qydfgijbuwivf324@jpeg)
February 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
In the key part that we hear in the video, they sing 5/
What we hear most often is the main song, at the start of the uprising. There, the lyrics are 4/
February 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
What we hear most often is the main song, at the start of the uprising. There, the lyrics are 4/
