Ninety-Three - Victor Hugo

Ninety-Three (Hugo, 1874)

Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror in 1793, Victor Hugo's last novel combines striking characters, intense action, and poignant scenes to form another solid work in a master's oeuvre.

The novel follows three interlacing story arcs:  In the Vendee region of France, a Royalist commander named Marquis de Lantenace rallies the anti-revolution rebels against his great-nephew Gauvain, who has renounced his nobility and is leading the Republican forces. A young widow Michelle Flechard and her three children are caught in the middle of the conflict, while Cimourdain, an agent of Robespierre's Committee of Public Safety, is tasked with ensuring no mercy is shown to the Royalist rebels.

True to his narrative vision, Hugo creates several complex situations to highlight moral and emotional crises. Of all his novels, these characters are perhaps the most transparently symbolic:  Gauvain as pure Christian idealism, Cimourdain as the rigidity of law and logic, Lantenac as the bloody history of old Europe, and Michelle Flechard as France herself - helpless, tossed on the tides of fate, with her future in jeopardy.  Yet even with the heavy symbolism here, the humanity of the characters transcends the message. Tears came to my eyes more than once. Hugo really has a talent at orchestrating events to bring about a gut response and illustrate morality and depravity in the flesh.

Since this is Hugo, there are a few historical-poetic-philosophical interludes, but they are interesting for the most part, particularly his epic portrait of the Convention in Paris. Even with the asides, this is one of his leanest and most focused novels, a stirring account of people living in a turbulent time.

Arbitrary rating: 4.5 out of 5 moral and emotional crises

International Short Stories: French

International Short Stories: French (ed. William Patten, 1910)

One last tour through the short fiction of a country. This one was a bit more scattershot than the other two I read, but it still has some stories worth reading.  From what I can tell, there are older works
here, though the dates of authorship aren't given.  Things seem fairly evenly split between war stories, humorous stories, tragic stories, and a few shockers.

"A Piece of Bread", by Francois Coppee -  Somewhat cheesy war story explaining why a rich man never leaves bread on the ground.

"The Elixir of Life", by Honore de Balzac - Bizarre supernatural tale about the life and death of Don Juan.

"The Age for Love", by Paul Bourget - Decent vignette about a reporter getting an interview on false pretences with a famous author.

"Mateo Falcone", by Prosper Merimee - A rustic father exacts harsh punishment on his pre-teen son.

"The Mirror", by Catulle Mendes - Fable-like story about a kingdom with an ugly queen who forbids all mirrors.

"My Nephew Joseph", by Ludovic Halevy - Another reporter story, this more humorous. A young man's attempt to hide his profession from his family leads to a courtroom mixup.

"A Forest Betrothal", by Erckmann-Chatrian - Poignant little number about an old man who falls hopelessly in love with a young woman.

"Zadig the Babylonian", by Voltaire - The ideal secular humanist and man of reason tries to navigate the vicissitudes of fate and the traps laid by jealous enemies - sort of the flip side to Candide.

"Abandoned", by Guy de Maupassant - An older couple pays a clandestine visit to their grown illegitimate child to see how he has turned out.

"The Guilty Secret", by Paul de Kock - A new husband tries to please his wife but finds he must hide something from her...

"Jean Monette", by Eugene Francois Vidocq - Ho-hum tale of an attempted burglary in the poorer quarters of Paris.

"Solange: Dr. Ledru's Story of the Reign of Terror", by Alexandre Dumas - Romance, intrigue, and a macabre twist flavor this enjoyable yarn.

"The Birds in the Letter-box", by Rene Bazin - Humorous anecdote about an aging priest and the baby birds he cares for, to the detriment of his correspondence.

"Jean Gourdon's Four Days", by Emile Zola - Beautiful, poetic, and devastating portrait of the life of a simple French peasant. Zola, I clearly must read more of you.

"Baron de Trenck", by Clemence Robert - A bunch of happenings packed into a short story to no purpose, about an historical figure's idealized adventures.

"The Passage of the Red Sea", by Henry Murger - A wanna-be painter tries again and again to get his self-styled masteripiece accepted by the museum.

"The Woman and the Cat", by Marcel Prevost - Weird but predictable gothic tale about a shapeshifter.

"Gil Blas and Dr. Sangrado", by Alain Rene Le Sage - Except from the classic picaresque novel Gil Blas which sees the title character apprentice himself to a quack doctor.

"A Fight with a Cannon", by Victor Hugo - Excerpt from the novel Ninety-Three about the devastating effects of a loose cannon at sea.

"Tonton", by A. Cheneviere - A French soldier in Africa takes in a Touareg orphan.

"The Last Lesson", by Alphonse Daudet - As good the second time as it was the first time.

"Croisilles", by Alfred de Musset - Amusing but forgettable story about the impetuous dreams of a young bankrupt and his unlikely success with the daughter of the richest man in town.

"The Vase of Clay", by Jean Aicard - Simple, moving prose poem about art for art's sake.

Arbitrary rating:  3 out of 5 poignant little numbers

Rush - Clockwork Angels Tour 2013

Rush - Clockwork Angels Tour 2013 - Kansas City, MO, August 4

I got an early birthday present! My favorite Canadians were in town, and Danielle loves me enough that she came with me and partook in the awesomeness.  And 'twas awesome.  Geddy, Alex, and Neil remain top-notch musicians and performers at sixty years old.  Seeing them live is like seeing three grand masters at chess elucidating complex strategy, only with indoor pyrotechnics and a stack of speakers the size of a bus.  I felt very privileged to bask in their musical glow once more.

Set 1
They started off with the sonorous synth power of "Subdivisions", and people went wild.  Then the '80s continued with "Big Money", "Force Ten", "Grand Designs", "Limelight", "Territories", and "The Analog Kid".  Holy cats, were they rocking!  They stayed fairly true to the studio versions throughout (except for a cool little electronica/guitar break in "Force Ten"), but the power of the songs needed little embellishment anyway.  It was particularly stunning to see "Territories" live, one of the hardest rocking anti-war anthems out there, and then followed up by "The Analog Kid" at least five clicks faster than the already blistering original! Alex pulled off the knotty, looping guitar riff with nary a hitch.

Geddy's bass was spectacular throughout, Alex's harmonic-laden '80s soloing was in full flourish, and Neil kept things tight on his massive electro-acoustic drumkit. After The Kid, they slowed things down a bit for the emotional "The Pass", and then Geddy started going wild on that bass.  I wish I could do justice to his solo - short, sweet, fat, and fleet, I was slackjawed in amazement and wondering what song this was, when the guitar kicked in and it was... yes, it was the fine instrumental "Where's My Thing?" from 1991, complete with a visit from a man in a gorilla suit and an extensive drum solo from Mr. Peart, who flexed every sinew of his kit. Any other sixty-year-old would need a defibrillator by the five minute mark, but he kept on going, more powerful than ever. They blazed through the hard-edged "Far Cry" from 2008 before taking a break. As Geddy explained before they left the stage, "We really are quite old, and need a rest."

Set 2
They were gone barely 20 minutes before the second set started up. (Granted, they showed a little movie with bizarre Canadian humor which gave them a bit more of a breather...)  Accompanied by an eight-piece string section, the band launched into their new album, Clockwork Angels. The songs translated very well on stage, and there were a few surprises along the way. "Caravan" featured fireworks, flames (a little close to the string players, yikes!), and a hungry solo from Alex. It transitioned well into "Clockwork Angels", a mini-epic delivered with aplomb, and with Neil's drum kit spinning around a few times, just for fun. On to "The Anarchist", where the strings complemented the band's muscular arpeggios. Next we saw "Carnies" and "The Wreckers" - two songs I hadn't gotten into as much on the album, but live they were fantastic, with another lightning-fast solo from Lifeson during the latter tune. "Headlong Flight", another excellent epic, featured a second (brief) drum solo from Neil and insane guitar/bass interplay.  Alex got a calm fingerpicking moment to introduce the uptempo ballad "Halo Effect".  Finally, they ended with the rocking "Wish Them Well" and the beautiful "The Garden".

To close out the set, the guys put together a generous coda of fan favorites: "Dreamline", an excerpt from "Mystic Rhythms" (yes, a third drum solo, this one almost exclusively V-drums and quite melodic), "Red Sector A", "YYZ", and "Spirit of Radio".  All were excellent.  "YYZ" was another jaw-dropper as it always is, and it featured some more fun and games with the string section doubling the main riff, various people roaming the stage in costume, and actor Paul Rudd showing up to do some air bass and take over the role of string conductor. For encore, we got "Tom Sawyer" (of course) and - be still my heart - parts I, II, and VII of "2112"!  After three hours of playing, I can't believe those guys pulled out another epic piece at the end. It was the perfect way to wrap it all up.

Arbitrary rating: 5 out of 5 grand masters