The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

I have decided to use the best-known name of this last section and restart numbering the weeks. Kudos to everyone who made it this far and welcome to anyone joining us for this part of the journey!

The first chapter is extra long and dramatic. It puts together things we learned at Aramis' earlier visit and from the story told by Mme de Chevreuse. We find out who the mysterious prisoner in the Bastille is and that Aramis has a plan for him. It's interesting that there is some question whether the twin born first is necessarily the older.

The next section focuses on Porthos and his quest for wonderful garments to wear at the upcoming gala hosted by Fouquet. His method of avoiding tailors' measurements has been thwarted by Mouston's growing size. (I couldn't help wondering why the suits couldn't be altered, since they were too big, rather than starting all over but that wouldn't be funny enough or dramatic enough apparently.) We get to see the king's tailor, where we find that the name of Fouquet still opens all doors.

Moliere of course was a real person, the most famous writer of comedies in France. One of them, The Bourgeois Gentleman, is the story of a nouveau riche man trying to ape high society. One of the scenes is similar to what Porthos experiences, in having his reflection measured. (A famous scene shows the new gentleman being thrilled to find out that all his life he has been speaking prose. I could see Porthos having the same reaction.) But there's a darker side to these episodes once Aramis shows up. D'Artagnan perceives this (as he says Aramis hasn't changed), but he can't figure out what his friend is up to.

Do you think the juxtaposition of drama and comedy works?

Robin, Ana and the others, I am still finishing these chapters, but almost there.
I have been participating in the Gothenburg Film Festival online during the last 10 days and have been watching many movies, some really good ones, but it took up my reading time. I have one chapter of this section left and will then catch up with the next section during the rest of the week.

Good to hear from you, no rush. 10 days of movies sounds wonderful!

In these chapters there is a lot of comedy. I had the same thoughts about the possibility of altering the dresses as you, Robin, as they would only have to be reduced in size ( the other way round would have been more difficult), but so be it. I felt the whole scene with the measuring though a little too much, mostly by Porthos. He seems to be such an innocent and simple person in this book contrasting his size and strength.
The scene of the writers was also a comedian element, but I could not really see the whole point of it except for maybe making some connections to the stories of the writers and our story here.

It almost feels that you as a reader are getting into the mood and thread of the novel and then something holds it back from proceeding. I am now obviously more in it for the drama. D’Artagnan seems to be quite annoyed of not seeing through Aramis. I liked though the attempt of getting to know the dresses of the king by asking to see them for a portrait of the king as a gift at the event. They even got some samples of the cloths. However, I wonder whether they will be able to find those and make copies of the clothes in such a short period of time. I guess they want to make the prisoner/ king’s twin brother into an exact copy of the king.

A lot of speculations...

By the way, the film festival was really nice. Online there were 3-4 film releases per day which you could watch within 24 hours. Some of the movies have now even been nominated for the Oscars e.g. “Drive my car” (Japanese) which I, unfortunately, did not watch all the way as it was getting very late in the evening when I started it, but it was pretty good. One was up for the nominations as best foreign movie, but did not get in, but was one of the best movies I saw during the film festival and received the prize in the International Competition. It is a Belgian movie called Playground. Then there was a Norwegian movie which is nominated for the Oscars I think for the screenplay. I a, not sure how it is called in English, but the literal translation of its Norwegian title is “The innocent”. That one was rather scary and somehow shocking.

Sorry for the off topic comment here, but I hope it’ is a little interesting for you as well.

Thanks, Hedi, I was curious about the Film Festival.

I’m behind once again due to work, travel and watching the Winter Olympics. I will do my best to catch up in the next few days.

I read 2/3 of this section but I must admit I got bored. It seems to be much longer than needed. The first chapter is actually 2 chapters in the edition I’m reading. I’m glad we finally got to the point - it was very obvious to me that Aramis plans to use the king’s twin brother. First he got to Besmo (the commandant of the Bastille) and then he got to Philip under the guise of a confessor. Still this whole section could have been so much shorter. It feels so drawn out - like Dumas knows where the story is going but he’s taking a ridiculously long time to get us there.
I found it unbelievable that the prisoner would not have wondered why he was kept there for years. I think he just didn’t trust Aramis right away but towards the end of the conversation he changed his mind entirely and agreed he deserves to be king and take his brother’s place. I guess it’s worth the risk - it’s either that or stay in the Bastille forever.
The scene with Porthos and his outfit was silly. I also kept thinking that he could have called a seamster to his mansion and had all his costumes altered. But of course that would not be as dramatic. We needed them to go to the king’s famous costume maker so D’Artagnan could run into Aramis. A clash seems inevitable.
I like that the original musketeers are back center stage - but I want to story to move along faster.

Whose side are you guys on?
Aramis or D’Artagnan?
Philip or Louis?