Needed To Practice Backgrounds So I Just Put Him There Awsell 🤷‍♀️

He watches over me while I do my history revision!!

There’s certain hobbies and interests that aren’t inherently conservative or regressive but do attract a lot of people who are those things or worse and when you’re a progressive person involved in those hobbies hearing that someone else is interested in your hobby usually has to involve some “But are you normal about it?” conversations before you get too excited

ExR + touches

[1] 2

Bonus:

you pick a les mis cast recording at 16 and that’s the one you’re stuck with for the rest of your life i fear

n1 class traitor love him

Les Misérables' OC character, Nande, by Su Manshu

Su Manshu was a revolutionary poet who wrote a translation of Book One of Les Misérables into traditional Chinese.

Copy and pasted from a comment I made in Dec 2024:

Su Manshu wrote a self-insert (Nande) who was a mouthpiece for the favour of the revolution of China (which was ruled by the Qing Dynasty at the time).

However, since there wasn't much of a freedom in press in regards to the criticism of it, the main character (the self insert) dies.

During the translation (which was only book 1), there is a running comparison of Chinese and French history, and also anti-Christian sentiments due to Su's fear of the 'Western influence' of China.

The translation is so different, there is some unintended comedic elements to it in retrospect, but I'm sure during the time when it was written, it was truly a piece of revolution. It's just funny if you take the political context out of it.

There is also mistranslations, such as the Bishop asking how many coins Jean Valjean has, and telling him that his place is not a hostel and therefore he doesn't need to pay -> to then become the Bishop asking Jean Valjean how much coins he has, and telling him that it is indeed like a hostel, and thus needs to pay him with all the coins that he has (rather than JvJ keeping them).

There is an academic argument apparently on whether or not mistranslations such as these were intentional, or if Su wasn't as proficient in English as we believed he was to be (since he translated from Wilbour's trans.)

It also is a running theme throughout the translation that JvJ is a bad guy.

The paper I read doesn't talk about other characters, so I don't know how other characters are presented unfortunately. Probably because it overly focuses on the OC lmao

She turned to him with a stupefied air. “Éponine! How do you know that my name is Éponine?” “Promise what I tell you!” But she did not seem to hear him. “That’s nice! You have called me Éponine!”

— Les Misérables, IV.II.IV Illustrated by Adriano Minardi (Italian Edition, 1930)

Constantine AU🥵

would anyone like for me to ramble about how enjolras and grantaire are performing masculinity in opposite ways, with enjolras being a stereotypical "pretty boy" while grantaire is the more rugged, masculine, drunk type of typical man.

that could hint at their upbringing, with enjolras's being very obviously bourgeois, while grantaire's allows more leeway. a strong, ugly alcoholic can be found in all social classes with varying amounts, but beautiful intellectuals are usually a higher class staple.

and, to say more on the performance of masculinity thing, i would argue that both enjolras and grantaire subvert their respective stereotypes in their own ways.

enjolras rejects his wealth and works for the people, but even more importantly (in discussing gender roles), he is very much not interested in women. and not in a marius way, a way virginal and messy, but still generally heterosexual. no, enjolras devotes himself to his patria, trampling over societal expectations in the process.

i will not be touching on things such as enjolras shedding a tear over killing the artillery officer or other ways he expresses emotions, as 19th century france is still a time in which emotions were yet to be a taboo for men. and they're maybe-possibly a saint just reference.

grantaire's biggest act of defying gender roles and his stereotype is, quite clearly, his adoration of enjolras. even, if one argues against it being love (and i do believe grantaire loves enjolras, as unhealthy at most points in the brick that love is), there is no denying that such deep infatuation with a man, and not his ideals or anything, is not standard in 19th century france.

plus, to mark a thought, grantaire also makes quite a lousy nihilist. in his brick introduction, he is specifically stated not to care for ideas or himself, but to care for his friends. "his mind could live without ideals, but his heart could not live without friendship". so even presenting as a guy that does not believe in anything, grantaire fails, because he loves his friends and believes in enjolras.