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Commandeering the Tavern

Grantaire skips out on the insurgency to get drunk. Joly and Laigle are with him. Joly has a cold, but is drinking anyway. (Grantaire feels slighted that Enjolras didn't invite him to the revolution, and declares he won’t go to his funeral. Truer words…)

Have I mentioned lately how much I like Donougher’s translation?

‘Sbeaking of revolution,’ said Joly, ‘abbarently Barius is badly in love.’

‘Do we know who with?’ asked Laigle.

‘Doh.’

‘No?’

‘Doh, I said.’

Enjolras and the rest walk by on their way to find a spot to build a barricade, stop to chat, and figure, hey, it's a nice defensible spot, why not make our stand here? Much to the consternation of the tavern owner, the widow Hucheloup.

why not make our stand here?

I find myself wondering whether they would have been quite so casual in commandeering the tavern if the owner and staff weren’t all women. I’m sure they would have still done it, but I suspect they would have gone about it differently.

Admittedly they seize a passing cart and a horse-drawn bus for building the actual barricade. But there’s no description of how they treat the carter or the bus driver (though they're at least polite to the passengers and let the horses loose). Grantaire and Joly harass the widow and the waitresses until Courfeyrac and Enjolras step in and tell them to knock it off.

Only Courfeyrac even attempts to console Mme. Hucheloup as they tear apart her home and business, and he’s extremely bad at it, suggesting it’s her chance to get back at the city for fining her over minor code violations. She’s not convinced.

(Incidentally, Grantaire has moved on from wine and is drinking a mixture of stout, brandy and absinthe. No wonder he sleeps through the entire siege.)

Update (Jan 2021): Curious as to whether Grantaire's awful drink has a name, I searched for the ingredients. It apparently isn't standard, but I found a post where someone decided to make it, dubbing it La Chope Hugo (Hugo's Mug). Let's just say he doesn't recommend it.

La Chope Hugo

— Kelson Vibber, 2018-05-25

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Re-Reading Les Misérables

Thoughts and commentary on Victor Hugo’s masterpiece.