When I was a kid, I found in the library Alexandre Dumas. I adored "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Man in the Iron Mask" as well as "The Three Muskateers". I loved the melodrama, the preoccupation with justice and moral integrity and the the romance. But maybe the fact that these stories were set in France, at the time of "Tale of Two Cities" was a factor. I went on to take Latin and French in high school. Ultimately, I adored Victor Hugo, and "Les Miserables" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". There were comic books of all these tales as well, and I read and reread them all. I tried Tolstoy, but he was too adult for my proclivities at the time, so with his books I skipped the war parts and tried to winnow out the romances. But it was also France. Russia wasn't France, though the aristocrats tried to be in that era. I liked the misfits, outsiders and rejects of Hugo and Dumas. The fact that Dumas was biracial gave him a particular sensitivity to the unseen masses, and Hugo understood poverty like no one but Dickens.
Last night we watched a film of "The Count of Monte Cristo", and I found it just about perfect for stirring the blood, and then cleansing it of revenge and bitterness and greed. Dumas' characters are deeply human, and they are redeemed when they understand that the world of black and white is false, and are forced to live with the dark side of themselves instead of just condemning it in others. Their compassion must be aroused by their own transgressions. And, of course, a few villains have to be punished, as God intended, which is gratifying for the reader.
I have, supposedly, grown up, but I continue to find these authors great. Great because they take us through the adolescent passions and obsessions, and out the other side into adulthood. And since we all have our regressions, it's good to be reminded of how peace in the mind is won, not by detachment, but by struggle and engagement.
No comments:
Post a Comment