The Lady of the Camellias
Jun. 23rd, 2013 05:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerA thunderstorm at teatime! It cleared the air and cooled the world enough that I could in fact have tea, which was lovely. (I was organizing my tags last night, and you guys, I had not realized how much I post about tea. Which reminds me, assuming that no one falls deathly ill over night, tomorrow I am having an Oreo tea with Emma and Rick. Did you guys know there are watermelon Oreos? I wouldn't have believed it either, but I have photographic proof!
However, they will not be gracing tomorrow's tea. We got a bag yesterday, and they taste sort of like Jolly Ranchers or watermelon bubblegum, which makes them oddly refreshing...but mostly odd. We shall be having peanut butter Oreos instead.)
But back to my thunderstorm tea! Usually I read something with my tea, and I considered reading more Les Miserables. I have achieved page nine hundred! The end is in sight! Okay, three hundred pages away; but still, on the horizon.
Marius has dropped the creepy stalker baton, Eponine has picked it up, Marius finally went to see his grandfather, who offered him money, which Marius refused even though it would have allowed him to be happy with Cosette because Marius is just special like that -
- and now he is marching off to the barricades. Everyone is going to die there, and as such I find myself loathe to go on reading.
So instead I read Alexandre Dumas fils novel Camille (which is also called The Lady of the Camellias, which has the advantage of actually making sense), which at a mere two hundred pages seemed breathlessly svelte. Also, compared to Les Mis, rather slight: it tells the tragic tale of a young man who falls in love with a courtesan, believes himself betrayed by her, and realizes only too late how truly she loved him.
Naturally it was rather schlocky. But I was prepared for it to be failtastic (it's a French guy! Writing about women! Women who have sex! How many ways could this go wrong?), so schlocky was almost a relief.
It's had a ton of theatrical adaptations (including one with young Colin Firth), and I can see why. The outlines of the story overflow with feeling, and I suspect with good actors there's not a dry eye in the house by the end.
But the writing (or rather the translation): well, it's quite pacey, and I had a good time reading it - but that's just it; for a tragedy, I shouldn't be able to say "It's a fun book!", at least not without adding caveats of the "but in a soul-crushing way" variety. So it's a good read, but for me, at least, Dumas didn't quite accomplish what he meant to.
However, they will not be gracing tomorrow's tea. We got a bag yesterday, and they taste sort of like Jolly Ranchers or watermelon bubblegum, which makes them oddly refreshing...but mostly odd. We shall be having peanut butter Oreos instead.)
But back to my thunderstorm tea! Usually I read something with my tea, and I considered reading more Les Miserables. I have achieved page nine hundred! The end is in sight! Okay, three hundred pages away; but still, on the horizon.
Marius has dropped the creepy stalker baton, Eponine has picked it up, Marius finally went to see his grandfather, who offered him money, which Marius refused even though it would have allowed him to be happy with Cosette because Marius is just special like that -
- and now he is marching off to the barricades. Everyone is going to die there, and as such I find myself loathe to go on reading.
So instead I read Alexandre Dumas fils novel Camille (which is also called The Lady of the Camellias, which has the advantage of actually making sense), which at a mere two hundred pages seemed breathlessly svelte. Also, compared to Les Mis, rather slight: it tells the tragic tale of a young man who falls in love with a courtesan, believes himself betrayed by her, and realizes only too late how truly she loved him.
Naturally it was rather schlocky. But I was prepared for it to be failtastic (it's a French guy! Writing about women! Women who have sex! How many ways could this go wrong?), so schlocky was almost a relief.
It's had a ton of theatrical adaptations (including one with young Colin Firth), and I can see why. The outlines of the story overflow with feeling, and I suspect with good actors there's not a dry eye in the house by the end.
But the writing (or rather the translation): well, it's quite pacey, and I had a good time reading it - but that's just it; for a tragedy, I shouldn't be able to say "It's a fun book!", at least not without adding caveats of the "but in a soul-crushing way" variety. So it's a good read, but for me, at least, Dumas didn't quite accomplish what he meant to.
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Date: 2013-06-24 04:39 pm (UTC)I shall have to try Camilla one of these days. One of these days...
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Date: 2013-06-24 06:06 pm (UTC)However, one of my friends loved them, so at least someone enjoyed the bag!
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Date: 2013-06-24 06:57 pm (UTC)I have a weird affinity for Camille. Part of it is probably because Moulin Rouge! borrows so heavily from it, story-wise (though I love Moulin Rouge! not so much because of the story, and more because it's a gorgeous acid-trip of a movie). Another part of it is probably because there's a 1921 silent version starring a kind of pre-fame/early-fame Rudolph Valentino, and I was on an unabashed Rudolph Valentino kick for a while. (It's been a few years since I saw it, and I don't actually remember much about it aside from the fact that the set design and shot composition was pretty interesting. So again, nothing about the actual story.)
But still. Colin Firth.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-25 04:03 am (UTC)And I've heard of the Valentino version! I had kind of a crush on Valentino in high school, on account of a project we did about the Twenties. I never managed to see any of his movies, though. I wonder if Netflix has this one...
And I still have not seen Moulin Rouge. I tried to watch it on a plane once, but the glitz was WAY too much for the tiny airplane screen. Maybe I should rectify this...
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Date: 2013-06-25 05:57 pm (UTC)As far as other Valentino films go, if you're interested, I would recommend The Eagle. It's based on the unfinished Alexander Pushkin novel, Dubrovsky, and is basically about an early 19th century Russian Robin Hood/Zorro type character. In a way, it's kind of hilarious, because, due to the fact that historical realism wasn't big in Hollywood at the time, it looks neither very early 19th century nor very Russian, but if you can get past that, it's a lot of fun. It's got swashbuckling, and romance, and a bear, and a very famous tracking shot of a banquet table.
And Valentino in vaguely Regency style clothing is pretty swoon-worthy.I can totally see how Moulin Rouge would be too glitzy for a tiny airplane screen. I'm not sure if I'd call it a good movie, in the traditional sense of the word, but it's incredibly entertaining and very visually/aurally interesting. (The film's tango rendition of "Roxanne" still gives me chills to this day.)
no subject
Date: 2013-06-25 09:12 pm (UTC)It also has Blood and Sand, which features Valentino in bullfighting clothes. Maybe I should have a double feature: Rudolph Valentino in Swoonworthy Clothes...
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Date: 2013-06-25 09:23 pm (UTC)