The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion
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Twenty Years After
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Twenty Years After - Week 10 - thru "The Scotsman/Like Judas"
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I have not given up, but I have not started these chapters yet and will try to do so by Friday. Sorry about that. I hope we are not losing the discussion due to lack of participation.
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Sorry for the late post - busy week at work🤓My favorite part from this week’s reading was when D’Artagnan helps Mazarin escape and the patrol stops the carriage.
“Who goes?” asked the captain.
“Mazarin!” replied D’Artagnan, bursting into a laughter.
That was a perfect response.
It’s so funny how Mazarin is terrified and D’Artagnan is completely calm under pressure.
Dumas takes every opportunity to portray the cardinal as a frugal coward.
I normally really enjoy French Royal intrigues but in this book I like the British plot better. Maybe because Aramis is in England and France is just not as interesting without him ;)
Athos with his usual polite manners only advises his friends to distrust Mordaunt. Aramis straight up tells them to kill Mordaunt if they get a chance. Listen to Aramis - he’s always right 😉
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The historical part is getting me a little confused and I wonder what Dumas’s intentions were. Interested in history I am trying to follow some of it and try to put the pieces together, but Dumas’s chronology does not match reality and therefore the whole story is losing for me a bit. I was e.g. thinking why Mazarin, who represents at least partially the French monarchy under distress, is favoring the enemy of the English royalty. Politically, I would assume it is to weaken England in comparison to France - long arch rivals after all, but as the story does not quite seem to fit history, I might as well try to not think about it any more. I also thought the scenes of the escape from Paris comical. 200 people following as entourage - that does not seem suspicious at all, especially after the events in the king’s bedroom and the population’s fear of the king’s escape.
I am not sure whether I like the straw scene - yes, it is comical and these are in the end all rich people, but to use distressful occasions to enriched yourself has a negative notion with me.
I fear that in the next chapters there will be another encounter of all of our friends on a battlefield similar as during the flight of Beaufort, but this time on British soil.
And then there is Mordaunt as well. In my translation Athos warns in his letter to “be on guard” and Aramis tells Porthos to “wring his neck”.
I am trying to catch up after a long pause, and here I am already in the middle of adventures, hoping to be able to go on with the reading for a while. So perhaps the moment I was waiting for is coming, the four friends will meet again on English soil! Robin told me to wait and see...
I too found hilarious the scenes you described, the "Who goes?" "Mazarin!" one and the straw one.
D'Artagnan thinks Mordaunt resembles someone and he is trying to remember...
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So perhaps the moment I was waiting for is c..."
Glad to have you here at any time. Feel free to comment on any section when you get to it. The Mordaunt appearances are certainly melodramatic, you can almost hear the minor-key chords in the background.
We start out in Paris, where d'Artagnan and Porthos help, first Mazarin and then the Queen and young King, to escape the city. We see multiple examples of d'Artagnan's clever mind. He advises both the Queen and Mazarin, commanders the enemy's coach and creates an excellent excuse for it being closed. Later d'Artagnan turns his mind to profit, in a scene of hoarding and price manipulation that is all too familiar to us from this last year.
D'Artagnan mentions multiple times that his word is good and he is always true to it. On the other hand, he lies constantly, to both enemies and associates, and even to Raoul. His creativity with the truth generally seems to be admired by Dumas.
The episode with the straw is comic, both in the fact that the Queen couldn't leave Paris without 200 other people and with the success of the stratagem to sell straw. D'Artagnan even figures out a way to have Mousqueton act as middleman incognito.
When Mazarin gives instructions (and grudgingly money) for an English trip, I was surprised at first to remember that d'Artagnan didn't yet know the name of Mordaunt. Of course, he soon sees it again in the warning letters from Athos and Aramis.
In the last chapter, we move to England, where Athos, Aramis and de Winter seem to be the last trusted allies of Charles I. It seems our sympathies are supposed to be totally for beleaguered royalty, and despising of a "former brewer".
I am again surprised by a couple of obviously wrong translations in Ellsworth. The courtier who takes Porthos' bed is said to have the best one, except for King, Queen & Monseigneur. But actually he messes up the punch line, Dumas says, except for the royals, he is the only one who slept gratis, that is for free. Also, in his letter, Athos does not say to "defy" Mordaunt but to distrust him.
What should we make of the contrast between the threat to royalty in Paris vs. in England? Do you think d'Artagnan's schemes are justified? Should he continue to serve Mazarin whom he actually despises? At least he got the diamond back and the promise of more.