Twenty Years After: Alexandre Dumas

Twenty Years After: Alexandre Dumas

Warning: Spoiler Alert (because I know you all are dying to find out what happens in the sequel to the Three Musketeers, which many people only know as a candy bar. yum. or a cheesy 90's movie with Kiefer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen and Robin from Batman and Robin. actually i have never seen it but its the 90s its probably cheesy lol) (oh wow there is some new remake with Orlando Bloom and the Resident Evil girl. probably equally as cheesy). 

You have been warned!

cheesy 90's goodness. seriously. look at Charlie Sheen.

Okay, so this is long overdue! I finished this a few weeks ago, and it took me a couple months to read.  Alexandre Dumas works are always very dense.  However, every one of his works I have read I have loved! I don't know what it is about his writing; I guess maybe the fact he is French and the writing has been translated and made easier to understand (?), but I always find them to be totally engaging and quick (this summer has just been so busy).

Dumas wrote in the 19th century about 17th century topics and royalty. Key characters in the Three Musketeers series are famous royalty and politicians, such as Oliver Cromwell, Cardinal Richelieu, and Anne of Austria.  Interesting side note: I feel like he was a royalist (if you could be one at that time).  He was a child during the Napoleonic Era, and later got a position at the Palais Royal.  Side side note: His dad was from Haiti and he was bi-racial.  Back to original side note: Dumas makes the reader side with the royalty, like the revolutionaries are crazy and brutal.  Which is strange because I am American and should not agree with that. 

Anyway, there are always so many characters and subplots to talk about in Dumas' works. What I particularly love about them is that there is always some level of vengeance.  In the Count of Monte Cristo, the main character was imprisoned and sought all of his wrongdoers out.  In the Three Musketeers, the musketeers had to track down Milady for all of the crazy things she did (I mean, she did crazy things, like con people and poison and kill the main chick in the book (spoiler alert) lol). Side side side note: I feel the need for vengeance right now in my life as well.  
  
So, Twenty Years After is the sequel to the Three Musketeers, which is part of a larger series, the D'Artagnan Romances, which include:

1. The Three Musketeers (check)
2. Twenty Years After (check)
3. The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Ten Years Later, Louise de la Vallière and The Man in the Iron Mask (these are super hard to find anywhere so not check) (also I want to read this because I can picture Leonardo Dicaprio as the Man in the Iron Mask)

In order to understand Twenty Years After, you have to have read The Three Musketeers.  I already ruined the first book for you (sort of).  Basically, Milady is hunted down (she had been a prostitute and had played everybody-legit con artist- she and her husband pretended to be brother and sister (gross?)-and she married someone else- Athos - to get his money.  She killed D'Artagnan's love interest and they hung her) 

Flash forward twenty years and the three (its actually four) musketeers are not together.  D'Artagnan is a leader for the Musketeers, and he wants to get everyone back together.  France is going through La Fronde, and the musketeers have divided among political parties-the Royalists and the Frondists. There are SO many subplots to this book.  I guess I can just tell you about the big thing. 

The main villain is Mordaunt, Milady's son! This dude like really never dies.  He is the Terminator.  He actually kills a bunch of important characters, so pretty sad.  He ends up dying though, so don't be alarmed.  He tricked the musketeers and put them on a boat with explosives.  The musketeers find out and escape in time on a row boat.  He somehow survives the explosion, but can't swim.  Athos (who is his father!!) pulls him up.  That was a trick! Mordaunt pulls Athos into the water and they fight.  Of course, Athos wins! Yay!

So, that's all I have for that.  I really did not do that justice.  There is TOO much going on to talk about anything haha.  I have three more books to read before school starts in literally ten days.  I don't have wireless internet right now, so that should not be hard. Here it is:

1. The Old Man and the Sea: Ernest Hemingway
2. Animal Farm: George Orwell
3. Northanger Abbey: Jane Austen

I kind of want to start a book club...If you are in Knoxville and have read this and want to read with me, let me know!

xoxo

Erika

Update #2: Finished Persuasion by Jane Austen!

"She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older-the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning."

Okay, so I have crossed the second novel off of my list-Persuasion.  It was a pretty quick read.  However, like all Austen novels, I have to give myself a couple of days to get into it.  I read 90 pages over two days, then finished it (around 150 pages) yesterday.  That's always how Austen novels work for me.  She sets everything up, and it can be a lot to take in, but then, once it picks up, it just keeps rolling.

So, Persuasion is Jane Austen's final novel, published posthumously. Its story revolves around Anne Elliot, a very wealthy, thoughtful 27 year old woman, also Jane Austen's oldest main character.  Anne's father is a baronet, and he is very proud and all about lineage.  Anne's two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, are both very proud, too. Elizabeth, the oldest and arguably (depending on who you talk to) the most beautiful, is her father's favorite.  She is very, to put it into today's terms, very snooty.  She will only talk to people that are on her level.  Ironically, she is the only one in the end of the novel who is not yet married.  Mary, the youngest daughter, was married very early, and has two very spoiled boys that she cannot control.  She seems more agreeable to me than Elizabeth, but she still is quite vain.  Anne is the odd woman out-she is very thoughtful and not conceited.  She is supposed to like her mother, who died when she was younger. 
 

There has been one movie adaptation made in the 90's, one in 2007, and a couple of miniseries, but it really hasn't been widely adapted, like Pride and Prejudice.  I really do think, and the author of the introduction of the novel even says this, that its because most of the drama and turmoil is internal, and there is not a lot of actual drama happening.  Sure, there are a few things, but even the dramatic ending where the characters fall back in love is by a letter-not like Mr. Darcy proposing to Elizabeth in the rain.  No, most of Anne's turmoil comes from little things that occur, that only she would be anxious about. 

Unlike Emma and Pride and Prejudice, its hard to compare this book to any movies, so I was unsure of what to actually talk about.  I think I will just put in a synopsis and do some quotes. Sounds like fun!

So here is the whole concept of the book in a few paragraphs (spoiler alert!!):

Eight years before the novel starts, Anne was in love with Frederick Wentworth, who, at the time, was going into the navy and didn't have any money.  In this book, and I guess in this time period, (or maybe just with these characters-who knows), being in the Navy was not an "honorable" profession for someone like a baronet or a true "gentleman."  Sailors had (and this is the direct from the book, I cannot make this up) "ugly" mahogany skin because they were in the sun and sea so much, and because they were on ships so much, could not possibly have manners.  Anyway, back to the story, Lady Russell, Anne's godmother and really only one who really cared about her, persuaded (get it-persuaded-persuasion) Anne to cut ties with Wentworth.  There was no way he would ever be at Anne's level (class) or rich enough for her.  He was a sailor and she was a real lady.  

Around the time Anne cut off ties with Wentworth, her mother also died, and she went alone to Bath to recover (I am guessing).  She lost all of her youthful beauty and became skinny and sallow. Okay, maybe not sallow, but you get the idea.  Anne, at least to her vain family, was a lost cause, and only Elizabeth could marry someone of rank and standing.  Anne never stops loving Wentworth, and assumes he will find someone else.

Fast forward to the novel, Sir Walter (that is the father) is broke, and has to "let" (rent) his estate, which is very dishonorable.  Who to rent it to? Well, the war was over, and tons of sailors had made their fortune in the Navy.  After a lot of hesitation, Sir Walter lets his estate to Admiral Croft and his wife, who are way more genteel than Sir Walter ever could be.  Okay, this is where the juice starts. Admiral Croft's wife is sister to....(now) Captain Wentworth! It seems that Wentworth went out and made his fortune and really is a fine young man now. And-he is super hot!

Sir Walter, Elizabeth, Lady Russell and Mrs. Clay, Elizabeth's friend, who I will speak of later, move to Bath to pick a house, and Anne goes to Uppercross, which is about 3 miles from her original home Kellynch, to visit her sister Mary.  Well, of course, Wentworth comes, and meets with Anne and everyone! No one knows the history between those two, so they just ask super civil.  They don't talk, just "how d'ye do?"  

Mary had married to Charles Musgrove, and because this is back in the day and families were always near each other and with each other, Mary was close with Charles' sisters, Louisa and Henrietta, who are rather silly and vain, too.  Okay, so here I am going to skip over some parts, but Louisa and Wentworth had become very close, and everyone thought they were to marry. That is, until Louisa, being very annoying, had an accident.  She jumped some stairs, thought it was fun, did it again, and was knocked out for days.  She had a slow recovery. Remember, they didn't have cat scans back then, people! Anne, always being the calm, caring one, was looked to for guidance in the situation.  It was at that instant, that Frederick really fell back in love with Anne.  He had been angry and denying his feelings, but when he compared Louisa's silliness with Anne's steadfastness (I hope that is the right word), he knew what he was missing.



After this incident, Anne goes to Bath to meet with her family in their new house, and Frederick just up and left.  Everyone thought it was because he was so sad about his "love" almost dying, but actually it was because he realized the predicament he was in, and that he had kind of led her on.  He left to avoid marrying Louisa.  He really would have had to marry her, the way he was acting.  Anyway, while he was gone, Louisa fell for another Captain, Captain Benwick, who liked to read poetry with Anne and was very sentimental over his fiancee dying the past year.  Louisa and Benwick really didn't belong together, but it opened up Wentworth to be with Anne.

So, while Wentworth is figuring out what to do, Anne is in Bath hanging out with Mr. Elliot, her cousin, heir to Kellynch.  Anne likes him, but that's it.  There is something suspicious about him-he is not truly open.  Turns out, after speaking with her now crippled friend from school Mrs. Smith, that Elliot is quite the skeez. He had turned his back on the Elliots ten years ago because he didn't like them, but was now sucking up to them to get back into the family. He had married for money a while back,  and after she died and he had all the money he could want, he wanted the title of baronet.  Well, there was one person in his way-Mrs. Clay.  Mrs. Clay is also a skeez.  She is of a much lower rank than the Elliots, and sucked up to Elizabeth to get close to-who else-Sir Walter! She was using her friend to get close to a baronet, and it was working.  Anne never liked Mrs. Clay because of this.  Anyway, Mr. Elliot also knew about this, and came around Sir Walter as much as possible, all hours of the day and night, to keep Mrs. Clay away from him.  If she married Sir Walter and had his child, Mr. Elliot was no longer the lawful heir of Kellynch. Mrs. Clay was very afraid of Elliot, and kind of embarrassed by the things he would say around her, about people of lower ranks weaseling their way into families. Mr. Elliot did fall for Anne in the process, but he cared more about title and rank.

Anne learns all of this, and means to tell Lady Russell right away, but she has to put it off because of social engagements.  The Musgroves are in town, and Anne is obliged to be with her family. Also, Elliot was supposed to leave town, so she could spare a few days.  Ironically, Mr. Elliot did not leave town.  His sister saw him outside with, who would have known, Mrs. Clay! How strange! 

The second day the Musgroves are in town, Anne is in a parlor room with a few people, one of them being Captain Wentworth! He has come to Bath on the pretense that Admiral Croft is in town for the winter. Anne is talking to Captain Harville about love, and how a man only ever loves one woman, but a woman does not have the same loyalty.  Anne, clearly, has the opposite opinion, and they go back and forth on the subject in front of Wentworth, who knows now what Anne feels for him.  Wentworth was busy writing a letter for the duration of the conversation.  Harville wants to leave and Wentworth goes with him.  However, a minute later, he rushes back in, and puts the letter back on the table where he left, also where Anne stands (she moved there after he left).  The letter was written to her, and basically said he loved her still and was in turmoil without her.  And that he was super jealous of Elliot. All he needs to know that she cares, too, is a smile or expression of devotion.



Anne is sublimely happy, but now has to find him! She is walked by Charles, her brother-in-law to town on the way back home, where they run into...Wentworth! Charles, who had an appointment with the gunsmith, asks Wentworth to walk Anne home. (Oh, Jane Austen, you!). Then, after that walk, everything is right in the world again! He asks Anne's dad for permission to marry her, and he is fine with it.  Elizabeth is like whatever, which is good for her, and even Lady Russell says okay.  She kinda feels bad that she had persuaded her not to marry him before, but felt it was her duty.  She now accepts him like a son.  As for Elliot, he rolls out of there, along with..Mrs. Clay!! They are in love.  Two con artists in love <3 

That was a lot that you probably didn't read, so here are some quotes that you probably will read:

“I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you."  - Wentworth's letter


“My idea of good company...is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.' 
'You are mistaken,' said he gently, 'that is not good company, that is the best.” - Mr. Elliot and Anne


“I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon woman's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs, all talk of woman's fickleness. But perhaps you will say, these were all written by men." "Perhaps I shall. Yes, yes, if you please, no reference to examples in books. Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.” - Captain Harville and Anne

Update: Two Things Crossed Off Bucket List

Okay I did two things since I wrote my list! First, I read Emma.  Second, I ran twelve miles (not in a race, though, well kinda). Also-I am writing this as I watch Law and Order: SVU-teen idols marathon! So good!! An eight-year-old Haley Dunphy! Fred Savage?? So, my writing might seem a little erratic. Or I might add in some legal jargon. 

1. Emma: Jane Austen
So, I have attempted to read Emma multiple times in my life because of my affinity for the movie Clueless. I don't know why I always stopped reading- always in the first section of the novel.  Austen novels are usually slow in the beginning, and I guess I was just so anxious to figure out the similarities between the novel and Clueless-and it was not going! However-once I got through half of the novel, I just zoomed through it. There were so many similarities, not only between the characters, but between the emotions and feelings that Emma and Cher feel at similar situations in their lives.  At first, they both start off very self-absorbed and independent-without mothers, wealthy, and the apples of their fathers' eyes. They each have their BFF's-Mrs. Weston (poor Miss Taylor!) and Dionne, and they have their "older brother types", Mr. Knightley and Josh-who actually aren't their brothers.

 Emma never wants to marry and Cher "won't ever date a high school boy."  Of course, they both play matchmakers to their new found friends Harriet and Tai.  Emma tries to set up Harriet with Mr. Elton, and Cher tries to set up Tai-with who else!-Elton.  This fails miserably because...the Eltons love Emma and Cher!! The two ladies are both in utter shock and turn them way down.  The Eltons get desperate and end up with horrible, snobby "ladies"-Mrs. Elton (ugh she would not exist today-she woulda been slapped in today's world) and Amber.

  After their failures at matchmaking, Emma and Cher both try to set themselves up with their own love interests, Frank Churchill and Christian, respectively.  This is the main difference in the book, I believe. The ladies don't end up getting their men. Frank Churchill is secretly engaged to the sickly Jane Fairfax, and, as we all should know, Christian is totally gay! Emma and Cher both still consider them great friends after the incidences, but I don't think Clueless really had the Jane Fairfax equivalent.

Then, their new friends end up liking their "older brother types," and the ladies go into "states of ickyness".  They each individually ask themselves why do I even care? "Tai is my girl-I don't begrudge her a boyfriend." And then-a ha! Its because they are totally and utterly in love with Mr. Knightley and Josh!!
 They never realized it before.  They never had women test their positions before, or make them believe they were #2 in the eyes of their respective men. Its in this awareness that they find they have been utterly clueless, and try to right all of their wrongs.

 Emma with Jane Fairfax and Miss Bates, and Cher with Tai and Travis (who end up dating, which Cher dismissed early in the movie).  They greatly improve themselves in that they become more humble and truly caring about other people.  They aren't so selfish and clueless anymore! How wonderful :) Then-of course!-Mr. Knightley and Josh confess their loves to Emma and Cher, and everything is happy and perfect. Mr. Knightley and Emma get married, along with Harriet and Mr. Martin (Emma dismissed this relationship, as well) and Cher and Josh make out at a wedding. Yay!



Ok, now for some more pictures with quotes:    











2. King of Prussia 10-miler: Actually Just a 12-Mile Run
Okay, so I actually didn't run this. I am still in Knoxville. Why? You may ask.  Well, I am broke, and my house in PA is full of cats and an aggressive dog who will probably kill my miss Buffy (Calvin wouldn't even entertain that crap).  Anyway, I did not run this race, so I will have to add another one to my bucket list for the summer! I did, however, do a twelve-miler in preparation for my half marathon coming up in July.  The first 2.75 miles I did super slow with my doggies.  Then, after I dropped them off, I took a different route and went to Seqouyah Hills. I avoid those hills like the plague! Well, when I was running down the greenway to the Church parking lot that is next to the Cherokee/Kingston intersection, there was an energy station.  I was super confused.  They all started cheering for me. "We have a runner!" I was like, uhh, yeah! Free water and gel!! So, as luck and God would have it, I ended up joining this mini Iron Man race.  All of the runners were in uni's and had completed their swims and bike rides, and were running really slow.  They ran on the streets, and I was in the middle path on Cherokee.  This was my view the entire way:


It was so fun to run up on these people and pass right by them.  Granted, they were doing a triathlon, and I was only doing twelve miles, but I still felt pretty awesome about myself! I felt like God gave me a mini present-Hey, Erika, yeah sorry you are broke and couldn't do that race, but hey, here's a race you can run with for 8 miles! No t-shirt, but water and gel-hey! Who needs the t-shirt anyway? I just love being part of races.  They are super exciting, and all of the energy really takes my mind off of the pain (except the last 3 miles of a marathon ughh). Anyway, this made me feel really excited to race this summer and get in super awesome shape!!! Stoked!!

In addition to doing an amazing* job at my internship at Smucker* this summer and preparing myself for the following semester by reading all of the textbooks ahead of time, I am going to the following:

1. Read:

• Emma: Jane Austen
• Little Women: Louisa May Alcott
• Animal Farm: George Orwell
• Persuasion: Jane Austen
• The Old Man and the Sea: Ernest Hemingway
• Twenty Years After: Alexandre Dumas

Let's say I have 14 weeks to read all of these. About roughly 2 weeks a piece, then? Want to double-check my math?

2. Run:

• King of Prussia 10 Miler: King of Prussia, PA, May 18, 2014
• Goal: 1:25 
• Cedar Point Half Marathon: Sandusky, OH, June 29, 2014
• Goal: 1:55
• Presque Isle Half Marathon, Erie, PA, July 20, 2014
• Goal 1:50 (might be super hot, may switch to 1:55)
• Shirley's Dog Run and Walk: Maple Glen, PA, August 17, 2014
• Goal: sub 24:00

3. Visit...somewhere?? I really want to go to Vegas or Orlando, but I am broke and paying off bills.  Maybe I should wait until the Holidays after I get my job (hopefully! I hope I didn't jinx myself) as a celebration??

4. Get personal training! This is my biggest goal. It probably should be at the top.. I really need to start lifting.  I need to gain muscle mass!!! Not just in my legs. My arms are like Jell-o. :/ I'm thinking I will join the local YMCA or gym in Wooster, then just get a couple of personal training sessions every month.