Tag Archives: Victor Hugo

Notre Dame: Two Arms Raised in Prayer

To celebrate France reopening Notre Dame to visitors, here’s a 19th century poem honoring the cathedral.

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Comstock and L. Leo as Hugo’s Javert

Billionaire and Catholic fanatic Leonard Leo wants to bring back the Comstock Act. In his relentlessness, think of him as Hugo’s Javert.

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The Opening Ceremonies Explained

To appreciate the opening ceremonies in the Paris Olympics, it helps to know some French literature.

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Is Jack Smith a Javert?

A Trump co-conspirator is complaining that special counsel Jack Smith is like Javert. I explore the comparison.

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Zelensky as Hugo’s Enjolras

Ukrainian president bears a striking resemblance to Hugo’s Enjorlas in “Les Misérables.”

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Jean Valjean, Good Samaritan

“Les Misérables” features two of literature’s great Good Samaritan figures.

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Stopping Trump’s Loose Cannon

Some of the officials who bravely stood up to Trump after his electoral defeat enabled him earlier. They are like the gunner with the loose cannon in Hugo’s “93.”

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Zelenskyy Could Be a Hugo Character

Friday A Washington Post column yesterday reminded me of a post I wrote a year ago and which I am reconfiguring for today. Seeking to balance the inspiring leadership of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky with the grim reality of the war, David Ignatius wrote, Zelensky has taken the West with him, emotionally, to the barricades […]

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More Time Spent in the Covid Sewers

In a repost from March, I see our Covid slog as similar to Jean Valjean trudging through the Paris sewers.

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