Monday, April 19, 2010
A Little Break
After getting through The Count of Monte Cristo, we figured we needed something a little less intense. So, we are going to be reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett for the month of May. We are also changing back to the third Tuesday at 6:30pm as our attendance has declined the past couple of months. Hopefully that will help people out, sorry for anyone it inconveniences. We'll also be meeting at Kim's new abode, so don't forget to check Facebook for further details!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Political Change
A little background in French history may help in understanding Dumas and his world in The Count of Monte Cristo.
The area we now know as France wasn't truly established under one rule until Louis XIV (en francaise, it sounds so nice) who ruled for over fifty years. This man was quite the social magician and truly established France to become the most fashionable country as well as a country governed by an absolute monarchy. He united France by cultivating the arts and establishing the culture and standard at Versailles. In his efforts to delight and dazzle, he maintained an incredible control over his peers as they vied for his attentions and honors. In fact, rumor has it that this is the time when the phrase "faux pas" began, as Louis XIV had such regimented procedures and dances, that no one wanted to be accused of a "false step" which would land them outside of Louis XIV's favor.
After Louis XIV died in 1715, there were already great social tensions that would lead to the French Revolution. There was constant politicking for ruling and favors among the nobles who basically saw the peasantry as lesser beings. This, the lower class of people, did all the work on the lands and yet were only given the smallest portion (estimated at about a tenth of the revenue from the harvest) to starve on while they watched the upper crust dine on extravagant lifestyles. Eventually the unrest culminated in the French Revolution which also gave rise to the ideas of enlightenment, nationalism and inalienable rights, as well as setting the stage for a reformer such as Napoleon.
Napoleon was loved by the people while despised by the nobles. He made himself known through his military prowess and eventually scraped himself into the First Consul (sort of dictator-type role) and then voted as Consul for life and next emperor by the people, demonstrating his ability to lead the common man, conquer Europe and cultivate the arts. He thrived on conflict and lead his army into many wars. He wounded not only the army, but his own reputation back home with the disaster in Russia (he kept pushing forward, Russian retreated and burned everything behind them, leaving Napoleon's army to dwindle and diminish due to starvation and famine). He was ousted through his own abdication of the crown and exiled to the Isle of Elba (where Edmond encounters Napoleon and all Dantes' troubles begin). Napoleon is able to secretly enter France and take back the throne for just under one hundred days before again being exiled, this time to St. Helena, a small, rocky island far into the Atlantic.
The ensuing century is full of unrest and change. The working and middle classes gained power and position due to the benefits of the industrialization. These ideas and economic changes enable the lower classes to maneuver and politic for position and power granted to the nouveau riche (newly rich) and implied in the characters of such friends and foes as the Danglars and the Morcefs.
The area we now know as France wasn't truly established under one rule until Louis XIV (en francaise, it sounds so nice) who ruled for over fifty years. This man was quite the social magician and truly established France to become the most fashionable country as well as a country governed by an absolute monarchy. He united France by cultivating the arts and establishing the culture and standard at Versailles. In his efforts to delight and dazzle, he maintained an incredible control over his peers as they vied for his attentions and honors. In fact, rumor has it that this is the time when the phrase "faux pas" began, as Louis XIV had such regimented procedures and dances, that no one wanted to be accused of a "false step" which would land them outside of Louis XIV's favor.
After Louis XIV died in 1715, there were already great social tensions that would lead to the French Revolution. There was constant politicking for ruling and favors among the nobles who basically saw the peasantry as lesser beings. This, the lower class of people, did all the work on the lands and yet were only given the smallest portion (estimated at about a tenth of the revenue from the harvest) to starve on while they watched the upper crust dine on extravagant lifestyles. Eventually the unrest culminated in the French Revolution which also gave rise to the ideas of enlightenment, nationalism and inalienable rights, as well as setting the stage for a reformer such as Napoleon.
Napoleon was loved by the people while despised by the nobles. He made himself known through his military prowess and eventually scraped himself into the First Consul (sort of dictator-type role) and then voted as Consul for life and next emperor by the people, demonstrating his ability to lead the common man, conquer Europe and cultivate the arts. He thrived on conflict and lead his army into many wars. He wounded not only the army, but his own reputation back home with the disaster in Russia (he kept pushing forward, Russian retreated and burned everything behind them, leaving Napoleon's army to dwindle and diminish due to starvation and famine). He was ousted through his own abdication of the crown and exiled to the Isle of Elba (where Edmond encounters Napoleon and all Dantes' troubles begin). Napoleon is able to secretly enter France and take back the throne for just under one hundred days before again being exiled, this time to St. Helena, a small, rocky island far into the Atlantic.
The ensuing century is full of unrest and change. The working and middle classes gained power and position due to the benefits of the industrialization. These ideas and economic changes enable the lower classes to maneuver and politic for position and power granted to the nouveau riche (newly rich) and implied in the characters of such friends and foes as the Danglars and the Morcefs.
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