Ten Little Bullets in my Hand: flo-nelja: Allons nous coucher, etc.[Grantaire], tu es un misérable…
Allons nous coucher, etc.
[Grantaire], tu es un misérable s’écria Enjolras ; tu excelles à donner des raisons basses pour ne pas faire les choses nobles. Tu souffles sur l’enthousiasme avec une mauvaise haleine.
– Extinguit candelam cum bombo, dit Courfeyrac.
[Grantaire]…
I wish I knew French SO BADLY. Is this Enjolras being a big ol’ meanie again?
I couldn’t wait for an actual French speaker to translate, so here’s what Google translate says:
Go to bed, etc..
[Grantaire], you’re a miserable cried Enjolras, you excel to low for reasons not to do noble things. You blow on the enthusiasm with bad breath.
– Extinguit candelam cum bombo said Courfeyrac.
[Grantaire] divided smiled:
– Enjolras, we will cut the throat in the morning.
They both die. – [Grantaire] gay and heroic; Enjolras seeks the hand of [Grantaire]. Take my hand.
(Victor Hugo, Building – draft folder on Les Misérables)
(Name changed, because even if we can see what Hugo talking about is the time when Bossuet and Grantaire were the same character, and it’s just too weird. Indeed, many names are not the same in drafts, it gives a misunderstanding each time)
So it sounds like Enjolras is being frustrated with Grantaire’s cynicism – but given that Courfeyrac follows it with what I assume is a joke about extinguishing a candle with a bomb and Grantaire smiles, I’m not sure if Enjolras is being properly angry or just (almost fondly?) exasperated.
(I also wonder if that other draft fragment was banter rather than meanness – without context it’s difficult to know. Though even if it was intended as banter I could see Grantaire being hurt by it because he’s a depressed alcoholic with the self-esteem of a caterpillar)
And then Victor Hugo making a note about how they end up dying together.
(I am totally going to take that note as evidence that the “Enjolras grasped his hand with a smile” or “Enjolras clasped his hand with a smile” are closer to what Hugo intended than “Enjolras shook his hand with a smile” – apparently the French like can be read either way, but I always assumed the gesture was sort of about presenting a united front. And the idea of them shaking hands in front of the firing squad just seems… awkward? Idk)
Oh, I love this all so much. Especially the last little note. “They both die”! Like Hugo was thinking “HMM THIS IS A NICE LITTLE STORY. HOW COULD I POSSIBLY END IT? WAIT, I KNOW!”
(…and then we get to “Grantaire, happy and heroic” and “Take my hand” and I start bawling like a baby.)