pizza wasn’t invented until the late 19th century so that means everyone in les mis died before they could try their first pizza and that’s why les mis is such an upsetting story
if it’s any consolation, the part of Vergil’s Aeneid where they’re eating food on flatbread and thus “eating their tables” suggests that many precursors to pizza may have existed even prior to the late 19th century, so Les Amis may at least have been able to enjoy proto-pizza. I mean Grantaire would probably know where in Paris to find some.
(I just thought I’d share.)
les miserables
Grantaire finally built up the courage to ask Enjolras out, and he caught him as he walked into the Musain for a meeting and tried to ask him out; but Enjolras was exhausted and stressed about his finals and when Grantaire tried to ask, he interrupted with, “Will you fuck off, Grantaire, I don’t have time for you!”
Grantaire didn’t ask again.
You have a VERY MISLEADING url
Songs to read the Brick to (a Les Mis fanmix at least three months in the making)
INTRODUCTION
We Weren’t Born To Follow – Bon Jovi
This one goes out to the man who mines for miracles
This one goes out to the ones in need
This one goes out to the sinner and the cynical
This ain’t about no apology
This road was paved by the hopeless and the hungry
This road was paved by the winds of change
Walking beside the guilty and the innocent
How will you raise your hand when they call your name?
do you ever think maybe the reason grantaire didn’t want to be involved with serious aspects of the revolution (the barriere du maine, building the barricade etc) because he knew that, by helping it to succeed, all he would be doing would be bringing enjolras’ inevitable death even closer and when it came down to it he would rather let enjolras hate him beyond all else for his apparent apathy despite the unbearable pain it would cause him than actively aid him in his own destruction lol bye
The Department Of Grantaire Studies
There is a lot, a LOT, of really really good Grantaire meta out there. Seriously, it’s brilliant, and this is my attempt to get it all in one place, and semi-categorised.
I’ve done my best to credit all the authors for each thing, but Tumblr being Tumblr I may have got it wrong in places. Please tell me if I did! (…also tell me if you don’t want your meta linked here, for whatever reason)
Grantaire’s cynicism/nihilism
Grantaire and Diogenes (gauzythreads)
Grantaire is not a cynic (yourstudentloandebt, punforrestpun, robertawickham)
“He sneered at devotion in all parties” (plinytheyounger)
Hugo sets Grantaire up for failure (nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire)
Regarding ‘R’
The obsolete word hère (okiswonderful)
R for refusé (punforrestpun)
Revolution, Romanticism and Robespierre (lecapunk)
Grantaire and mental illness/neuroatypicality
A conversation about Grantaire, depression and ADHD (nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire, chain-of-prospit)
Grantaire and processing thoughts (nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire)
Grantaire’s perception of himself (gauzythreads)
Grantaire and ADHD (nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire)
Grantaire, art style and depression (gauzythreads, pilferingapples, kingmundsroyalmurder) [I’m missing the first part of this conversation, anyone got it?]
Speculating on how depression affects Grantaire (nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire)
Grantaire and hypochrondria (yourpontmercyfriend, nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire, barricadeur) added 16/2/14
Grantaire’s sexuality
R not being monosexual (sclez)
A little bit about Grantaire’s interactions with women (sarah531)
R being confused over his feelings for Enjolras (rose-and-valerie)
Grantaire’s misogyny (sclez) added 16/2/14
E/R
E/R History Class (et-in-arkadia)
The Obverse (tenlittlebullets)
Why Enjolras is so frustrated with Grantaire (killjoyras)
“Often, you give the heart, we take the body” (lecapunk, nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire)
Two sides of a coin/What Grantaire can offer Enjolras (chainsawpoet, swutol-sand-scopes, robertawickham, sclez)
Chickens, eagles, humanity, determinism, and more! (gauzythreads, pilferingapples, lecapunk)
Grantaire’s happiness (pylades-funk, sclez, lecapunk)
The paradox of Grantaire needing Enjolras (melannen, pilferingapples, sinnaonthebarricade, lecapunk)
Romanticism, Revolution, and the Thematic Importance of E/R (lecapunk)
The bare bosom of Evadne [this is much more about Enjolras, but E/R features a lot] (tenlittlebullets)
How Grantaire interacts with Enjolras (faucheleventt, gauzythreads, punforrestpun, tenlittlebullets)
Why Enjolras and Grantaire are like Orestes and Pylades (ferain1832)
Love is what will bring tomorrow (ladysaviours)
Fun with wordplay
Swallowing a revolution the wrong way (punforrestpun, gauzythreads)
Lost women (sarah531)
Gross yeast infection metaphors! (gauzythreads, viventlespeuples, pilferingapples)
Dick jokes (gauzythreads)
The capitoul and master of the floral games (punforrestpun, pilferingapples, okiswonderful) added 16/2/14
Grantaire’s art studies
What studying under Gros was like (punforrestpun)
Grantaire and art and more! (gauzythreads)
Grantaire’s art styles (gauzythreads)
Grantaire, Enjolras & l’art pour l’art (punforrestpun)
Grantaire’s other talents
Grantaire’s fighting style (sclez, toastandbrokenpromises)
Who taught Grantaire fencing? (sarah531)
The Barriere du Maine
What might have happened at the Barriere du Maine (et-in-arkadia, seenonlyfromadistance)
Fog and dominoes (swutol-sang-scopes, pilferingapples)
Striking marble (tomisnom, pilferingapples)
Preliminary Gayietes (and the big speech contained therein)
Different translations of the speech (gauzythreads)
R, Joly and Bossuet (yourstudentloandebt, punforrestpun, nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire)
Does it have to be you, too? (gauzythreads, pilferingapples)
Analysis of Grantaire’s speech (sclez)
More analysis, and some boobies (not that kind) (gauzythreads)
Grantaire’s drinking in this scene (punforrestpun)
More puns (punforrestpun)
Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk
Two birds with one stone (sarah531, henryclervals)
Alcohol, rebirth and symbolism (spurioussymbols)
The comfort in chaos (etre-libre-dit-combeferre, nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire)
Seeing things clearly (sarah531, dancetaire, punforrestpun)
Classical allusions (nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire, sinnaonthebarricade, dancetaire)
The meaning of ‘drunk’ (lecapunk)
How someone falls when they’re shot (lecapunk)
Seeing each other as people (sarah531)
Important things keep falling at Enjolras’s feet (sarah531)
This fellow is one of them/Biblical references (sarah531, midshipmankennedy, pilferingapples)
Redemption (jehans, landofalwayswinter, edwarddespard)
More redemption (sarah531)
Why Grantaire dies (doeskin-pantaloons) added 16/2/14
Two stories (pilferingapples) added 16/2/14
God and the fallen man (fizzygingr) added 16/2/14
Deleted scenes from the book (no really!) / Victor Hugo’s original notes
Thank you (okiswonderful) added 16/2/14
Take my hand (flo-nelja, tansy-91, sarah531)
I am a swine (flo-nelja, tenlittlebullets)
What Hugo thought R looked like! (plinytheyounger)
Movie/musical exclusive meta
Ascending stairs (thelibrarina, lesbianjolras, sclez)
The hug during Drink With Me (sclez, lecapunk)
Grantaire’s scream after Gavroche’s death (nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire) added 16/2/14
Misc
Why Grantaire’s important (lecapunk)
Some analysis of “A Group That Barely Missed Becoming Historic” and R in particular (swutol-sang-scopes)
Lots of canon facts about Grantaire (spoopyrac, gauzythreads, angualupin)
Grantaire representing Paris (lecapunk)
Les Amis liked R (ladyjolras, sclez)
Grantaire as the Reader (punforrestpun)
Hugo doesn’t believe in ‘lesser’ (lecapunk)
Grantaire vs Tholomyes (sarah531)
Grantaire’s flaws/lots about Floreal and women (les-amis-de-labuttc, sarah531, gauzythreads)
Grantaire and The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock (nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire, etre-libre-dit-combeferre)
Statues, Grantaire and Matelote (sarah531, nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire)
Grantaire’s ugliness (leyichka, 0fficialgrantaire, punforrestpun, pilferingapples)
Grantaire’s rambles (lecapunk, pilferingapples) added 16/2/14
Unpaving hell (nothing-rhymes-with-grantaire) added 16/2/14
Meeting R for the first time (sarah531, angualupin)
Imitation and French education of the time (punforrestpun)
We’re never as bad as we think we are (athousandswifts)
A little bit of extra stuff from me
Fictional characters who shaped my life
A post I am legitimately proud of
I have accidentally stumbled upon a book with some early drafts of Hugo’s works, and the OFPD scene was there. Roughly translated:
On the first floor they’re about to shoot Enjolras. Grantaire wakes up and says: I am with him. Shoot me.
Enjolras grasps [?] his hand.
‘Thank you,’ says Gr.
And hold on, just imagine this: Grantaire stands in front of the guns and says “I am with him. Shoot me.” He doesn’t announce his support for the cause, only his allegiance to Enjolras. And it seems that he doesn’t even want to die with him, because he doesn’t feel like he’s worth it. He rather hopes he can die instead of him, or at least before him. As if he was saying “If you want to shoot him, you’ll have to shoot me first.”
Grantaire doesn’t say anything to Enjolras, so he’s probably looking at the soldiers the whole time. And here we have Enjolras, who sees Grantaire, whom he used to scorn so often, consciously choosing to die for him. And acting as if he thought Enjolras would let him be executed right there in front of him. So he has to do something to let him know that he doesn’t really think Grantaire is good for nothing, that he accepts him, that he’s grateful. So he grasps his hand. And Grantaire, surprised, finally looks him in the eyes, and understands everything. And he says: “Thank you.”
OH MY GOD
Chapter title – “Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk” (Wilbour, Hapgood, Gray, FMA, Denny), “Orestes Sober and Pylades Drunk” (Wraxall), “Orestes on a Fast and Pylades Drunk” (Rose), “Sober Orestes and Drunken Pylades” (Donougher). I think I can deal with all of these except Rose. “On a fast”?
“Vive la République! J’en suis.” – Long live the Republic! … “I’m one of them” (Hapgood, Denny), “I belong to it” (Wilbour, Wraxall, Gray), “Count me in” (FMA), “I’m with them” (Rose), “So say I” (Donougher). I’m used to “I’m one of them,” but there’s something I really like about “I belong to it.”
“Permets-tu?” – “Do you permit it?” (Wraxall, Hapgood, Gray), “Will you permit it?” (Wilbour, FMA), “If you don’t mind” (DENNY >_<) “All right with you?” (ROSE >_<) “With your permission?” (Donougher)
“Enjolras lui serra la main en souriant.” – Enjolras “pressed his hand” (Wraxall, Hapgood, Gray, Donougher), “grasped his hand” (Wilbour), “shook his hand” (FMA, Rose), “clasped his hand” (Denny). I DON’T LIKE “SHOOK HIS HAND,” IT’S NOT GAY ENOUGH.
“Ce sourire n’était pas achevé que la détonation éclata.” – “This smile was not finished when the report was heard” (Wilbour), “This smile had not passed away ere the detonation took place” (Wraxall), “This smile had not passed away ere the detonation burst forth” (Gray), “This smile was not ended when the report resounded” (Hapgood), “The smile was not finished before the report was heard” (FMA), “The smile had not ended when the volley rang out” (Denny), “He was still smiling when the explosion ripped through the silence” (Rose), “He was still smiling when the burst of gunfire came” (Donougher).