Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

In about a week, we'll be touring Notre-Dame, so I wanted to reread the novel, which I hadn't read in decades (and in rereading it, I think I may have read a slightly abridged version).

First, let me note that Victor Hugo disliked the English title The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The preferred title is Notre-Dame de Paris. While Quasimodo is an important character in the book, he is only one of many. The real center of the book is the great cathedral of Notre-Dame and in fact the city of Paris as a whole, as it was in 1482. The book includes section on the cathedral itself, on the city of Paris as seen from the cathedral, and on the changes in Paris (not always for the better, in Hugo's opinion) from 1492 to the mid-Nineteenth Century. There is also a wonderful chapter on how, prior to the invention of printing, humanity wrote its history in architecture.

This is a rich, diverse novel. There are section, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, of pure description or of philosophy or art. There are other chapters that explore the characters, and the social structures in which they live. There is social commentary (including a chapter on Louis XI and his advisors that really skewers the monarch). There are some great action sequences. The army of the Tramps storming Notre-Dame to take away La Esmerelda and to pillage the church, and the church's defense by Quasimodo is very exciting. And of course there is tragedy, both in who doesn't survive the novel and in who does.

I'm happy to have reread it, and look forward to seeing the great cathedral for myself. I hope to hear the bells.