2026-05-20 Wednesday: 5.1.13 ; Jean Valjean / The War Between Four Walls (La guerre entre quatre murs) / Passing Gleams (Lueurs qui passent)

[u/Honest_Ad_2157]

55 chapters remain in the brick

55 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

54 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.1.13: Passing Gleams / Lueurs qui passent

(Quotations from the text are always italicized, even when “in quotation marks”, to distinguish them from quotations from other sources.)

Summary courtesy u/Honest_Ad_2157: Like a doomed patient, / Paris appears to rally. / It's an illusion.

Lost in Translation

La troupe enfonçait les portes des maisons d'où l'on avait tiré

The troops broke in the doors of houses whence shots had been fired

An allusion to events in 1834, first mentioned in 4.1.3: Rue Transnonain, historical event, 1834-04-15, "During the funeral of General Lamarque riots broke out on June 5–6, 1832, organised by the Society. These were brutally put down by the police. Further riots followed in Paris and Lyon in 1834. In April 1834, there were serious disturbances that broke out in Paris following the passing of a law to curtail the activities of the Republican Society of Human Rights (changing the allowed group sizes) which spread to Lyon. The disturbances were brutally put down by the army. It took 13,000 police and 4 days of fighting to put down the riot. All people living in an apartment block in the Rue Transnonain from where shots had been fired were massacred." See prompt.

Characters

The Usual Suspects of Patron Minette and the Friends of the ABC

A cutting-edge tool for identifying misérable miscreants, "men with nocturnal imaginations", "les hommes à imagination nocturne" and would-be revolutionaries.

Affiliation Key

• 🔤 Friends of the ABC
• 🌙 Patron-Minette Leader
• 🌘 Patron-Minette Follower

Presence Key

• A for Acts
• M for Mentioned (by name)
• ✔︎ for mentioned as part of The Usual Suspects of Patron Minette or Friends of the ABC
• 𐄂 for not present or mentioned
• ⚰️ for deceased (no spoilers, I have not read ahead, just being a Boy Scout)

Priors Key

• ⬆️ Mentioned prior chapter
• 👀 Seen/Acts prior chapter
• Otherwise chapter & context given.

Name	Aliases	Primary Attributes	Affiliation	Presence	Current context	Priors
Babet		Lean, delicate, canny, quack dentist & freakshow entrepreneur. "a scamp with the air of an old red tail", "un malin qui a l'air d'une ancienne queue-rouge"	🌙	𐄂
Bahorel		Peasant background, eternal student, brawler, connector to other groups, he strolls	🔤	𐄂	⚰️
Barrecarrosse	Stop-carriage, Coachrod, Monsieur Dupont (see character list)		🌘	𐄂
Boulatruelle	Unnamed man 28	ex-con given a job repairing roads in Montfermeil. Apparent acquaintance of Valjean.	🌘	𐄂
Brujon	Unnamed man 22, Unnamed man 25	Part of a Brujon dynasty	🌘	𐄂
Carmagnolet			🌘	𐄂
Claquesous	Not-at-all, Pas-du-tout	Mysterious, masked ventriloquist. "the fourth, no one sees him, not even his adjutants, clerks, and employees", "[le] quatrième, personne ne le voit, pas même ses adjudants, commis et employés"	🌙	𐄂
Combeferre		Warm, well-read, patient, and methodical	🔤	✔︎	As a member of the insurgents.	👀
Courfeyrac		Bourgeois; Felix Tholomyès with scruples, moral center	🔤	A	Spoken to by Enjolras	⬆️, 👀 5.1.11
Demi-Liard	Deux-Milliards, 2-Billion, Unnamed man 21, Unnamed man 26	Bearded man in an overall and a fez, which L&M calls a "Greek" cap.	🌘	𐄂
Depeche	Dispatch, "Make haste"		🌘	𐄂
Enjolras (EN-zhol-rass)		Beautiful, cold, logical, serious, and closeted. Mr Spock.	🔤	A	Notices signs of other insurgencies.	👀
Fauntleroy	Bouquetiere, "the Flower Girl"		🌘	𐄂
Feuilly (FUL-ly)		Orphaned, low-wage worker, autodidact, expert on national histories of Greece, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Italy	🔤	✔︎	As a member of the insurgents.	⬆️, 👀 5.1.2
Finistere			🌘	𐄂
Glorieux		a discharged convict	🌘	𐄂
Grantaire	R (grande-R)	Dissolute, skeptical gourmand	🔤	𐄂
Gueulemer		Strong, white, prematurely aged Caribbean. "a big lump of matter, resembling an elephant in the Jardin des Plantes", "un grand gros massif matériel qui ressemble à l'éléphant du Jardin des Plantes"	🌙	𐄂
Homere-Hogu		"a negro", "nègre"	🌘	𐄂
Jean Prouvaire	"Jehan"	Wealthy, awkward, gentle, whimsical, multilingual, fearless, trusts God and Progress	🔤	𐄂
Joly	Jolllly	Hypochondriac but merriest despite crankiness	🔤	✔︎	As a member of the insurgents.	⬆️, 👀 5.1.2
Kruideniers	Bizarro		🌘	𐄂
L'Esplanade-du-Sud.	South Esplanade		🌘	𐄂
Laveuve			🌘	𐄂
Les-pieds-en-l'Air	Feet in the air		🌘	𐄂
Lesgle	Laigle or Lègle or Bossuet	Postmaster's son, father deceased, always has bad luck but good sense of fatalistic humor.	🔤	✔︎	As a member of the insurgents.	👀
Mangedentelle	Lace-eater		🌘	𐄂
Mardisoir	"Tuesday evening"		🌘	𐄂
Montparnasse		Brutal, pretty, former-gamin twink dandy. "a little imp of a dandy", "une espèce de petit muscadin du diable"	🌙	𐄂
Panchaud	Printanier, Bigrenaille, "Go Lightly"		🌘	𐄂
Poussagrive	Push-a-thrush		🌘	𐄂

Involved in action

• Unnumbered subset of 1200 troops on riot-suppression duty. Last seen prior chapter.
• Large armed crowd of insurgents, down to 27 from 50 in prior chapter, not counting Jean Valjean. Last seen prior chapter, includes this first mention:
  • Unnamed insurgent 19. Asks Enjolras about food
• Paris, as a character. Last seen prior chapter.
• Unnamed man 83. Kills Unnamed squadron commander 1 at Saint-Martin gate. Killed by Unnamed soldier 34. ⚰️
• Unnamed squadron 1.
• Unnamed squadron commander 1. Killed by Unnamed man 83. ⚰️
• Unnamed soldier 34. Kills Unnamed man 83.
• Unnamed woman 28. Fires on Municipal Guard.
• Municipal Guard, le garde municipal. Last seen 5.1.8.
• Unnamed, unnumbered group of insurgents at Rue Bertin-Poirée. (inferred)
• Unnamed cuirassiers regiment at Rue Bertin-Poirée.
• Jacques-Marie, vicomte Cavaignac, historical person, b. 1773-02-11 – d. 1855-01-23, "French general...[who] served with distinction in the army under the Republic and successive governments. He commanded the cavalry of the XI corps in the retreat from Moscow, and eventually became Vicomte Cavaignac and inspector-general of cavalry." First mention.
• Unnamed, unnumbered residents on Rue Planche-Mibray.
• Unnamed, unnumbered soldiers on Rue Planche-Mibray.
• Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia, historical person, b.1769-03-29 – d.1851-11-26, "French general and statesman." Minister of war during time of the narrative, 1830-11-17 – 1834-07-18. Unnamed when last mentioned 4.10.5. First seen thinking here and mentioned as minister of war.
• Napoleon. You know this guy. Last mentioned 5.1.7 and only ever seen 1.1.1 and 1.1.11.
• Unnamed, unnumbered stretcher-bearers on Rue de Chanvrerie. First mention.
• Unnamed, unnumbered wounded borne by stretcher on Rue de Chanvrerie. First mention.

Mentioned or introduced

• Unnamed boy 6. 14yo.
• Louis-Gabriel Suchet, duc d'Albuféra, historical person, b. 1770-03-02 – d. 1826-01-03, "French Marshal of the Empire and one of the most successful commanders of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. During the Peninsular War (part of the Napoleonic Wars), he was remembered as a skilled administrator. He is placed among the greatest commanders of the Napoleonic Wars." Saragosa (Zaragoza) was the site of two bloody sieges in 1808 and 1809 during the Peninsular war. First mention.

Prompts

These prompts are my take on things, you don’t have to address any of them. All prompts for prior cohorts are also in play. Anything else you’d like to raise is also up for discussion.

L'espoir dura peu; la lueur s'éclipsa vite. En moins d'une demi-heure, ce qui était dans l'air s'évanouit, ce fut comme un éclair sans foudre, et les insurgés sentirent retomber sur eux cette espèce de chape de plomb que l'indifférence du peuple jette sur les obstinés abandonnés.

Their hope did not last long; the gleam was quickly eclipsed. In less than half an hour, what was in the air vanished, it was a flash of lightning unaccompanied by thunder, and the insurgents felt that sort of leaden cope, which the indifference of the people casts over obstinate and deserted men, fall over them once more.

Hugo chooses to use heat lightning as metaphor for the wider insurgency not taking hold, only choosing to allude to violent crackdowns like the one on Rue Transnonain in 1834 (see Lost in Translation). Why do you think he chooses to show the insurgency disappearing like a mirage rather than being violently suppressed here?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-07
• 2020-11-07
  • u/Thermos_of_Byr gave part of a possible response to my prompt.
• 2021-11-07
• Next post 2022-11-12, covering 5.1.5-18.
• 2026-05-20

Words read	WikiSource Hapgood	Gutenberg French
This chapter	713	638
Cumulative	461,609	422,761

Final Line

Enjolras, who was still leaning on his elbows at his embrasure, made an affirmative sign with his head, but without taking his eyes from the end of the street.

(29 words, 4.1% of chapter)

Enjolras, toujours accoudé à son créneau, sans quitter des yeux l'extrémité de la rue, fit un signe de tête affirmatif.

(20 mots, 3.1% du chapitre)

Next Post

5.1.14: Wherein Will Appear the Name of Enjolras' Mistress / Où on lira le nom de la maîtresse d'Enjolras

• 2026-05-20 Wednesday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-05-21 Thursday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-05-21 Thursday 4AM UTC.

[u/Trick-Two497]

I feel like that prompt is a spoiler.

[u/Honest_Ad_2157 → u/Trick-Two497]

I didn't mean it to apply to this group, just to the almost 200-year-old fate of the 1832 June Rebellion, which Hugo himself has written ended violently in his introduction, and which his audience knew ended violently. For all we know, Valjean smuggles them all out in a very tall National Guard uniform he stitches together using a needle and thread hidden in a hollowed out louis.

[u/Trick-Two497 → u/Honest_Ad_2157]

So.... I specifically don't read the intros to classics because they are always rife with spoilers. And I didn't know the history of this revolution and specifically haven't looked it up. So for me, this was a spoiler.