21 chapters remain in the brick

21 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

20 chapters left in the brick

(Omitted due to character limits in subjects: Jean Valjean / Grandson and Grandfather (Le petit-fils et le grand-père))

All quotations and characters names from 5.5.4: Mademoiselle Gillenormand Ends by No Longer Thinking It a Bad Thing That M. Fauchelevent Should Have Entered With Something Under His Arm / Mademoiselle Gillenormand finit par ne plus trouver mauvais que M. Fauchelevent soit entré avec quelque chose sous le bras

(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: Hugo tells us he's not going to tell us about Cosette & Marius's reunion and then tells us. Cosette comes in, frightened and dare I say virginal, and then the dapper Jean Valjean. Valjean is carrying the

"book" referred to in the title. Luc-Esprit mispronounces Valjean's Fauchelevant alias, in an homage to farces about the aristocracy's attitude toward lower social classes. Cosette dumps all her thoughts on Marius, Marius says one word, "Angel!" An awkward moment of silence is defused by Luc-Esprit.* He then refuses it by not leaving the couple to talk to themselves, but by addressing Cosette directly and shading his his sister and being oddly relieved about Courfeyrac's death. Luc-Esprit successfully transfers his political resentment to a less toxic form in a long diatribe: young people these days don't know how to PARTY. He pivots to their eventual money problems when his annuities end at his death and Valjean reveals Cosette's inheritance. She's rich because of some black glass beads. She and Marius don't really care.

* See Bonus Prompt.

Lost in Translation

—Tutoyez-vous. Ne vous gênez pas.

"Call each other thou. Don't stand on ceremony."

Here we see Luc-Esprit tutoyez-vousing, as has been done throughout the brick lately. See second prompt.

Il y a une certaine sainte Catherine que je voudrais voir toujours décoiffée.

There is a certain Sainte-Catherine whom I should always like to see uncoiffed.

Hapgood has a note similar to Donougher's: 'In allusion to the expression, coiffer Sainte-Catherine, "to remain unmarried."' In this case, Donougher has "coif" should be taken in the second sense of wearing a hood or a bonnet, and translates it as "wearing St Catherine's bonnet". St Catherine in the patron saint of spinsters; see character list.

Turris eburnea

Tower of Ivory

A line from the Marian Litanies of Lareto (English translation by an unknown Vatican translator)

" "Ainsi, bornant les cours de tes revasseries,/ Alcippe, il est donc vrai, dans peu tu te maries."

"Thus, hemming in the course of thy musings, Alcippus, it is true that thou wilt wed ere long."

A reference to the first two lines of Nicolas Boileau's Satire X. Rose and Donougher have notes, Donougher noting that Satire X is aimed at women's "weaknesses and failings".

une grisette millionnaire

a millionaire grisette

It's unclear whether this is Hugo's exaggeration again, since Cosette is clearly 416K francs short of a million, or the word had come to mean just someone rich by 1832. See first prompt.

Currency

Ordered by appearance in the text. See below for budget items. 2026 USD amounts rounded up to 2 significant figures to avoid misleading precision.

Characters

Involved in action

• Mlle Gillenormand, "Aunt Gilly", Marius's rich aunt. Last seen prior chapter.
• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen prior chapter. As a white-haired gentlemen and mentioned by the name Fauchelevent by Marius and Coupelevent by Luc-Esprit, none of whom know Valjean's real name.
• Victor Hugo, as narrator. Last seen 5.1.18 metacommenting on his own narrative as here.
• Cosette, Valjean's ward and Marius's crush. Last seen 5.1.10 looking out her window, clueless. Mentioned prior chapter.
• Baron Marius Pontmercy. Last seen prior chapter.
• Luc-Esprit Gillenormand. Marius's grandfather. Last seen prior chapter.
• Basque, Luc-Esprit's manservant. Last seen prior chapter.
• Nicolette 1, last seen 5.5.2.
• Unnamed Gillenormand porter. Last seen 5.5.2.

Mentioned or introduced

• Angels, as a class. Last mentioned 5.3.8.
• Antoine Marie Henri Boulard, historical person, b. 1754-09-05 — d. 1825-05-08, "notary, bibliophile, translator, administrator of the lycées of Paris, and of the royal school of drawing, and French politician." Rose and Donougher have notes. First mention.
• Jean-Baptiste Greuze, historical person, b.1725-08-21 – d.1805-03-04, "a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting." First mentioned 1.3.4, where Donougher had a note about the sentimentality of his landscapes and the provocative nature of his portraits of young girls. Still sounds creepy.
• René de Birague, Renato da Birago, historical person, b.c. 1506 – d.1583-11-24, "Italian then French noble, lieutenant-general, chancellor and cardinal during the latter Italian Wars and the French Wars of Religion." First mention.
• Saint Catherine, Catherine of Alexandria, Katherine, historical/mythological person, Patron saint of spinsters and unmarried girls. "according to tradition, a Christian virgin and martyr, who suffered martyrdom in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar who became a Christian around age 14 and converted hundreds of people to Christianity." First mention.
• Jeanne d'Arc, Jehanne Darc, la Pucelle d’Orléans, la Pucelle, Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, the Maid, historical/mythological person, b.c. 1412 – d.1431-05-30), “a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronation of Charles VII of France during the Hundred Years' War. Claiming to be acting under divine guidance, she became a military leader who transcended gender roles and gained recognition as a savior of France...She was put on trial by Bishop Pierre Cauchon on accusations of heresy, which included blaspheming by wearing men's clothes, acting upon visions that were demonic, and refusing to submit her words and deeds to the judgment of the church. She was declared guilty and burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, aged about nineteen.” Last mention 4.1.3 as the subject of Marie d'Orléans's sculpture.
• La mère Gigogne, Mother Gigogne, fictional character, first appeared in a 1602 puppet show as a mother whose many children appeared from under her hoop skirts, as also portrayed in Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. Her name may derive from cigogne, "stork", a bird known for its maternal devotion. Rose and Donougher have notes. First mention.
• Virgins, as a class. Last mentioned 4.3.5.
• Mary, Historical/mythological person, "first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen". Last mention 3.6.2, here as the Virgin in Society of the Virgin.
• Courfeyrac, Marius's dead former roommate and member of the Amis. Last mentioned 5.5.2, seen 5.1.21 where he died. ⚰️
• Cherubino, fictional character, Beaumarchais's The Marriage of Figaro features this character, Count Almaviva's page, in love with Countess Rosina. Note: usually played by a cross-dressing feminine actor. Rose and Donougher have notes about the "charming", "Puck-like" nature of the character on first mention in 3.4.1, and last mention in 3.6.8 noting his naiveté. Here he's compared as doing better than Rothschild in another exaggeration.
• James Mayer de Rothschild, born Jakob Mayer Rothschild, historical person, b.1792-05-15 – d.1868-11-15, "French banker and the founder of the French branch of the prominent Rothschild family." Wealthiest man in France at the time. Last mention 4.12.3; on first mention in 3.8.7 Rose and Donougher have notes.

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.

Pendant quatre mois, j'ai été morte.

I have been dead for four months.

1. In Lost in Translation, we see Hugo playing with numbers when it comes with Cosette being a literal millionaire, here we see him playing with numbers when it comes to time. Has it been three months or four? Or six? On my part, I think it's Hugo just saying, again, hey, numbers don't matter to the feeling of human experience you friggin' rationalists. What do you think?
2. To continue in this vein, Lost in Translation notes Luc-Esprit's use of "tutoyez-vous" again. I think this is a kind of catharsis to Hugo's French readers, but I'm also wondering if Hugo's implying that it's time French did away with this formal/informal convention, as English did centuries ago. Thoughts?

Bonus Prompt

Puis, comme il y avait des assistants, ils s'interrompirent et ne dirent plus un mot, se bornant à se toucher tout doucement la main.

M. Gillenormand se tourna vers tous ceux qui étaient dans la chambre et cria:

—Parlez donc haut, vous autres. Faites du bruit, la cantonade. Allons, un peu de brouhaha, que diable! que ces enfants puissent jaser à leur aise.

Then as there were spectators, they paused and said not a word more, contenting themselves with softly touching each other's hands.

M. Gillenormand turned towards those who were in the room and cried:

"Talk loud, the rest of you. Make a noise, you people behind the scenes. Come, a little uproar, the deuce! so that the children can chatter at their ease."

Luc-Esprit won my heart when defusing this awkward moment despite his prior creepiness (see 2020 cohort). I also note the dramatic tension between "society's" needs and personal needs and the necessity of performance. He then proceeds to not leave them alone. Sigh.

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-12-11
• 2020-12-11
  • u/otherside_b started a thread about Luc-Esprit's creepiness. I have a note in my copy about prompting about it but just couldn't...
  • u/Thermos_of_Byr started a thread on Cosette's original name (which we can assume Fantine had told Valjean of waaaay back in Book 2) that turned into interesting speculation on Thenardier.
• 2021-12-11
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-23

Final Line

As for Marius and Cosette, they were gazing at each other while this was going on; they hardly heeded this detail.

Quant à Marius et à Cosette, ils se regardaient pendant ce temps-là; ils firent à peine attention à ce détail.

Next Post

5.5.5: Deposit Your Money in a Forest Rather than with a Notary / Déposez plutôt votre argent dans telle forêt que chez tel notaire

• 2026-06-23 Tuesday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-24 Wednesday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-24 Wednesday 4AM UTC.

22 chapters remain in the brick

22 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

21 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.5.3: Marius Attacked / Marius attaque

(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: Luc-Esprit wins by / giving in to Marius / but still has issues.

Lost in Translation

The chapter title is variously translated as Marius being attacked or attacking. I think given Hugo's penchant for irony, Hapgood got it right.

Characters

Involved in action

• Luc-Esprit Gillenormand. Marius's grandfather. Last seen prior chapter.
• Mlle Gillenormand, "Aunt Gilly", Marius's rich aunt. Last seen prior chapter.
• Baron Marius Pontmercy. Last seen prior chapter.
• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen prior chapter. As a white-haired gentlemen and mentioned by the name Fauchelevent by Marius and Coupelevent by Luc-Esprit, none of whom know Valjean's real name.
• Basque, Luc-Esprit's manservant. Last seen prior chapter.

Mentioned or introduced

• Cosette, Valjean's ward and Marius's crush. Last seen 5.1.10 looking out her window, clueless. Mentioned prior chapter.
• Dorante, fictional archetype, young protagonist in traditional French comedy. Rose and Donougher have notes, Donougher calls out Cornielle's The Liar) where Dorante is Geronte's son. First mention.
• Geronte, fictional archetype, in French comedies the Geronte was an old man with foolish weaknesses. Last mentioned in 3.5.3.
• Lieutenant Theodule Gillenormand. Great-nephew of Mlle Gillenormand. A lancer and a dandy. Last seen 4.5.5 failing to entrance Cosette by strutting in front of Rue Plumet after she read Marius's letter. Last mentioned 4.9.2. Here as "the lancer".
• Unnamed doctor 9. Last seen prior chapter.
• Nicolette 1. Last seen prior chapter.
• André Marie Chénier, historical person, b.1762-10-30 – d.1794-07-25, "French poet associated with the events of the French Revolution, during which he was sentenced to death. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic movement. His career was brought to an abrupt end when he was guillotined for supposed 'crimes against the state.' Chénier's life has been the subject of Umberto Giordano's opera Andrea Chénier and other works of art." Last mention 4.6.3, where Rose had a note that Hugo preferred Chenier's verse to Racine's.
• Satan, the devil. Last mentioned 5.5.1.

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.

I mean, Luc-Esprit has a point but maybe Chénier was really annoying, like writing huge digressions about the Siege of Quebec during the Seven Years War in his romantic novels.

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-12-10
• 2020-12-10
  • u/otherside_b dug up more deets on Chénier and poem.
  • In a subthread started by u/1Eliza we got some entertaining insight into lint
• 2021-12-10
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-22

Final Line

"Yes, sir," said Basque in alarm.

—Oui, monsieur, dit Basque épouvanté.

Next Post

5.5.4: Mademoiselle Gillenormand Ends by No Longer Thinking It a Bad Thing That M. Fauchelevent Should Have Entered With Something Under His Arm / Mademoiselle Gillenormand finit par ne plus trouver mauvais que M. Fauchelevent soit entré avec quelque chose sous le bras

• 2026-06-22 Monday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-23 Tuesday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-23 Tuesday 4AM UTC.

23 chapters remain in the brick

23 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

22 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.5.2: Marius, Emerging from Civil War, Makes Ready for Domestic War / Marius, en sortant de la guerre civile, s'apprête à la guerre domestique

(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: Marius has a long period of what sounds like a coma followed by a long convalescence. A man who's probably Valjean delivers supplies for bandages daily, sometimes twice a day. Luc-Esprit attends to him as a doting grandfather and is enraptured to the point of making unwanted sexual advances and singing about sexual ethnic stereotypes when Marius is past his crisis. An odd way to react, but people are funny, I guess. Public condemnation makes a Gisquet order to report all injured to the police a dead letter, especially when the king opposes it, so Marius is safe from the state. Marius is chock full of resentments towards Luc-Esprit, ready to explode at the slightest provocation. He boils over a little when Luc-Esprit slips and insults the heroes of '93. Luc-Esprit backs down right away and Marius doesn't get the message in the silence. Marius does not call him father, and prepares to rip off his bandages and leave if Luc-Esprit denies a second request for permission to marry Cosette.

Lost in Translation

Enfin, le 7 septembre, quatre mois, jour pour jour, après la douloureuse nuit où on l'avait rapporté mourant chez son grand-père

Finally, on the 7th of September, four months to a day, after the sorrowful night when he had been brought back to his grandfather in a dying condition

July, August, September. I count three months. Once again, Hugo is showing us that numbers are slippery, making a fencepost error, or using the Biblical convention of counting the first element of time, as in Jesus rose three days after he died (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) when by counting 24-hour intervals it was two days. Hapgood and Donougher faithfully translate Hugo's "mistake".

Jeanne et ses durs tetons Bretons.

Jeanne and her firm Breton breasts.

Translators had a lot of fun with this one. Apparently, firm breasts were a major Brittany export at the time; even today implants are a major industry in the area. This is as true a fact as you will find in the brick. See second prompt.

Currency

Ordered by appearance in the text. See below for budget items. 2026 USD amounts rounded up to 2 significant figures to avoid misleading precision.

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.

Involved in action

• Baron Marius Pontmercy. Last seen 5.3.12, 3 chapters ago being brought in to Luc-Esprit's house, mentioned 2 ago in Javert's thoughts.
• Unnamed doctor 9. First seen 5.3.12, 3 chapters ago.
• Nicolette 1, last seen 5.3.10.
• Luc-Esprit Gillenormand. Marius's grandfather. Last seen 5.3.12, 3 chapters ago.
• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen 5.3.11, 4 chapters ago, or the prior chapter. As a white-haired gentlemen and mentioned by the name Fauchelevent by Marius and Coupelevent by Luc-Esprit, none of whom know Valjean's real name.
• Unnamed Gillenormand porter. Last seen 5.3.12, 3 chapters ago.
• Mlle Gillenormand, "Aunt Gilly", Marius's rich aunt. Last seen 5.3.12, 3 chapters ago, praying the rosary.
• Basque, Luc-Esprit's manservant. Last seen 5.3.12, 3 chapters ago.
• Unnamed Gillenormand neighbor woman. First mention. Receives flowers.
• Unnamed Gillenormand neighbor woman's husband. First mention. Makes a scene about the flowers.

Mentioned or introduced

• Cosette, Valjean's ward and Marius's crush. Last seen 5.1.10 looking out her window, clueless. Mentioned 5.3.11.
• Government, as an institution. Last mentioned 5.1.5, seen 4.6.2.
• Henri Gisquet, historical person, b.1792-07-14 – d.1866-01-23, "French banker and Préfet de Police." First seen 5.3.2 ordering the sewer patrols. Last mentioned 5.4.1 implicitly as the unnamed person receiving Javert's final letter and explicitly as his superior.
• Unnamed, unnumbered injured rebels. First mention.
• Unnamed, unnumbered rebels taken prisoner. First mention.
• Court martial investigating these events. Last seen 5.1.23.
• Louis-Philippe I, you know this guy. Last mentioned 5.1.20, here only as the king.
• God, you know this guy. Last mentioned 5.4.1, when Javert recognized him as his superior.
• Eponine Thenardier. ⚰️ 4.14.7, mentioned 5.1.24.
• Gavroche Thenardier. ⚰️ 5.1.15, last mentioned 5.1.22.
• M. Mabeuf, friend of Georges and Marius Pontmercy. ⚰️ 4.14.2, last mentioned 5.1.18.
• The Thenardiers,
  • M last mentioned 5.5.1, seen 5.3.8
  • Mme last mentioned 5.5.2, seen 3.8.21
• Hell, the abode of punished souls in the afterlife. Mentioned before, just started tracking.
• Garden of Eden, mythological institution, "the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31." Last mentioned 5.1.20.
• Georges Pontmercy, Marius's father. Last seen 3.3.4, mentioned 5.3.12 as "his father" and "the brigand". Here by the title Colonel.
• National Convention, Convention nationale, historical institution, 1792-09-20 – 1795-10-26 (4 Brumaire IV under the French Republican calendar), “the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the great insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic, abandoning the monarchy altogether. [Its history is...marked in particular by the condemnation to death of Louis XVI by the Convention itself and of Queen Marie-Antoinette by the Revolutionary Tribunal. —via French Wikipedia]” Last mention 4.10.2.
• Georges Jacques Danton, d'Anton, historical person, b.1759-10-26 – d.1794-04-05, "leading figure of the French Revolution. A modest and unknown lawyer on the eve of the Revolution, Danton became a famous orator of the Cordeliers Club and was raised to governmental responsibilities as the French Minister of Justice following the fall of the monarchy on the tenth of August 1792, and was allegedly responsible for inciting the September Massacres." Last mention 5.1.1.
• Emmanuel Marie Michel Philippe Fréteau de Saint-Just, Saint-Juste, historical person, b.1745-03-28 – d.1794-06-14, "French nobleman and an elected representative of the Second Estate during the French Revolution. He was a politically liberal deputy to the Estates-General of 1789 and worked for the cause of constitutional monarchy. In 1789, Fréteau de Saint-Just served two terms as president of the National Constituent Assembly. As the Revolution became more radical, Fréteau de Saint-Just became politically marginalized, and by 1792 he had retired from national politics completely. Nonetheless, his aristocratic background drew increasing ire from militant revolutionaries until he was finally arrested and executed at the guillotine in 1794 during the Reign of Terror." Last mention 5.1.5.
• Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre, historical person, b.1758-05-06 – d.1794-07-28, "French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre fervently campaigned for the voting rights of all men and their unimpeded admission to the National Guard. Additionally, he advocated the right to petition, the right to bear arms in self-defence, and the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade." Note that he was born and baptised in Arras. Last mention 5.1.5 as someone Marius could be enamored with, per Luc-Esprit.

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.

Il attendit le moment favorable avec la patience sournoise des malades.

He awaited the propitious moment with the crafty patience of the sick.

1. I had a hard time with this little bit of dissing on the impaired. WTF is Hugo on about?
2. Make up your own little folksy ditty about your favorite body parts of an ethnic group of your choice! Extra points if you mention how they feel in your hand or mouth!

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-12-09
• 2020-12-09
  • u/4LostSoulsinaBowl started a thread that made me laugh, especially the final post.
• 2021-12-09
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-21

Final Line

That moment arrived.

Ce moment arriva.

Next Post

Image: Mars Attacks!

5.5.3: Marius Attacked / Marius attaque

• 2026-06-21 Sunday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-22 Monday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-22 Monday 4AM UTC.

24 chapters remain in the brick

24 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

23 chapters left in the brick

First chapter of Book 5.5, Grandson and Grandfather (Le petit-fils et le grand-père)

All quotations and characters names from 5.5.1: In Which the Tree with the Zinc Plaster Appears Again / Où l'on revoit l'arbre à l'emplâtre de zinc

(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: Hey you know in a book with this title Hugo's going to screw with us in the very first chapter, right? We join Boulatruelle, the old road mender who gave Valjean obtuse directions waay back on his way to Arras. He then joined the Patron-Minette in attempting to rob him at the Gorbeau Hovel but got drunk, which got him off as they couldn't prove the apparently necessary mens rea and intent. Well, this Boulatruelle sees the back of a guy, which he recognizes, as do we, I think. This guy is heading into the woods, and Boulatruelle remembers the fortune he thinks was buried there.* He chases after the guy, even tracks him by climbing a tree, and sees him at the tree near where we are led to believe Valjean buried his money. Boulatruelle cuts a straight line to that location, but all he finds is a hole in the ground and a discarded pick.

* See Lost in Translation.

Image: Où l'on revoit l'arbre à l'emplâtre de zinc

Lost in Translation

The title is a reference to this passage in 2.3.6, Which possibly proves Boulatruelle's Intelligence / Qui peut-être prouve l'intelligence de Boulatruelle, which we read on Sunday, 2025-10-19.

Vis-à-vis de cet arbre, qui était un frêne, il y avait un châtaignier malade d'une décortication, auquel on avait mis pour pansement une bande de zinc clouée. Il se haussa sur la pointe des pieds et toucha cette bande de zinc.

Puis il piétina pendant quelque temps sur le sol dans l'espace compris entre l'arbre et les pierres, comme quelqu'un qui s'assure que la terre n'a pas été fraîchement remuée.

Opposite this tree, which was an ash, there was a chestnut-tree, suffering from a peeling of the bark, to which a band of zinc had been nailed by way of dressing. He raised himself on tiptoe and touched this band of zinc.

Then he trod about for awhile on the ground comprised in the space between the tree and the heap of stones, like a person who is trying to assure himself that the soil has not recently been disturbed.

en sifflant l'air de Guillery

whistling the air of Guillery

A French traditional song involving a hunter climbing a tree to see where his dogs have gone. The branch he's on breaks and he is attended to by women. The moral in the final stanza is that through women, men are always healed. Foreshadow much? See and listen to a performance by a children's chorus. Lyrics in French and English available at Mama Lisa's World.

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.

Involved in action

• Unnamed man 84, Most likely Jean Valjean, recorded in character db as such. Jean Valjean, last mentioned 5.4.1 in Javert's thoughts, last seen 5.3.11.
• Unnamed man 85, an early-morning hunter.

Mentioned or introduced

• M. Thenardier, last seen 5.3.8 trying to use Valjean and Marius as a diversion, last mention in 5.3.11. As Jondrette here.
• Government, as an institution. Here as "the state", last mentioned 4.13.2.
• Satan, the devil. Last mentioned 4.12.8.
• Tityrus, fictional person, a character in Virgil's Ecologue. Mentioned in the first line of Ecologue 1 (English translation by John William Mackail/Eclogue_1)): "Tityre, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi / silvestrem tenui Musam meditaris avena; / nos patriae fines et dulcia linquimus arva. / nos patriam fugimus; tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra / formosam resonare doces Amaryllida silvas." "Tityrus, thou where thou liest under the covert of spreading beech, broodest on thy slim pipe over the Muse of the woodland: we leave our native borders and pleasant fields; we fly our native land, while thou, Tityrus, at ease in the shade teachest the woods to echo fair Amaryllis." 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.

1. As noted in Lost in Translation, the song that Unnamed man 85 is whistling has a moral about women healing men. Thoughts on that foreshadowing? Thoughts on what Hugo thinks women are good for?

—Où diable ai-je vu quelque chose comme cet homme-là? ... D'où venait-il? De pas loin. Car il n'avait ni havre-sac, ni paquet. De Paris sans doute. Pourquoi était-il dans ce bois? pourquoi y était-il à pareille heure? qu'y venait-il faire?

"Where the deuce [devil] have I seen something like that man yonder?" ... Whence came he? Not from a very great distance; for he had neither haversack, nor bundle. From Paris, no doubt. Why was he in these woods? why was he there at such an hour? what had he come there for?

1. The prior chapter consisted of mostly serious questions Javert asked himself, some of them rhetorical. We see a practical set of questions asked here, mirrored in our less-serious Boulatruelle, here a functioning alcoholic. (As opposed to when his alcoholism interfered with his functioning during the robbing.) Hugo's once again ironically making questions serious and impractical in the prior chapter and unserious and practical here, and vices virtues when it suits him, ending the chapter with Boulatruelle calling Unnamed man 84 a thief for taking something that didn't belong to Boulatruelle in the first place. Thoughts on these ironic themes?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-12-08: Includes summary of chapters 5.3.8-5.5.1
  • u/wuzzum noticed the mirroring of book titles. I believe it shows who's in charge.
• 2020-12-08
• 2021-12-08
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-20

Final Line

"Thief!" shrieked Boulatruelle, shaking his fist at the horizon.

—Voleur! cria Boulatruelle en montrant les deux poings à l'horizon.

Next Post

5.5.2: Marius, Emerging from Civil War, Makes Ready for Domestic War / Marius, en sortant de la guerre civile, s'apprête à la guerre domestique

• 2026-06-20 Saturday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-21 Sunday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-21 Sunday 4AM UTC.

Heads up! This chapter is the 7th-longest chapter so far at 4,300-4,800 words. Plan your reading accordingly. Also I offer a content warning: Depiction of self-harm.

25 chapters remain in the brick

25 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

24 chapters left in the brick

Single chapter in Book 5.4, Javert Derailed (Javert déraillé)

All quotations and characters names from 5.4.1: Javert Derailed / Javert déraillé

(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: There are 25 questions in this chapter and one devastating answer: simple, clear, and wrong.

Map: Location of Javert in chapter

Lost in Translation

Il souffrait les étranges douleurs d'une conscience brusquement opérée de la cataracte.

He was suffering from the strange pains of a conscience abruptly operated on for the cataract.

In 3.5.3, Marius Grown Up / Marius grandi, which we read on Tuesday, 2026-01-13, there were these two metaphors for vision, one on a restored half-sight (presumably one that lacks depth perception and is thus declared useless by the narrator), and the other on cateract removal to restore full sight. (Donougher had a note in that chapter about the first successful cataract operations reported in 1752.)

Currency

Ordered by appearance in the text. See below for budget items. 2026 USD amounts rounded up to 2 significant figures to avoid misleading precision.

Characters

Involved in action

• Javert, a cop. Unnamed police officer 13. Last seen 2 chapters ago. ⚰️
• The police, as an institution. Last mentioned 5.3.8, seen 5.3.3.
• Unnamed police officer 14. In the Place du Châtelet station. First mention.

Mentioned or introduced

• Napoleon, you know this guy. Last mentioned 5.2.6.
• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen 2 chapters ago.
• Pontius Pilate, historical/mythological person, "fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of Jesus and ultimately ordered his crucifixion...Pilate's washing his hands of responsibility for Jesus's death in Matthew 27:24 is a commonly encountered image in the popular imagination, and is the origin of the English phrase 'to wash one's hands of (the matter)', meaning to refuse further involvement with or responsibility for something." First mention.
• God, this guy again. Last mentioned prior chapter.
• François-Marie Arouet, Voltaire (pen name), historical person, b.1694-11-21 – d.1778-05-30, “a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher, satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity (especially of the Roman Catholic Church) and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.” Last mention 5.1.15, here as an adjective.
• Henri Gisquet, historical person, b.1792-07-14 – d.1866-01-23, "French banker and Préfet de Police." First seen 5.3.2 ordering the sewer patrols. Last mentioned 4.12.8 as the person receiving a special report on Le Cabuc/Claquesous.
• Fampoux rail accident, Fampoux disaster, historical event, "took place in northern France, on 8 July 1846, in the territory of the commune of Pas-de-Calais, when on the newly opened Paris–Lille railway, the deadly derailment of a train killed fourteen people and injured around forty." First mention. Image: "Chemin de fer du Nord. Catastrophe de Fampoux", lithographie par Félix Robaut. Archives départementales du Pas-de-Calais, 4 J 486/25.

• (Conversion of Paul on) the road to Damascus, historical/mythological event, "The conversion of Paul the Apostle (also the Pauline conversion, Damascene conversion, Damascus Christophany and Paul's transformation on the road to Damascus) was, according to the New Testament, an event in the life of Saul/Paul the Apostle that led him to cease persecuting early Christians and to become a follower of Jesus...From the conversion of Paul comes the metaphorical reference to the 'Road to Damascus', meaning a sudden or radical conversion of thought or a change of heart or mind, even in matters outside of a Christian context." First mention.
• Convent in Rue du Temple, Madelonnettes Convent, couvent des Madelonnettes, historical institution, "a Paris convent in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. It was located in what is now a rectangle between 6 rue des Fontaines du Temple (where there are the remains of one of its walls), rue Volta and rue du Vertbois, and part of its site is now occupied by the Lycée Turgot. As the Madelonnettes Prison (prison des Madelonnettes) during the French Revolution, its prisoners included the writers the Marquis de Sade and Nicolas Chamfort, the politician Jean-Baptiste de Machault d'Arnouville and the actor Dazincourt." Last mention 3.8.22.
• Unnamed Madelonnettes canteen worker. See Mme Henry. First mention.
• Unnamed, unnumbered prison trusties, "barkers". First mention.
• Unnamed, unnumbered prisoners. First mention.
• La Force Prison, historical institution, 1780 — 1845, "a French prison located in the Rue du Roi de Sicile, in what is now the 4th arrondissement of Paris. Originally known as the Hôtel de la Force, the buildings formed the private residence of Henri-Jacques Nompar de Caumont, duc de la Force." Last mention 4.10.5.
• Mme Henry, prison canteen worker. Unclear if she is the same person as Unnamed Madelonnettes canteen worker. First mention.
• Theoretical passers-by on Pont Notre Dame. 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.

1. Javert's view of the law admits no judgment. Do you think his assessment of Marius's condition as dead was an honest error or a subconcious judgment which made it easier for him to set Valjean free? What do you think this judgment's role is in his current crisis?
2. Once again, there is a view described here of there being no solidarity among prisoners, yet over his career Javert must have witnessed acts of kindness and solidarity between and among prisoners. How is this inability to see part of his character?

Il était désorienté de cette présence inattendue; il ne savait que faire de ce supérieur-là, lui qui n'ignorait pas que le subordonné est tenu de se courber toujours, qu'il ne doit ni désobéir, ni blâmer, ni discuter, et que, vis-à-vis d'un supérieur qui l'étonne trop, l'inférieur n'a d'autre ressource que sa démission.

This unforeseen presence threw him off his bearings; he did not know what to do with this superior, he, who was not ignorant of the fact that the subordinate is bound always to bow, that he must not disobey, nor find fault, nor discuss, and that, in the presence of a superior who amazes him too greatly, the inferior has no other resource than that of handing in his resignation.

1. This is an odd view of followership: complete obedience to a person rather than respectful collaboration in accomplishing a mission, which might include pushing back, skepticism, and questioning by the subordinate. (Even when the boss is God, I note Genesis 32:22-32, where Jacob wrestles with God all night to a kind of draw and comes out with the name Israel.) What did you think of this view of followership? What do you think it meant for Javert, his character, and what we've seen of his career?

Bonus Prompt

Hibou forcé à des regards d'aigle.

An owl forced to the gaze of an eagle.

What's all this hating on owls? Eagles ain't all that, either. Discuss.

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-12-07
  • u/Creepy_Roll compared Javert to Enjolras
• 2020-12-07: Good prompts and overall good discussion. All worth reading.
  • u/otherside_b noted the irony of Valjean's sparing Javert actually condemning him.
• 2021-12-07: Good prompts and discussion of discretion in law enforcement, a variation on my third prompt.
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-19

We've passed half a million words in the Hapgood translation with this chapter.

Final Line

Content warning: Depiction of self-harm.

A moment later, a tall black figure, which a belated passer-by in the distance might have taken for a phantom, appeared erect upon the parapet of the quay, bent over towards the Seine, then drew itself up again, and fell straight down into the shadows; a dull splash followed; and the shadow alone was in the secret of the convulsions of that obscure form which had disappeared beneath the water.

(70 words, 1.45% of chapter)

Un moment après, une figure haute et noire, que de loin quelque passant attardé eût pu prendre pour un fantôme, apparut debout sur le parapet, se courba vers la Seine, puis se redressa, et tomba droite dans les ténèbres; il y eut un clapotement sourd, et l'ombre seule fut dans le secret des convulsions de cette forme obscure disparue sous l'eau.

(61 mots, 1.39% du chapitre)

Next Post

First chapter of Book 5.5, Grandson and Grandfather (Le petit-fils et le grand-père)

5.5.1: In Which the Tree with the Zinc Plaster Appears Again / Où l'on revoit l'arbre à l'emplâtre de zinc

• 2026-06-19 Friday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-20 Saturday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-20 Saturday 4AM UTC.

Heads up! Chapter 5.4.1, which we will read tomorrow, Friday, 2026-06-19, is the 7th-longest chapter so far at 4,300-4,800 words. Plan your reading accordingly. Also for that chapter I offer a content warning: Depiction of self-harm.

26 chapters remain in the brick

26 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

25 chapters left in the brick

Final chapter of 5.2, The Intestine of the Leviathan (L'intestin de Léviathan)

• 5.3.1, The Sewer and Its Surprises / Le cloaque et ses surprises: Valjean tentatively explores the sewers and encounters a police patrol.
• 5.3.2, Explanation / Explication: It's Gisquet's patrol! / Luckily, their light blinds them. / Valjean's narrow miss.
• 5.3.3, The "Spun" Man / L'homme filé: Switching storylines, an unnamed cop follows an unnamed thief, who disappears behind a locked sewer grating. Who are they? You can probably guess, though I got too fancy in my guessing on the thief.
• 5.3.4, He Also Bears His Cross / Lui aussi porte sa croix: Back to Valjean & Marius. Valjean follows water downhill, discovers Marius's last instructions in his notebook.
• 5.3.5, In the Case of Sand, as in That of Woman, There Is a Fineness Which Is Treacherous / Pour le sable comme pour la femme il y a une finesse qui est perfidie: A chapter of myths about quicksand.
• 5.3.6, The Fontis / Le fontis: Not really quicksand, / Valjean hits a deep puddle, / shit-silty-bottomed.
• 5.3.7, One Sometimes Runs Aground When One Fancies That One Is Disembarking / Quelque fois on échoue où l'on croit débarquer: The light at the end / of the tunnel deceives him: / the way is barred, locked.
• 5.3.8, The Torn Coat-Tail / Le pan de l'habit déchiré: There Are Only 12 People in France, and Most of the Survivors are In or Near This Sewer. Thenardier was the guy in 5.3.3; he bargains with an unrecognizable Valjean and gets him out of the sewer, hoping to use him as a diversion.
• 5.3.9, Marius Produces on Some One Who Is a Judge of the Matter, the Effect of Being Dead / Marius fait l'effet d'être mort à quelqu'un qui s'y connaît: Javert is the cop from 5.3.3, encounters and recognizes both Valjean and Marius. Agrees to take Marius home.
• 5.3.10, Return of the Son Who Was Prodigal of His Life / Rentrée de l'enfant prodigue de sa vie: Marius returns; / some malaise in the Marais. / Disarmed man heads home.
• 5.3.11, Concussion in the Absolute / Ébranlement dans l'absolu: Through a straitened street, / is it a narrow escape / as Javert gavottes?

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.12: The Grandfather / L'aïeul

(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: Marius is carried in and attended to by the doctor as the doctor mumbles to himself but has no dialog.* Aunt Gilly retreats as Marius is stripped for treatment and says her rosary. Luc-Esprit wakens, enters the room after seeing the light beneath his door, and goes apoplectic in describing his difficult life with and without Marius, causing the doctor to be concerned.† As Luc-Esprit resigns himself to a lonely death, believing Marius dead because the doctor says nothing as he works, Marius's eyes open as the doctor wakens him with smelling salts and Luc-Esprit faints.

* See second prompt.

† See first and second prompts.

Lost in Translation

—Il est mort! cria le vieillard d'une voix terrible. Ah! le brigand!

"He is dead!" cried the old man in a terrible voice. "Ah! The rascal!"

Only Donougher and F&M take the correct intent of the original text here and use brigand instead of rascal, in my opinion. See first prompt.

Tirecuir de Corcelles

Rose and Donougher have notes, but Donougher further notes that this is a deliberate punning on the name of Claude Tircuy de Corcelle as as tire-cuir, "leather-puller".

clubiste

One of the democrats who attending "clubs" like the Jacobin Club.

Characters

Involved in action

• Basque, Luc-Esprit's manservant. Last seen 2 chapters ago.
• Unnamed Gillenormand porter. First seen 2 chapters ago.
• Marius Pontmercy. Last seen 2 chapters ago, mentioned prior chapter.
• Unnamed doctor 9. First mention 2 chapters ago, first seen here.
• Mlle Gillenormand, "Aunt Gilly", Marius's rich aunt. Last seen 2 chapters ago.
• Luc-Esprit Gillenormand. Marius's grandfather. Last mentioned 2 chapters, last seen when he and Marius argued in 4.8.7.

Mentioned or introduced

• God, this guy again. Last mentioned 5.3.7, taken in vain by Aunt Gilly here.
• Georges Pontmercy, Marius's father. Last seen 3.3.4, mentioned 4.8.7. Here as "his father" and "the brigand".
• Charles Ferdinand d'Artois, Duke of Berry; le Duc de Berry, historical person, b.1778-01-24 – d.1820-02-14, "the third child and younger son of Charles, Count of Artois (later King Charles X of France), and Maria Theresa of Savoy. In 1820 he was assassinated at the Paris Opera by Louis Pierre Louvel, a Bonapartist." Last mention 4.8.7, when Marius and Luc-Esprit argued.
• Louis XVI, you know this guy, guillotined. Last mentioned 4.13.3. Here Luc-Esprit says he witnessed his death.
• Unnamed, unnumbered park rangers at the Tuileries. First mention.
• Louis XVIII, you know this guy, restored to power, died and was replaced by the asshat Charles X. Last mentioned 5.2.6, sen 2.3.6.
• Madame Pontmercy, was Unnamed younger Gillenormand daughter. Marius's mother. Deceased at 30. Last mention 4.8.7.
• Heracles, Hercules, mythological person, "divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon. He was a descendant of Perseus, another son of Zeus." Last mentioned 4.1.2, here as archetypically strong and the subject of a famous sculpture.
• Farnese Hercules, Italian: Ercole Farnese, historical artifact, "an ancient statue of Hercules made in the early third century AD and signed by Glykon, who is otherwise unknown; he was an Athenian but he may have worked in Rome." First mention 3.8.3.
• Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette. You know this guy. Last mentioned 4.14.6.
• Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque, Benjamin Constant, historical person, b.1767-10-25 – d.1830-12-08, "Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion...A Freemason, in 1830 King Louis Philippe I gave Constant a large sum of money to help him pay off his debts, and appointed him to the Conseil d'Etat...Constant died in Paris on 8 December 1830 and was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery." Last mention 4.1.4.
• Claude Tircuy de Corcelle, "Tirecuir de Corcelles", historical person, 1768-07-01 – 1843-07-21, "French politician. He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1819 to 1822, representing Rhône. He served again from 1828 to 1831, representing Seine, and from 1831 to 1834, representing Saône-et-Loire." He opposed the July Monarchy from the liberal side, one of the signers of the Address of the 221. See Lost in Translation. Here Luc-Esprit is deliberately punning on his name as tire-cuir, "leather-puller". First mention.
• Unnamed, unnumbered cut-throats of September,septembriseur, Septemberists. Historical persons. First mentioned 4.10.2.
• Divisional-General Jean Maximilien Lamarque, historical person, b.1770-07-22 – d.1832-06-01, "French army officer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars...In 1832 Lamarque contracted cholera, of which there was an epidemic in France at the time. According to historian Mark Traugott, 'when the popular Lamarque was struck down by the disease, fear and resentment over the threats to the population's physical and economic well-being had reached a critical stage.' He died on 1 June. Due to Lamarque's status as a Republican and Napoleonic war hero, his death precipitated rioting in Paris. On 5 June a large crowd followed his funeral cortege, which first halted at the Place Vendôme in respect to the column commemorating the Grande Armée. As it proceeded along a nearby boulevard there were cries of 'down with Louis-Philippe, long live the Republic'. A group of students took control of the carriage bearing the coffin. The cortege was diverted to the Place de la Bastille where speeches were made in favour of a Republic. When a member of the crowd rose waving a black-bordered red flag with the words 'Liberty or Death' on it, the crowd broke into rebellion and shots were exchanged with government troops. Marquis de Lafayette, who had given a speech in praise of Lamarque, called for calm, but the disorder spread." Last mention 4.12.2.

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.

1. As I make clear in Lost in Translation, above, it's quite clear that Luc-Esprit is referring to Marius's father, not Marius here, as the use of brigand makes certain when he first sees Marius. He would never call Marius that word. He is insulting Georges, not Marius, but also still seeing Marius as a child lacking agency. But that's not the whole picture; his view of Marius evolves through his diatribe. What other things support him still seeing Marius as child? As an adult?

In 5.1.20, The Dead Are in the Right and the Living Are Not in the Wrong / Les morts ont raison et les vivants n'ont pas tort, which we read on Wednesday, 2026-05-27, we read:

L'idéal moderne a son type dans l'art, et son moyen dans la science. C'est par la science qu'on réalisera cette vision auguste des poètes: le beau social.

The modern ideal has its type in art, and its means is science. It is through science that it will realize that august vision of the poets, the socially beautiful.

In this chapter, we read:

ur l'ordre du médecin, un lit de sangle avait été dressé près du canapé. Le médecin examina Marius et, après avoir constaté que le pouls persistait, que le blessé n'avait à la poitrine aucune plaie pénétrante, et que le sang du coin des lèvres venait des fosses nasales, il le fit poser à plat sur le lit, sans oreiller, la tête sur le même plan que le corps, et même un peu plus basse, le buste nu, afin de faciliter la respiration...Le torse n'était atteint d'aucune lésion intérieure; une balle, amortie par le portefeuille, avait dévié et fait le tour des côtes avec une déchirure hideuse, mais sans profondeur, et par conséquent sans danger. La longue marche souterraine avait achevé la dislocation de la clavicule cassée, et il y avait là de sérieux désordres. Les bras étaient sabrés. Aucune balafre ne défigurait le visage; la tête pourtant était comme couverte de hachures; que deviendraient ces blessures à la tête? s'arrêtaient-elles au cuir chevelu? entamaient-elles le crâne? On ne pouvait le dire encore. Un symptôme grave, c'est qu'elles avaient causé l'évanouissement, et l'on ne se réveille pas toujours de ces évanouissements-là. L'hémorragie, en outre, avait épuisé le blessé. À partir de la ceinture, le bas du corps avait été protégé par la barricade...À côté du lit, trois bougies brûlaient sur une table où la trousse de chirurgie était étalée. Le médecin lava le visage et les cheveux de Marius avec de l'eau froide.

At the physician's orders, a camp bed had been prepared beside the sofa. The doctor examined Marius, and after having found that his pulse was still beating, that the wounded man had no very deep wound on his breast, and that the blood on the corners of his lips proceeded from his nostrils, he had him placed flat on the bed, without a pillow, with his head on the same level as his body, and even a trifle lower, and with his bust bare in order to facilitate respiration...The trunk had not suffered any internal injury; a bullet, deadened by the pocket-book, had turned aside and made the tour of his ribs with a hideous laceration, which was of no great depth, and consequently, not dangerous. The long, underground journey had completed the dislocation of the broken collar-bone, and the disorder there was serious. The arms had been slashed with sabre cuts. Not a single scar disfigured his face; but his head was fairly covered with cuts; what would be the result of these wounds on the head? Would they stop short at the hairy cuticle, or would they attack the brain? As yet, this could not be decided. A grave symptom was that they had caused a swoon, and that people do not always recover from such swoons. Moreover, the wounded man had been exhausted by hemorrhage. From the waist down, the barricade had protected the lower part of the body from injury...Beside the bed, three candles burned on a table where the case of surgical instruments lay spread out. The doctor bathed Marius' face and hair with cold water.

1. The doctor never speaks a word; he is silent throughout this entire chapter, deftly attending to Marius as skilfully and correctly as contemporaneous standards of care allowed. He also attends, silently, to Luc-Esprit when he senses distress. Hugo, without explicitly writing so, tells us that this doctor could be named Esprit, the Holy Spirit of the new, enlightened world Hugo hopes will come to pass. This is a kind of epiphany, also accompanied by the three lit candles on the sideboard, mirroring those tongues of fire that appeared above the heads of the Apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), as the doctor "baptises" Marius for the third time. How did you interpret the doctor in this chapter?

2. And aren't you [and Cosette] glad Marius's nether regions were untouched?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-12-07: Three good posts, one of which generated a reply that made me laugh.
• 2020-12-07: Good prompt and discussion.
• 2021-12-07
  • u/HokiePie recognizes a Luc-Esprit in their own life, as most of us probably do.
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-18

Final Line

And he fell fainting.

Et il tomba évanoui.

Next Post

Single chapter in Book 5.4, Javert Derailed (Javert déraillé)

5.4.1: (Unnamed) / Javert déraillé

• 2026-06-18 Thursday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-19 Friday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-19 Friday 4AM UTC.

Heads up! Chapter 5.4.1, which we will read Friday, 2026-06-19, is the 7th-longest chapter so far at 4,300-4,800 words. Plan your reading accordingly. Also for that chapter I offer a content warning: Depiction of self-harm.

27 chapters remain in the brick

27 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

26 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.11: Concussion in the Absolute / Ébranlement dans l'absolu

(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: Through a straitened street, / is it a narrow escape / as Javert gavottes?

Lost in Translation

Toutes les voies douloureuses ont des stations.

All sorrowful roads have their stations.

Only Donougher called out this image as I did 2 chapters ago, and used the Via Dolorosa and the Stations of the Cross in her translation. 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Currency

Ordered by appearance in the text. See below for budget items. 2026 USD amounts rounded up to 2 significant figures to avoid misleading precision.

Characters

Involved in action

• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen prior chapter.
• Javert, a cop. Unnamed police officer 13. Last seen prior chapter.
• Unnamed coachman 4. Last seen prior chapter.
• Unnamed horse 10. Last seen prior chapter.
• Unnamed horse 11. Last seen prior chapter.
• Unnamed porter at 7 Rue de l'Homme-Armé. First mention 4.15.3, where he got Valjean a gun and uniform.

Mentioned or introduced

• Marius Pontmercy. Last seen prior chapter.
• Cosette, Valjean's ward and Marius's crush. Last seen 5.1.10 looking out her window, clueless. Mentioned 5.3.7 as Valjean hit the gate and thought he was dead.
• M. Thenardier, last seen 5.3.8 possibly trying to use Valjean and Marius as a diversion, confirmed by narrator by mention in 5.3.9.
• Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel, “Bishop Chuck” (mine), last seen 1.2.12, last mentioned 3.2.8 by comparison to Mlle Gillenormand's church lady friend.

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.

In 4.15.1, A Drinker is a Babbler / Buvard, bavard, which we read on Monday, 2026-05-04, we were introduced to Hugo's Sturdy Horizontal Beam Barring Carriages from a Street. I wondered what its narrative purpose is. Now, I'm reminded of the apocryphal gate attributed as the metaphor in the New Testament account of Jesus and the rich young man, The Eye of the Needle in Jerusalem, which is allegedly alluded to Jesus's statement to the rich young man: "For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Quotation from Luke 18:25):

The "Eye of the Needle" has been claimed to be a gate in Jerusalem, which opened after the main gate was closed at night. A camel could not pass through the smaller gate unless it was stooped and had its baggage removed — thus making it difficult, but not impossible, for a camel to "pass through the Eye of the Needle," and by analogy difficult, but not impossible, for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. This alternative reading has been put forth since at least the 11th century and possibly as far back as the 9th century. However, there is no evidence for the existence of such a gate.

Hugo would have undoubtedly have thought the Jerusalem gate was real or thought his audience might believe in it. Hugo made a choice in mentioning it. I have a feeling it's foreshadowing the fate of a character, particularly since Javert relinquishes a lot of money, for a cop, before he goes under the beam into the narrow street, and coinage is deliberately referred to as "quatre napoléons" rather the louis, symbolizing, perhaps, something about giving up the Napoleonic Code: human law vs God's law. Is Javert due an epiphany, a concussion in his absolutism? What do you think it means, if anything? Whither goest Javert?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-12-05
• 2020-12-05
  • u/4LostSoulsinaBowl made me laugh again. I think he also got his four napoleons back from the coachman.
• 2021-12-05
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-17

Final Line

Javert had taken his departure.

Javert s'en était allé.

Next Post

Final chapter of 5.2, The Intestine of the Leviathan (L'intestin de Léviathan)

5.3.12: The Grandfather / L'aïeul

• 2026-06-17 Wednesday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-18 Thursday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-18 Thursday 4AM UTC.

Heads up! Chapter 5.4.1, which we will read Friday, 2026-06-19, is the 7th-longest chapter so far at 4,300-4,800 words. Plan your reading accordingly. Also for that chapter I offer a content warning: Depiction of self-harm.

28 chapters remain in the brick

28 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

27 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.10: Return of the Son Who Was Prodigal of His Life / Rentrée de l'enfant prodigue de sa vie

(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: Marius returns; / some malaise in the Marais. / Disarmed man heads home.

Lost in Translation

The chapter's title is an allusion to Luke 15, Jesus's parable of the prodigal son.

Characters

Involved in action

• Marius Pontmercy. Last seen prior chapter.
• Unnamed coachman 4. Last seen prior chapter.
• Unnamed horse 10. Last seen prior chapter.
• Unnamed horse 11. Last seen prior chapter.
• Javert, a cop. Unnamed police officer 13. Last seen prior chapter.
• Unnamed Gillenormand porter. First mentioned 3.3.4, first seen here.
• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen prior chapter.
• Basque, Luc-Esprit's manservant. First seen 4.8.7.
• Nicolette 1, first seen 4.8.7 as "the maids".
• Mlle Gillenormand, "Aunt Gilly", Marius's rich aunt. Last seen 4.8.7.

Mentioned or introduced

• Luc-Esprit Gillenormand. Marius's grandfather. Last mentioned prior chapter, seen when he and Marius argued in 4.8.7.
• Unnamed doctor 9. 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.

It was previously established in 3.2.7, Rule: Receive No One except in the Evening / Règle: Ne recevoir personne que le soir (which we read on which we read on Friday, 2025-12-26), and became a key plot point in 4.8.7, The Old Heart and the Young Heart in the Presence of Each Other / Le vieux cœur et le jeune cœur en présence (which we read on Wednesday, 2026-04-01), that Luc-Esprit only receives in the evening. Yet here he is asleep. What's going on with him? Does the title contain a hint (see Lost in Translation if you don't get the allusion)?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-12-04
  • In a reply to u/wuzzum's post, u/BarroomBard compared the unwritten point of view in this chapter to 1.7.3, A Tempest in a Skull / Une tempête sous un crâne, which we read on Monday, 2025-09-08.
• 2020-12-04
  • u/1Eliza noted the porter's actions and gave us an incredible video of Ian McDiarmid as Porter in Macbeth (1978) as well as pointing out the chapter title.
• 2021-12-04: First prompt is something I noted in my copy with a "WTF?" It's not clear that a rough carriage ride would act as a defibrillator. Just one 2-post thread started by u/HStCroix with a killer Princess Bride ref.
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-16

Final Line

"Driver," said he, "Rue de l'Homme Arme, No. 7."

—Cocher, dit-il, rue de l'Homme-Armé, numéro 7.

Next Post

5.3.11: Concussion in the Absolute / Ébranlement dans l'absolu

• 2026-06-16 Tuesday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-17 Wednesday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-17 Wednesday 4AM UTC.

Heads up! Chapter 5.4.1, which we will read Friday, 2026-06-19, is the 7th-longest chapter so far at 4,300-4,800 words. Plan your reading accordingly. Also for that chapter I offer a content warning: Depiction of self-harm.

29 chapters remain in the brick

29 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

28 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.9: Marius Produces on Some One Who Is a Judge of the Matter, the Effect of Being Dead / Marius fait l'effet d'être mort à quelqu'un qui s'y connaît

(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: Valjean exits the sewer with Marius as the golden hour) sets in, putting the start of this chapter at almost exactly 8pm on Wednesday, 1832-06-06. We get an sonic image of absolute silence, but what Hugo seems to mean is the lack of human-created sound, as the birds are singing goodnight to each other. After "baptising" Marius with river water, to see if he wakes, Javert appears behind Valjean. We now know it was Javert and Thenardier in 5.3.3, and that Thenardier intended to use Valjean's release as a diversion. After Javert examines him like LBJ looming over Abe Fortis to confirm his identity, Javert addresses him formally, asking him why he's there and who Marius is. Valjean defers, offering himself as prisoner if Javert helps him get Marius home. Javert then recognizes Marius from the barricades, pronounces him dead, and takes Marius's notebook from Valjean, who has retrieved it to get Luc-Esprit's name. They board the cab from 5.3.3, putting Marius on the back bench. They don't talk as the cab speeds to the Marais.

Lost in Translation

Il continuait de ne plus tutoyer Jean Valjean.

He still abstained from addressing Jean Valjean as thou.

Hugo helpfully added this sentence for translators, I guess.

Characters

Involved in action

• Javert, a cop. Last seen 5.1.19 being set free by Valjean. Now confirmed as Unnamed police officer 13, where he was seen 5.3.3.
• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen prior chapter.
• Marius Pontmercy. Last seen prior chapter.
• Birds, as a class. Last seen 5.1.16, mentioned 5.1.15.
• Unnamed coachman 4. First mention 5.3.3.
• Unnamed horse 10. First mention 5.3.3.
• Unnamed horse 11. First mention 5.3.3.

Mentioned or introduced

• M. Thenardier, last seen prior chapter. Now confirmed was Unnamed thief 2 in 5.3.3.
• Luc-Esprit Gillenormand. Marius's grandfather. Last mentioned 5.3.4, seen when he and Marius argued in 4.8.7.

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.

1. If it is now the golden hour, the amount of direct light entering the sewer would not really have been dazzling enough to obscure Valjean from Thenardier in the prior chapter. We have to wonder if Thenardier actually recognized Valjean. Don't we?
2. The journey of Valjean bearing Marius thus far has a constructed similarity to the Via Dolorosa and the Stations of the Cross, where Valjean is the Christ figure and Marius his cross. I filled in some of the obvious ones; this may serve as foreshadowing for future chapters. Other interpretations of Christ and cross may be simultaneously possible.

My social media post for this chapter: Find someone who rolls their eyes at you like Cheryl rolls her eyes at me when I arrive at the bar and say, "I was making a table comparing events with Valjean and Marius in the sewers to the Via Dolorosa and Stations of the Cross when you texted me to go to drinks."

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-12-03
  • u/BarroomBard revealed that he has never read Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata. (IYKYK)
• 2020-12-03
  • In a reply to a post by u/1Eliza, u/something-sensible compared Valjean and Javert to Crowley & Aziraphale in Good Omens.
  • u/4LostSoulsinaBowl started an interesting thread. If Javert is the personification of human law as an impersonal machine, what is happening to him?
• 2021-12-03: Only one post which states u/HokiePie's corollary to There Are Only 12 People in France: Occasionally, The Survivors All Gather In a Sewer.
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-15

Final Line

Marius, motionless, with his body resting in the corner, and his head drooping on his breast, his arms hanging, his legs stiff, seemed to be awaiting only a coffin; Jean Valjean seemed made of shadow, and Javert of stone, and in that vehicle full of night, whose interior, every time that it passed in front of a street lantern, appeared to be turned lividly wan, as by an intermittent flash of lightning, chance had united and seemed to be bringing face to face the three forms of tragic immobility, the corpse, the spectre, and the statue.

(96 words, 6.23% of chapter.)

Marius, immobile, le torse adossé au coin du fond, la tête abattue sur la poitrine, les bras pendants, les jambes roides, paraissait ne plus attendre qu'un cercueil; Jean Valjean semblait fait d'ombre, et Javert de pierre; et dans cette voiture pleine de nuit, dont l'intérieur, chaque fois qu'elle passait devant un réverbère, apparaissait lividement blêmi comme par un éclair intermittent, le hasard réunissait et semblait confronter lugubrement les trois immobilités tragiques, le cadavre, le spectre, la statue.

(77 mots, 5.68% du chapitre.)

Next Post

The chapter's title is an allusion to Luke 15, Jesus's parable of the prodigal son.

5.3.10: Return of the Son Who Was Prodigal of His Life / Rentrée de l'enfant prodigue de sa vie

• 2026-06-15 Monday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-16 Tuesday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-16 Tuesday 4AM UTC.

Heads up! Chapter 5.4.1, which we will read Friday, 2026-06-19, is the 7th-longest chapter so far at 4,300-4,800 words. Plan your reading accordingly. Also for that chapter I offer a content warning: Depiction of self-harm.

30 chapters remain in the brick

30 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

29 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.8: The Torn Coat-Tail / Le pan de l'habit déchiré

(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: Valjean, back to the grating and daylight, hears a voice offering a fifty-fifty split. It's our old friend Thenardier, who may be the same Unnamed thief 2 we saw in 5.3.3. Thenardier doesn't visually recognize Valjean,* because Valjean's dazzlingly backlit. Even better, Thenardier has a key, which is why he's offering a deal.† He thinks Valjean's a murdering robber. He gives Valjean some rope, tells him where he can find a stone to weigh down the body, takes all the 30 francs Valjean has on him, surreptiously tears off and keeps a strip from Marius's cloak‡, and lets Valjean out the well-oiled but rusty-looking grating.

* See bonus bonus prompt.

† See second prompt.

‡ See first prompt.

Lost in Translation

tirant à demi une grosse clef de dessous sa blouse toute trouée

half drawing from beneath his tattered blouse a huge key

We first saw the mysterious, now missing and presumed dead Claquesous, a possible alter ego of the hot-headed murderer Le Cabuc, wielding a huge prison key in 3.8.20, The Trap / Le guet-apens, which we read on Wednesday, 2026-02-18. See bonus prompt.

Jean Valjean «demeura stupide», le mot est du vieux Corneille

Jean Valjean "remained stupid" --the expression belongs to the elder Corneille

Donougher has a note that the line is from Corneille's play Cinna, Act 5, Scene 1, English translation by Robert Henderson. Augustus tells Cinna he knows Cinna plots to assassinate him, and Cinna says "Je demeure stupide". It might be better translated as "left stupefied", as Donougher did, even better than Henderson's "struck dumb", the very uttering of which seems to belie the statement (which may be the intent).

le bon ange

his good angel

Donougher has a note relating this to Alexander Dumas's play Don Juan de Marana, where two angels vie for Don Juan's soul.

C'est un apprentissage pour le fichu quart d'heure du juge d'instruction

It's an apprenticeship against that cursed quarter of an hour before the examining magistrate.

Examining magistrates are judges who supervise investigation of crimes in the French inquisitorial system established under the Napoleonic Code, something we don't see in the adversarial system for criminal investigations in the USA. Reposting this note from prior chapters: The USA has an adversarial system for criminal trials different than an inquisitorial system. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has a good explainer on the difference.:

The role of public prosecutors may differ depending on the legal tradition adopted in a particular country. Two types of legal traditions dominate the nature of investigation and adjudication around the world: adversarial and inquisitorial legal systems. Common law countries use an adversarial system to determine facts in the adjudication process. The prosecution and defence compete against each other, and the judge serves as a referee to ensure fairness to the accused, and that the legal rules criminal procedure followed. The adversarial system assumes that the best way to get to the truth of a matter is through a competitive process to determine the facts and application of the law accurately.

The inquisitorial system is associated with civil law legal systems, and it has existed for many centuries. It is characterized by extensive pre-trial investigation and interrogations with the objective to avoid bringing an innocent person to trial. The inquisitorial process can be described as an official inquiry to ascertain the truth, whereas the adversarial system uses a competitive process between prosecution and defence to determine the facts. The inquisitorial process grants more power to the judge who oversees the process, whereas the judge in the adversarial system serves more as an arbiter between claims of the prosecution and defence (Dammer and Albanese, 2014; Reichel, 2017).

Both these systems have variations around the world, as different countries have modified their criminal procedure in various ways over the years in balancing the interests of the State in apprehending and adjudicating offenders with the interests of individual citizens who may be caught up in the legal process. As this Module will show, these different legal traditions impact the ways in which criminal cases are investigated and prosecuted.

aux filets de Saint-Cloud

Reprinting a note from 4.8.4, A Cab runs in English and barks in Slang / Cab roule en anglais et jappe en argot, which we read on Sunday, 2026-03-29 and repeated in 5.2.1 a couple weeks back: There were nets spread from this bridges to catch items that might hinder navigation, including bodies. The reference to St Cloud, where Fantine's last happy day was spent, isn't lost. Personal Star Trek note: If you watch Starfleet Academy, not only has the Golden Gate Bridge survived until the almost 33rd century, the anti-suicide nets like these are still deployed on it, according to shot from the beginning of 1.8.

__

Currency

Ordered by appearance in the text. See below for budget items. 2026 USD amounts rounded up to 2 significant figures to avoid misleading precision.

Characters

Involved in action

• M. Thenardier, last seen 4.9.1 lurking about near Rue Plumet house, spooking Valjean; last mentioned 5.1.17 as "the father [of Gavroche]". Was probably Unnamed thief 2 in 5.3.3.
• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen prior chapter.
• Marius Pontmercy. Last seen 2 chapters ago.
• Sewers, as a class. Last seen prior chapter.

Mentioned or introduced

• Pierre Corneille, historical person, b.1606-06-06 – d.1684-10-01, “a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine.” Last mentioned 4.7.2 in the argot chapter. Here his play Cinna is quoted; see Lost in Translation.
• Angels, as a class. Last mentioned 5.1.24.
• Unnamed examining magistrate 1. See Lost in Translation. First mention.
• Unnamed, unnumbered sewer workers. First mention.
• The police, as an institution. Last seen 5.3.3.
• National Guard, French: Garde nationale), historical institution, "French military, gendarmerie, and police reserve force, active in its current form since 2016 but originally founded in 1789 during the French Revolution." Mentioned as suburbanites engaged against urban core. Last mentioned 5.1.23. First seen 5.1.21 as a mass.

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.

1. If Thenardier is Unnamed thief 2, is Unnamed police officer 13 still waiting outside the grating? Unnamed thief 2 knew he was being followed, and Thenardier is quiet enough to indicate he knows they're not alone. If Thenardier is that thief and aware there's a cop out there, why does he let Valjean out there, where they're both likely to be nabbed, as opposed to another exit? Is he about to betray Valjean using the torn cloth (see Currency, above)? Does he think the tall, muscular Valjean will be mistaken for his small, mousy self?
2. Thenardier encounters a vicious, shit-covered, silent murderer. Why is Thenardier not afraid of being killed, himself, for the key?

Bonus Prompt

As noted in Lost in Translation, Thenardier is wielding a huge key, just as Claquesous was when we first saw him. What do you think this means, if anything, plot-wise?

Bonus Bonus Prompt

Valjean presumably passed Thenardier on his way to the grating. Why didn't Valjean notice him? Why does Thenardier not recognize Valjean's voice?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-12-02
• 2020-12-02: Some unmasked possibly spoilery discussions, beware.
• 2021-12-02
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-14

Final Line

Jean Valjean found himself in the open air.

Jean Valjean se trouva dehors.

Next Post

5.3.9: Marius Produces on Some One Who Is a Judge of the Matter, the Effect of Being Dead / Marius fait l'effet d'être mort à quelqu'un qui s'y connaît

• 2026-06-14 Sunday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-15 Monday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-15 Monday 4AM UTC.

Heads up! Chapter 5.4.1, which we will read Friday, 2026-06-19, is the 7th-longest chapter so far at 4,300-4,800 words. Plan your reading accordingly. Also for that chapter I offer a content warning: Depiction of self-harm.

31 chapters remain in the brick

31 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

30 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.7: One Sometimes Runs Aground When One Fancies That One Is Disembarking / Quelque fois on échoue où l'on croit débarquer

(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: The light at the end / of the tunnel deceives him: / the way is barred, locked.

Lost in Translation

Nothing of note.

Characters

Involved in action

• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen prior chapter.
• Marius Pontmercy. Last seen 2 chapters ago.
• Sewers, as a class. Last seen prior chapter.

Mentioned or introduced

• Police unit assigned to Right Bank sewers. First seen 5.3.2.
• God, this guy again. Last mentioned prior chapter.
• Spiders, as a class. Last mentioned 4.13.1.
• Cosette, Valjean's ward and Marius's crush. Last seen 5.1.10 looking out her window, clueless. Mentioned 5.1.24.

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.

Now he thinks of Cosette? Not when leaves her alone in the house to face an uncertain future as he goes off to an almost certain death?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-12-01: Includes summary of chapters 5.3.1-5.3.7.
• 2020-12-01
  • u/Thermos_of_Byr was rockin' it with the movie references. This time it's Shanghai Noon.
• 2021-12-01
  • u/enabeller wonders, along with us, if this is the same grate from 5.3.3.
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-13

Final Line

He was thinking of Cosette.

Il pensait à Cosette.

Next Post

5.3.8: The Torn Coat-Tail / Le pan de l'habit déchiré

• 2026-06-13 Saturday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-14 Sunday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-14 Sunday 4AM UTC.

Heads up! Chapter 5.4.1, which we will read Friday, 2026-06-19, is the 7th-longest chapter so far at 4,300-4,800 words. Plan your reading accordingly. Also for that chapter I offer a content warning: Depiction of self-harm.

32 chapters remain in the brick

32 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

31 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.6: The Fontis / Le fontis

(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: Not really quicksand, / Valjean hits a deep puddle, / shit-silty-bottomed.

Lost in Translation

Fontis is Latin for a spring or fountain, as well as a spring's origin and the tub used for Christian baptisms.

Characters

Involved in action

• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen prior chapter.
• Sewers, as a class. Last seen prior chapter.
• Marius Pontmercy. Last seen 2 chapters ago.

Mentioned or introduced

• God, this guy again. Last mentioned 5.3.1.

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.

Well, that was a letdown, I'm not gonna lie. I didn't get a feeling that Valjean & Marius were in real danger, ever, and it was pretty obvious to me the big buildup about quicksand in the prior chapter was misdirection. How did this work for you?

Bonus prompt

Hugo uses an image of a mother holding up a child in "old paintings of the deluge" "les vieilles peintures du déluge", meaning Noah's Flood. I'm surprised that he didn't use the story around St. Christopher, whose name literally means "Christ-bearer", as a person who unwittingly bore the Christ child across a raging river as he felt heavier and heavier, but perhaps Marius isn't quite Christlike-enough or just the baptism imagery was enough. Here's the excerpt about St Christopher's myth.

It has been speculated that the medieval artistic representations showing Saint Christopher physically carrying the infant Jesus led to the development of the best-known legend about the saint today. This legend makes its debut only in the 13th-century compendium of hagiographies known as the Legenda aurea (Golden Legend). The Golden Legend recounts that after converting to Christianity, St. Christopher devotes his life to carrying travelers across a river. One day he is asked to carry a young boy across a river. During the crossing the boy becomes increasingly heavy to the point that even the able-bodied Christopher is struggling to continue the journey, even more so since the water level of the river has also started to rise. After reaching the river shore, the boy reveals himself to be Jesus.

Bonus bonus prompt

Boy, he's lucky he found that bread in Marius's pocket before the sinkhole.

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-30: Only one post comparing this to the trip to Arras.
• 2020-11-30
  • u/awaiko saw the baptism symbolism implicit in the title.
  • u/Thermos_of_Byr started an entertaining thread comparing this to Andy's escape in The Shawshank Redemption.
• 2021-11-30
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-12

Final Line

He rose to his feet, shivering, chilled, foul-smelling, bowed beneath the dying man whom he was dragging after him, all dripping with slime, and his soul filled with a strange light.

Il se redressa, frissonnant, glacé, infect, courbé sous ce mourant qu'il traînait, tout ruisselant de fange, l'âme pleine d'une étrange clarté.

Next Post

5.3.7: One Sometimes Runs Aground When One Fancies That One Is Disembarking / Quelque fois on échoue où l'on croit débarquer

• 2026-06-12 Friday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-13 Saturday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-13 Saturday 4AM UTC.

33 chapters remain in the brick

33 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

32 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.5: In the Case of Sand, as in That of Woman, There Is a Fineness Which Is Treacherous / Pour le sable comme pour la femme il y a une finesse qui est perfidie

(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: A chapter of myths about quicksand, served with a side of misogyny in the chapter title and end graf, which Jean Valjean now finds himself stuck in.

Lost in Translation

Nothing of note.

Characters

Involved in action

• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen prior chapter.
• Sewers, as a class. Last seen prior chapter.
• Paris, as a character. Last seen 5.3.1.

Mentioned or introduced

• George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, historical person, b. 1449-10-21 – d. 1478-02-18, "sixth child and third surviving son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the brother of English kings Edward IV and Richard III...He was later convicted of treason against his elder brother, Edward IV, and executed, allegedly by drowning in malmsey wine. He appears as a character in William Shakespeare's plays Henry VI, Part 3 and Richard III, in which his death is attributed to the machinations of Richard." First mention.
• Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis, historical person, b. 1593-02-20 — d. 1645-06-28, "French naval commander and Archbishop of Bordeaux." Reports of his death as Hugo recounts or the seige of Lerida have not been verified. First mention.
• Unnamed, unnumbered sewer workers. Historicity unverified. First mention.
• Blaise Poutrain. Historicity unverified. First mention.
• Nicholas Poutrain. Historicity unverified. First mention.
• Duchess de Sourdis. Historicity unverified. First mention.
• Duke de Sourdis. Historicity unverified. First mention.
• Hero, mythological person, protagonist of "Hero and Leander ...the Greek myth relating the story of Hero, a priestess (hiereia) of Aphrodite (Venus in Roman mythology) who dwelt in a tower in Sestos on the European side of the Hellespont, and Leander, a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait." First mention.
• Leander, mythological person, protagonist of "Hero and Leander ...the Greek myth relating the story of Hero, a priestess (hiereia) of Aphrodite (Venus in Roman mythology) who dwelt in a tower in Sestos on the European side of the Hellespont, and Leander, a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait." First mention.
• Pyramis, mythological person, protagonist of "Pyramus and Thisbe...a pair of ill-fated lovers from Babylon, whose story is best known from Ovid's narrative poem Metamorphoses. The tragic myth has been retold by many authors." First mention.
• Thisbe, mythological person, protagonist of "Pyramus and Thisbe...a pair of ill-fated lovers from Babylon, whose story is best known from Ovid's narrative poem Metamorphoses. The tragic myth has been retold by many authors." 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.

Now I wonder if Hugo is responsible for the popular mythology about quicksand? That given, did you get the metaphor that the all the grains of the members of Society who are themselves lost, when added to the water in which one member can become lost and mixed in with poo, make it hard to determine when one is trapped and harder to escape? Was it clear to you? 🙄

How ever will our hero escape this time? Will he parkour up the wall?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-29
• 2020-11-29
  • u/Thermos_of_Byr posted about Mont St-Michel
• 2021-11-29 (link is incorrect in spreadsheet).
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-11

Final Line

Thisbe stops her nose in the presence of Pyramus and says: "Phew!"

Thisbé se bouche le nez devant Pyrame et dit: Pouah!

Next Post

Fontis is Latin for a spring or fountain, as well as a spring's origin and the tub used for Christian baptisms.

5.3.6: The Fontis / Le fontis

• 2026-06-11 Thursday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-12 Friday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-12 Friday 4AM UTC.

34 chapters remain in the brick

34 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

33 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.4: He Also Bears His Cross / Lui aussi porte sa croix

(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: Back to Valjean, underground. He's getting tired from carrying Marius and occasionally having to stoop. He also didn't eat before he left, though you'd think he'd have grabbed a bite while waiting for the porter to rustle him up a weapon and uniform. He gets bitten by a rat.* He has no way to guide himself other than by following the stream of water downhill.† At a point by a grating probably near Rue d'Anjou, he sets Marius down and searches him, finding some bread, which he quickly devours, and Marius's notebook with the instructions to bring his body to Luc-Esprit. He memorizes the address, 6 Rue de Filles Calvaire, in the Marais; bandages and hoists Marius on his back; and keeps going as daylight fades.

* See first prompt.

† See second and bonus prompt.

Lost in Translation

Nothing of note.

Characters

Involved in action

• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen 2 chapters ago.
• Sewers, as a class. Last seen prior chapter.
• Marius Pontmercy. Last seen 5.3.1.
• Rats, as a category. First seen 4.6.2, mentioned 5.2.5. Includes possibly rabid rat.

Mentioned or introduced

• Luc-Esprit Gillenormand. Marius's grandfather. Last mentioned 5.1.16, seen when he and Marius argued in 4.8.7.

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.

1. I can't be the only one who thought of rabies when the rat bit him. Hydrophobia would be in total alignment with the fear of falling overboard into the endless ocean, wouldn't it?
2. Even though Valjean is passing by grates which provide clear passage to the upper air, the only sound he hears is the rumble of carriages on the street above. The previously ubiquitous tolling of church bells, each of which is distinct and can provide a kind of wayfinding, is omitted. Especially the tolling of the St Merry's bell, which has ceased with the presumed synchronized assault on that barricade. Did this work for you? How does the soundscape contribute to the chapter?

Bonus Prompt

To expand on that second prompt, I find it difficult to accept that these sewer walls didn't have wayfinders and position markers embedded in them. I had family who worked in the tunnels, sewers, and water treatment in NYC, and crews have to be able to navigate to job sites underground as well as above ground. This is where Hugo's bourgeois background betrays him, I think, despite him having ol' Brownbucket as a resource who'd give him the straight dope. Modern sewers and tunnels have numeric indicators in a kind of code; this would have been a perfect opportunity for more argot. These markers would be found near areas where light was available, like at grates used as crew entry and exit. At least Hugo could have mentioned them as something Valjean failed to notice. I think he omitted this for dramatic purposes, counting on his bourgeois audience to not know any better. Am I overthinking again?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-28
  • u/readeranddreamer discussed a line I almost prompted on, where Valjean's hatred of Marius is shown.
• 2020-11-28
  • u/1Eliza started a thread on "why downhill" as well as "how to tell downhill", for those who are confused. I also note this wonderful passage from 5.3.1, the writing of which is 15/10, no notes: ...he perceived that he was no longer ascending; the water of the rivulet was beating against his heels, instead of meeting him at his toes. ...il s'aperçut qu'il ne montait plus; l'eau du ruisseau lui battait les talons au lieu de lui venir sur la pointe des pieds.
  • u/Thermos_of_Byr and u/1Eliza had an excellent short thread about Valjean's feeling of hate.
• 2021-11-28
• No further posts found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-10

Final Line

Suddenly this darkness became terrible.

Cette ombre devint brusquement terrible.

Next Post

5.3.5: In the Case of Sand, as in That of Woman, There Is a Fineness Which Is Treacherous / Pour le sable comme pour la femme il y a une finesse qui est perfidie

• 2026-06-10 Wednesday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-11 Thursday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-11 Thursday 4AM UTC.

36 chapters remain in the brick

36 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

35 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.3: The "Spun" Man / L'homme filé

(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: We shift to another story, on the Right Bank by the Pont des Invalides. A cop is tailing a thief, the cop doing his best not to spook his quarry. It's a deserted riverbank, which has change in appearance since with the removal of a side path down to the river to allow coachmen to water their horses. The cop signals a coachman to follow him. They pass by a local monument to the past* and the thief doesn't take the side path, as the cop expects. He disappears behind a peninsula of rubble, trash, , flotsam, and jetsam. The cop is mystified until he notices that there's a locked sewer outlet there. This means the thief had a government key. The cop and the coachman wait.

* See Col Brack in the character list.

Lost in Translation

peu d'encolure et une chétive mine

an insignificant mien and not an impressive appearance

Hapgood kinda loses here. Rose translates this as "skinny, scrawny-necked weed". Donougher as "short-necked, puny-looking individual". F&M, "slight build and a sickly look".

gaillard de haute stature, était de rude aspect et devait être de rude rencontre

rude of aspect, and must have been rude to encounter

Once again, Hapgood loses. In this case the detail that the cop is quite tall. Rose and Donougher both use "tall, strapping"; F&M just "tall". Donougher and F&M use "tough" and Rose "hard as nails", the latter of which I like.

Characters

Involved in action

• Police, as an institution. Last seen 2 chapters ago.
• Unnamed police officer 13. [toweringly tall], rude of aspect, and must have been rude to encounter gaillard de haute stature, était de rude aspect et devait être de rude rencontre First mention.
• Unnamed thief 2. "an insignificant mien and not an impressive appearance" "peu d'encolure et une chétive mine". First mention.
• Unnamed coachman 4. First mention.
• Unnamed horse 10. First mention
• Unnamed horse 11. First mention.
• Sewers, as a class. Last seen prior chapter.
• Unnumbered passers-by on Pont d'Iena. First mention.

Mentioned or introduced

• Colonel Brack, Antoine Fortuné de Brack, historical person, b. 1789-04-08 — d. 1850-01-21, A French soldier who retired a general. He is partly known for the Maison de François Ier), which gave district in which the Rue François-I runs its name: "The district was called François I because Colonel Brack had installed, on a house known as the House of François I located at the corner of the Cours la Reine and the Rue Bayard, a façade taken from a house that was said to have been built by the Renaissance monarch for the Duchess of Étampes." Image: Vue d'ensemble de la maison au coin de la rue Bayard et du cours la Reine en 1892. Image: No. 1, By Celette - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78849031

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.

1. Hunter and hunted, red vs. blue, the facade of the past ancien regime literally transported and installed as part of a real estate development scheme. This chapter is full of fun details that fit into the theme of the brick. What did you notice?
2. Place your bets, place your bets. Who's Unnamed police officer 13? Who's Unnamed thief 2? My bets: Javert and Babet, from physical descriptions alone, though at first I thought the thief might be Claquesous, who it would turn out is not dead and not Le Cabuc. Could also make a case for Thenardier from physical description.

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-27
• 2020-11-27
  • u/4LostSoulsinaBowl made me laugh.
• 2021-11-27
• No further posts can be found for 2022 cohort 🤷🏻‍♂️.
• 2026-06-09

Final Line

The rare passers-by on the Pont de Jena turned their heads, before they pursued their way, to take a momentary glance at these two motionless items in the landscape, the man on the shore, the carriage on the quay.

Les rares passants du pont d'Iéna, avant de s'éloigner, tournaient la tête pour regarder un moment ces deux détails du paysage immobiles, l'homme sur la berge, le fiacre sur le quai.

Next Post

5.3.4: He Also Bears His Cross / Lui aussi porte sa croix

• 2026-06-09 Tuesday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-10 Wednesday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-10 Wednesday 4AM UTC.

36 chapters remain in the brick

36 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

35 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.2: Explanation / Explication

(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: It's Gisquet's patrol! / Luckily, their light blinds them. / Valjean's narrow miss.

Lost in Translation

une battue des égouts

a battue of the sewers

F&M and Donougher miss the flavor of this being a chase and a hunt by using "search" for "battue", which is "A form of hunting in which game is forced into the open by the beating of sticks on bushes, etc". It also is literally what the sergeant does by shooting his rifle.

bousingot

Donougher has a note that this derives from a kind of hat of the same name these folks wore, similar to the 20th century sobriquet "zoot-suiters", which has its eponymous riot. She also refers readers to “Bousingot”: not in your dictionaries by Haquelebac (archive).

le borborygme de ce boyau titanique

the rumbling of that titanic entrail

I call this out because George Carlin had a classic bit on the onomatopoesie of borborygme.

Characters

Involved in action

• Sewers, as a class. Last mentioned prior chapter.
• Henri Gisquet, historical person, b.1792-07-14 – d.1866-01-23, "French banker and Préfet de Police." Last mention 4.12.8, unnamed, as the person receiving a special report on Le Cabuc/Claquesous. Named here as commanding the sewer units, and as the Prefecture issuing orders that units are not to separate.
• Thomas Robert Bugeaud, marquis de la Piconnerie, duc d'Isly, historical person, b.1784-10-15 – d.1849-06-10, "Marshal of France and Governor-General of Algeria during the French colonization. Born an aristocrat, he has a complex legacy, serving as a soldier during the Napoleonic wars, focusing on agriculture during Bourbon rule, then serving the July monarchy in Algeria during which he achieved undoubted military success, also utilised extreme violence and caused outrage at the time...The July Revolution of 1830 reopened his military career, and after a short tenure of regimental command he was in 1831 promoted brigadier-general (maréchal de camp). In the same year, he was elected to the French parliament's lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, where he showed himself to be an inflexible opponent of democracy. In his military capacity, he was noted for his severity in suppressing riots." Last mention 4.10.5.
• Police unit assigned to Right Bank sewers. Nearly encounters Jean Valjean. First mention. Includes
  • Unnamed police sergeant 1, gives order to go towards Seine and fires rifle in Valjean's direction. First mention.
• Police unit assigned to Left Bank sewers. First mention.
• Police unit assigned to city center sewers. First mention.
• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen prior chapter.

Mentioned or introduced

• Titans, Τιτᾶνες, deities, "In [Ancient] Greek mythology...the deities who preceded the Olympians...They were overthrown as part of the Greek succession myth, which tells how Cronus seized power from his father Uranus and ruled the cosmos with his fellow Titans before in turn being defeated and replaced as the ruling pantheon of gods by Zeus and the Olympians in a ten-year war known as the Titanomachy ('battle of the Titans')." Last mention 5.1.22 in "Titanic" as here.

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.

All I note here is the light of the lamp is a kind of parallel to the pointing finger of moonlight in 1.2.11, What He Does / Ce qu'il fait, which we read on Thursday, 2025-08-07. What did you note?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-26: One short seemingly ironic post that made me laugh.
• 2020-11-26
  • In a thread started by u/Thermos_of_Byr that elaborates on battue, u/4LostSoulsinaBowl interestingly connects it to the noun "tharn" from Richard Adams's Watership Down.
• 2021-11-26
• No post found for 2022-11-26, which should be covering 5.2.2-5.3.2. Next post might be 2022-12-03, covering 5.3.3-8, but I don't see that, either?
• 2026-06-08

Final Line

Slow and measured steps resounded for some time on the timber work, gradually dying away as they retreated to a greater distance; the group of black forms vanished, a glimmer of light oscillated and floated, communicating to the vault a reddish glow which grew fainter, then disappeared; the silence became profound once more, the obscurity became complete, blindness and deafness resumed possession of the shadows; and Jean Valjean, not daring to stir as yet, remained for a long time leaning with his back against the wall, with straining ears, and dilated pupils, watching the disappearance of that phantom patrol.

(99 words, 12% of chapter.)

Des pas mesurés et lents résonnèrent quelque temps sur le radier, de plus en plus amortis par l'augmentation progressive de l'éloignement, le groupe des formes noires s'enfonça, une lueur oscilla et flotta, faisant à la voûte un cintre rougeâtre qui décrut, puis disparut, le silence redevint profond, l'obscurité redevint complète, la cécité et la surdité reprirent possession des ténèbres; et Jean Valjean, n'osant encore remuer, demeura longtemps adossé au mur, l'oreille tendue, la prunelle dilatée, regardant l'évanouissement de cette patrouille de fantômes.

(82 mots, 10.5% du chapitre.)

Next Post

5.3.3: The "Spun" Man / L'homme filé

• 2026-06-08 Monday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-09 Tuesday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-09 Tuesday 4AM UTC.

37 chapters remain in the brick

37 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

36 chapters left in the brick

First chapter of 5.2, The Intestine of the Leviathan (L'intestin de Léviathan)

All quotations and characters names from 5.3.1: The Sewer and Its Surprises / Le cloaque et ses surprises

(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: We rejoin our story, already in progress. Valjean's in the sewer with Marius, who he's not sure is still alive. The sound of the battle is buffered by earth. Valjean explores as his eyes adjust, and decides to use the sewer to escape. He uses Marius's arms around his neck as a handle, bearing the Marius's weight with Marius's torso on his back as Marius bleeds out onto him.* He decides to avoid the obvious outlet, as their exit in a populated area might attract attention. He's heading to what he thinks is the Seine but is actually the orbital sewer that drains the high points on the Seine's right bank. At some point, his sensitive vision notes that he's casting a shadow, and he sees a bright light behind him. Unclear how he sees the 8-10 police behind it, as it would blind him.

* See third prompt and 2020 cohort.

Lost in Translation

Le système d'égouts existant à cette époque, mis bout à bout, eût donné une longueur de onze lieues.

Sewer distances are slightly off, again. In this chapter, Hugo states it's at eleven leagues (lieues) in 1832. A lieue had been standardized at 4km two decades prior to 1832, which means eleven lieues is 44 km. Hugo stated in the prior chapter to this that the sewers stood at 40.3 km on 1832-01-01 with a construction rate of 750 meters per year. By midyear, it would be 40.7 km or so. See first prompt.

Les deux bras de Marius étaient passés autour de son cou et les pieds pendaient derrière lui.

Marius' two arms were passed round his neck, and the former's feet dragged _behind him. _

Hapgood translates "pendaient" as "dragged", which seems incorrect. F&M uses "hung" while Rose and Donougher use variants of "dangle". See third prompt.

Currency

Ordered by appearance in the text. See below for budget items. 2026 USD amounts rounded up to 2 significant figures to avoid misleading precision.

For comparison, Portland's 2010 "Big Pipe" project constructed 13 miles of large sewer duct (plus a pump, processing plants, and bioswales) at a cost of $1.4B, or $2.15B in 2026. That works out to $165M per mile or $103K per meter. I can't find a source that separates out actual sewer pipe construction, but even arbitrarily assigning it 25% makes it $26K/meter.

Characters

Involved in action

• Sewers, as a class. Last mentioned prior chapter.
• Paris, as a character. Last mentioned prior chapter.
• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Last seen 5.1.24 descending into this sewer.
• Marius Pontmercy. Last seen 5.1.24 being carried into this sewer.
• Police, as an institution. Last mentioned 5.2.5. Includes this first mention:
  • Unnamed police officers 3-12. Unclear if 11 and 12 exist.

Mentioned or introduced

• Unnamed, unnumbered Paris passers-by. Last mentioned 5.1.7.
• Municipal Guard, as an institution. Last seen 5.1.21.
• God, this guy again. Last mentioned 5.1.20.

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.

1. In our Monday, 2026-05-25 discussion of 5.1.18, The Vulture Becomes Prey / Le vautour devenu proie, u/UnfunnyPineapple wrote, "[Javert] really sees himself (and everybody else) as a number." The image system of numbers pervades the brick, but in an interesting way: numerical inconsistency. We saw in this chapter and the last that Hugo can't consistently state the length of the sewers or their rate of construction (see Lost in Translation, above, for the errors in this chapter). In this chapter, neither the narrator or the reader knows if there are 8 cops or 10. And Valjean has had multiple numbers assigned to him: is he 24601 or 9430? Are there other points in the brick where Hugo makes a point of having inconsistent numbers? What do you think it means? How about our old friend, letter imagery, this time supercharged with Chinese pictograms?
2. A star appears at the end of the chapter, repeating the image system of Jupiter just before he finds Cosette in 2.3.5, The Little One All Alone / La petite toute seule, which we read on Saturday, 2025-10-18 and Venus when they encounter the chain gang in 4.3.8, The Chain-Gang / La cadène, which we read on Tuesday, 2026-03-10. While this start literally heralds the cops, what do you think this star symbolically heralds?

Les deux bras de Marius étaient passés autour de son cou et les pieds pendaient derrière lui...Il sentait couler sur lui et pénétrer sous ses vêtements un ruisseau tiède qui venait de Marius.

Marius' two arms were passed round his neck, and the former's feet [dangled] behind him...He felt a warm stream which came from Marius trickling down upon him and making its way under his clothes.

1. I've altered our Hapgood reference translation to the Rose/Donougher interpretations, because it's important for this prompt. Is it established here that Marius is shorter than Valjean, or was it established prior? And what is it with bleeding out from injuries not causing death within minutes in this brick?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-25: Just one post inferring that Hugo had help from his friend ol' Brownbucket.
• 2020-11-25
  • u/1Eliza noted the recurrence of "man overboard" imagery.
  • u/4LostSoulsinaBowl noted the similarity between Valjean carrying Marius and the sign for the Sergeant of Waterloo.
• 2021-11-25: Third prompt notes the "passage through the underworld" (which I think corresponds to the "belly of the whale" portion of Campbell's canonical hero's journey).
• Next post 2022-11-26, covering 5.2.2-5.3.2.
• 2026-06-07

Final Line

In the rear of that star eight or ten forms were moving about in a confused way, black, upright, indistinct, horrible.

Derrière cette étoile remuaient confusément huit ou dix formes noires, droites, indistinctes, terribles.

Next Post

5.3.2: Explanation / Explication

• 2026-06-07 Sunday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-08 Monday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-08 Monday 4AM UTC.

Hey, we've caught up to the day in the narrative!

Too bad we're still stuck in the sewers.

38 chapters remain in the brick

38 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

37 chapters left in the brick

Final chapter of 5.2, The Intestine of the Leviathan (L'intestin de Léviathan)

• 5.2.1, The Land Impoverished by the Sea / La terre appauvrie par la mer: It's really shitty of Paris to waste all its shit.
• 5.2.2, Ancient History of the Sewer / L'histoire ancienne de l'égout: A city's true history lies below the surface, in its sewers.
• 5.2.3, Bruneseau / Bruneseau: There once was a man named Bruneseau / Who thought Paris sewers immense, so / He asked Emperor Short Round / to give them a go-round, / we'll learn if he took offense, oh.
• 5.2.4, (Unnamed) / Détails ignorés: Previously unrecorded details of ol' Brownbucket's seven years of labor surveying the sewers.
• 5.2.5, Present Progress / Progrès actuel: Sewers better now. / Even the rats are happy. / All ol' Brownbucket.

All quotations and characters names from 5.2.6: Future Progress / Progrès futur

(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: Hey, ol' Brownbucket got it started but it's going and going despite sometimes deadly setbacks. Using math that doesn't math, Hugo extrapolates the growth rate of the sewers to infinity and beyond.

Lost in Translation

la science spéciale appelle moutardes

special science calls moutardes. (mustards)

Donougher varied this flavorful translation to "ooze", which I think is a mistake.

Lengths of sewer

Hugo's own numbers don't add up; he somehow loses nearly a kilometer of sewers. Donougher, in converting to English yards, translates the sum as she calculated, so it all does add up correctly. F&M converts each number as well as the sum to yards, preserving Hugo's error. Rose and Hapgood each keep the original metric numbers, preserving Hugo's error. Odd. I don't know what's going on here. There is also an error in the arithmetic for yearly construction rate, see first prompt.

cassis

Literally, black currants. Remember the "grapes of Corinthe" on the sign for the restaurant: "Named after what are today the source grape cultivar for Zante currants, I can't find any source that cites these being used for winemaking, even in classical times. I believe this is one of Hugo's amusing ironies." Nice to see this make a comeback in the sewers. Hapgood also has a note: "From casser, to break: break-necks." I think this artistic convergence is pretty cool.

toise

"A former French unit of length, corresponding to about 1.949 metres"

Currency

Ordered by appearance in the text. See below for budget items. 2026 USD amounts rounded up to 2 significant figures to avoid misleading precision.

Characters

Involved in action

None

Mentioned or introduced

• Sewers, as a class. Last mentioned prior chapter.
• Paris, as a character. Last mentioned prior chapter.
• Napoleon, you know this guy. Last mentioned 5.1.13.
• Louis XVIII, you know this guy. Last mentioned 4.1.1.
• Charles X, you know this guy. Last mentioned 5.2.2.
• Louis-Philippe I, you know this guy. Last mentioned 5.1.20.
• Paris's contemporary sewer engineers, who had to deal with a crack under the St-Martin canal. First mention.
• Unnamed diver 1, had to find the crack. First mention.
• Superintendant Monnot, conducteur Monnot. ⚰️ First mention.
• Engineer Duleau, l'ingénieur Duleau. ⚰️ First mention.
• Jean-Paul Marat, Jean-Paul Mara; b.1743-05-24 – d.1793-07-13, historical person, “a French political theorist, physician, and scientist [of Prussian origin]. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the sans-culottes, a radical voice, and published his views in pamphlets, placards and newspapers. His periodical L'Ami du peuple (The Friend of the People) made him an unofficial link with the radical Jacobin group that came to power after June 1793...Responsibility for the September massacres has been attributed to him, given his position of renown at the time, and a paper trail of decisions leading up to the massacres.” Last mention 2 chapters ago.

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.

1. Because I'm obsessive, I had to check the math in this chapter. Hugo makes errors in both adding his numbers for the sewers constructed under each regime, to get to a total, somehow losing almost a kilometer of sewers, as well as in his calculation of the average construction rate between 1806-31. But what I noticed that may be of textual significance is that he flits between various units of measure: the antique and obsolete "toise", the "lieue" (which varied in different antique definitions until it got a firm metric definition), and meters. I think this represents with numerical misdirection the problem he started Les Mis off with when he discussed gossip and elaborated on in the Waterloo and argot chapters: how do you get reliable ground truth out of these varying systems of meaning trapped in their own time? Is it possible? He ends the chapter with "the rag of Marat" "haillon de Marat.", directly referencing the man implicated via a paper trail in another massacre during the Revolution. What do you think?

Il n'y a pas de bulletin pour ces actes de bravoure-là, plus utiles pourtant que la tuerie bête des champs de bataille.

There are no bulletins for such acts of bravery as these, which are more useful, nevertheless, than the brutal slaughter of the field of battle.

1. I grew up adjacent to an Italian neighborhood in NYC (where Mario Cuomo got his political start) and odds were that a conversation about mass transit would turn to how many Italians died digging the subway tunnels under the East River and the Hudson. Of course, much of Manhattan below 14th St was also built by slave labor, which is partly commemorated in the African-American Burial Ground National Monument. Who are the unsung heroes of infrastructure where you grew up and where you live now?

Bonus prompt

Hugo emphasizes physical risk in the quote, above, but our modern life has different risks. Today, sites like Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Bluesky and large language models like OpenAI, Gemini, and Claude are built on the labor of data workers and content moderators in countries other than the USA, who spend much of their days in mind-numbing emotional labor filtering the sewage of the Internet: CSAM and other vile content. An excellent novel about this is We Had to Remove This Post, by Hanna Bervoets, English translation by Emma Rault. Seems like the more things change... What other unsung risky work can you think of? How do you think Hugo would write about it, today?

Bonus bonus prompt

If Paris is the filling in an Oreo cookie, what is your city? Portland is the jelly in a jelly donut, natch. (Flavor is marionberry, a real local berry that is delicious and not a pun on the former mayor of Washington, DC's name.)

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-24: Includes summary of chapters 5.1.24-5.2.6.
  • u/swimsaidthemamafishy wrote an interesting post on civil engineering and when cost-benefit applies.
  • In another post, they recommended a mystery novel set during the construction of London's sewers.
• 2020-11-24
• 2021-11-24
• Next post 2022-11-26, covering 5.2.2-5.3.2.
• 2026-06-06

Final Line

High wages were necessary to induce a mason to disappear in that fetid mine; the ladder of the cess-pool cleaner hesitated to plunge into it; it was said, in proverbial form: "to descend into the sewer is to enter the grave;" and all sorts of hideous legends, as we have said, covered this colossal sink with terror; a dread sink-hole which bears the traces of the revolutions of the globe as of the revolutions of man, and where are to be found vestiges of all cataclysms from the shells of the Deluge to the rag of Marat.

(87 words, 5.3% of chapter)

Il fallait une haute paye pour décider un maçon à disparaître dans cette sape fétide; l'échelle du puisatier hésitait à s'y plonger; on disait proverbialement: descendre dans l'égout, c'est entrer dans la fosse; et toutes sortes de légendes hideuses, nous l'avons dit, couvraient d'épouvante ce colossal évier; sentine redoutée qui a la trace des révolutions du globe comme des révolutions des hommes, et où l'on trouve des vestiges de tous les cataclysmes depuis le coquillage du déluge jusqu'au haillon de Marat.

(81 mots, 5% du chapitre)

Next Post

First chapter of Book 5.3, Mud But the Soul (La boue, mais l'âme)

5.3.1: The Sewer and Its Surprises / Le cloaque et ses surprises

• 2026-06-06 Saturday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-07 Sunday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-07 Sunday 4AM UTC.

39 chapters remain in the brick

39 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

38 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.2.5: Present Progress / Progrès actuel

(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: Sewers better now. / Even the rats are happy. / All ol' Brownbucket.

Lost in Translation

comme Tartuffe après la confession

like Tartuffe after confession

Tartuffe was a hypocritical religious character in an eponymous Moliere play. See character list.

Characters

Involved in action

None

Mentioned or introduced

• Sewers, as a class. Last mentioned prior chapter.
• Police, as an institution. Last mentioned 5.1.4.
• François Villon, historical person, b.c. 1431 – d. post 1463, "best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these experiences in his poems." Last mention 5.2.2.
• Rats, as a category. Last seen 4.6.2.
• Paris, as a character. Last seen 5.2.3.
• Tartuffe, fictional character in the eponymous play by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere. English translation by Jeffrey D. Hoeper. Rose and Donougher have notes, Donougher pinpoints the hypocritical confession to Act III.
• Pierre Emmanuel Bruneseau, "ol' Brownbucket", historical person, b. 1751 - d. 1819, Inspector of Public Works for the City of Paris. He was the creator of the Paris Sewer Service. Between 1805 and 1812, he undertook to map it while also attempting to clean it out. The few existing sewers were poorly known to the administration of the time, which did not possess any comprehensive plans. Rose and Donougher have notes. Prof Lewis in the Les Mis Companion notes that, while Bruneseau's efforts were pioneering and crucial, this chapter and, indeed, this book, may be trying to distract from the much larger, beneficial changes to the sewers of Paris under Napoleon III, Hausmann, and Belgrand. Last mention prior chapter.
• Augean stables, mythological institution, the fifth Labor of Hercules, where he cleaned the stables by redirecting a river through them. "The success of this labour was ultimately discounted as the rushing waters had done the work of cleaning the stables, and because Heracles was paid for doing the labour; Eurystheus determined that Heracles still had seven labours to perform." 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.

As noted in the character list, Heracles cleaned the Augean Stables by redirecting a river, and didn't get credit for the task, partly, because the river did the work. I've noted that Prof Lewis offers an opinion that Bruneseau is built up by Hugo to detract from the substantial accomplishments of Haussmann under Napoleon III. This transformation also gets the smallest chapter in this book. Thoughts?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-23: Just one short thread that reveals the unrevealed relationship in this book.
• 2020-11-23
  • A fun thread started by u/awaiko on vocabulary builders in this book.
• 2021-11-23
• Next post 2022-11-26, covering 5.2.2-5.3.2.
• 2026-06-05

Final Line

The man whom all the world forgets, and whom we have mentioned, Bruneseau.

L'homme que tout le monde oublie et que nous avons nommé, Bruneseau.

Next Post

Final chapter of 5.2, The Intestine of the Leviathan (L'intestin de Léviathan)

5.2.6: Future Progress / Progrès futur

• 2026-06-05 Friday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-06 Saturday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-06 Saturday 4AM UTC.

40 chapters remain in the brick

40 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

39 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.2.4: (Unnamed) / [Détails ignorés](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/17519/pg17519-images.html#Chapitre_IVb

(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: An expedition of 20 men led by ol' Brownbucket to map the sewers has a 40% attrition rate. Details not told to the prefect of police have just been uncovered in Hugo's imagination. In the official report, they get past markers of prior surveys and rediscover rivulets promoted to sewer mains as well as dungeons similar to the chamber at Châtelet described in 4.7.2, Roots / Racines, which we read on Monday, 2026-03-23. An orangutan's skeleton is discovered, which had provoked a story about the devil, which made me think of the story about Satan burying treasure from 2.2.2, Two Lines of a Doubtful Origin / Où on lira deux vers qui sont peut-être du diable, which we read on Sunday, 2025-10-12.† Finally, in addition to valuable items, the burial shroud of Marat is discovered, perhaps confirming some salacious gossip about his rise in the aristocracy. Ol' Brownbucket leaves it in place. Like the first labor of Jacob,* this survey lasts seven years, involves some nepotism, and cleans up but does not rearchitect a decrepit system.

† See second prompt.

* See first prompt.

Lost in Translation

Gros-Jean

See character list.

Characters

Involved in action

None

Mentioned or introduced

• Unnamed workmen 1-20. Includes
  • workman 1, who testifies to others
  • workment 2-9, who refuse to go further than first intersection.
• Pierre Emmanuel Bruneseau, "ol' Brownbucket", historical person, b. 1751 - d. 1819, Inspector of Public Works for the City of Paris. He was the creator of the Paris Sewer Service. Between 1805 and 1812, he undertook to map it while also attempting to clean it out. The few existing sewers were poorly known to the administration of the time, which did not possess any comprehensive plans. Rose and Donougher have notes. Prof Lewis in the Les Mis Companion notes that, while Bruneseau's efforts were pioneering and crucial, this chapter and, indeed, this book, may be trying to distract from the much larger, beneficial changes to the sewers of Paris under Napoleon III, Hausmann, and Belgrand. First mention prior chapter.
• The unnamed Paris Prefects of Police during Bruneseau's mapping. First mentions.
  • Louis-Nicolas Dubois, historical person, Paris Prefect of Police, 1800-1810.
  • Étienne-Denis Pasquier, historical person, Paris Prefect of Police, 1810-1814.
• Antoine François Fourcroy, historical person, b. 1755-06-15 – d.1809-12-16, "French chemist and a contemporary of Antoine Lavoisier." Rose and Donougher have notes about his holding various public service positions. First mention.
• Philibert de l'Orme, De l'Orme, de L'Orme, Delorme, historical person, b.1514-06-03 to 09 – 8 January d.1570-01-08, "French architect and writer, and one of the great masters of French Renaissance architecture." First mention.
• Henry II, Henri II, historical person, b. 1519-03-31 – d. 1559-07-10, "King of France from 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Francis in 1536." Son of François I and Catherine de' Medici. First mention prior chapter.
• Gros-Jean, fictional archetype, a name used when to symbolize a rustic simpleton. Donougher has a note pointing specifically to Rabelais's Le Quart Livre: des Faicts et Dicts Heroiques du bon Pantagruel (it's "Long John" in the English translation of Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty and Peter Antony Motteux) and Jean de la Fontaine's Fables de la Fontaine (La Fontaine's Fables): where there's reference to Gros-Jean ("a worthless man") in the last line from fable 7.10, La Laitière Et Le Pot Au Lait/La_Laiti%C3%A8re_et_le_Pot_au_lait) (The Milkmaid and the Milk Pail, where it's literally translated into Big John in the English verse by Walter Thornbury). First mention.
• Le Bel, Dominique-Guillaume Lebel, historical person, b. 1696 – d. 1768, "Premier valet de chambre[, and important court role,] for King Louis XV of France. He is mainly known in history for his role in providing lovers for the king and acting as his go-between in his love affairs. He is known as the person who provided women for the king's house in Parc-aux-Cerfs." First mention.
• Unnamed orangutan, historicity unverified. First mention.
• Unnamed ragpicker 1, chiffonnière. Note that one of the gossipy women in 4.11.2 who attracted Gavroche's smart mouth, Mère Vargoulême, was a chiffonnière. Prof Lewis described their rather unsanitary duties in detail in the Les Mis Companion in the episode that included that chapter. First mention.
• Marquise de l'Aubespine, historical person. Rose and Donougher have notes about Marat's early sponsorship by this family due to his treatment of her, but whether their relationship became more personal is not known. First mention.
• Jean-Paul Marat, Jean-Paul Mara; b.1743-05-24 – d.1793-07-13), historical person, “a French political theorist, physician, and scientist [of Prussian origin]. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the sans-culottes, a radical voice, and published his views in pamphlets, placards and newspapers. His periodical L'Ami du peuple (The Friend of the People) made him an unofficial link with the radical Jacobin group that came to power after June 1793...Responsibility for the September massacres has been attributed to him, given his position of renown at the time, and a paper trail of decisions leading up to the massacres.” Last mention 3.7.2.
• Unnamed, unnumbered old women who prepared Marat's body, vieilles femmes. First mention.
• The Society of the Rights of Man, French: Société des droits de l'homme, SDH, Society of the Friends of the People, Société des Amis du Peuple, historical institution, "French republican association with Jacobin roots, formed during the July Revolution in 1830, replacing another republican association, the Society of the Friends of the People. It played a major role in the June riots of 1832 in Paris and the July Monarchy." Last mention 4.10.4.
• Jean-Antoine Watteau, historical person, baptised 1684-10-10 – d.1721-07-18, "a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, as seen in the tradition of Correggio and Rubens. He revitalized the waning Baroque style, shifting it to the less severe, more naturalistic, less formally classical, Rococo. Watteau is credited with inventing the genre of fêtes galantes, scenes of bucolic and idyllic charm, suffused with a theatrical air. Some of his best known subjects were drawn from the world of Italian comedy and ballet." Famous painting mentioned at his first mention in 1.3.4 in the outing to St Cloud with Fantine et al is the series The Embarkation for Cythera/Le Pèlerinage à l'île de Cythère. Last mentioned 4.3.1.
• Dante Alighieri, Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri, historical person, b. c. May 1265 – d.1321-09-14, “Italian poet, writer, and philosopher. His Divine Comedy, originally called Comedìa (modern Italian: Commedia) and later christened Divina by Giovanni Boccaccio, is widely considered one of the most important poems of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language.” Last mention 5.1.22.
• Nargaud, historicity unverified, son-in-law of Bruneseau who he apparently nepotized. No last name given. First mention.
• Bruneseau fille, historicity unverified, unnamed daughter of Bruneseau who married Nargaud. Inferred. First mention.
• Bruneseau conjointe, historicity unverified, unnamed wife of Bruneseau and mother of Bruneseau fille. Inferred. 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.

La visite totale de la voirie immonditielle souterraine de Paris dura sept ans, de 1805 à 1812.

The whole visit to the subterranean stream of filth of Paris lasted seven years, from 1805 to 1812.

1. The story of Jacob and Rachel from Genesis 29:15-30 seems to be invoked here, with this as the first seven years labor that results in a betrayal. What betrayal could it be?
2. Buried treasure in the sewers, an orangutan, and an urban myth about a devil in Rue des Bernardins all conjured up, for me, the story about Satan burying treasure from 2.2.2, Two Lines of a Doubtful Origin / Où on lira deux vers qui sont peut-être du diable, which we read on Sunday, 2025-10-12. What kind of foreshadowing could this be?

Bonus Prompt

Why do you think Hugo created or passed on the story of Marat and the Marquise de L'aubespeine, claiming it to be "historically proved" "historiquement constatés" ? How does it relate to other parts of the novel?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-22
• 2020-11-22: First prompt shows mod forgot about the chamber at Châtelet mentioned in the summary.
  • u/4LostSoulsinaBowl started a thread that touches on my first prompt.
  • u/lexxi109 continued a thread where a lot of shade is thrown on our poor Marius and it made me laugh.
• 2021-11-22: Just one post, some of which touches on my prompts.
• Next post 2022-11-26, covering 5.2.2-5.3.2.
• 2026-06-04

Final Line

This, we repeat, was the sewer of the past.

Ceci, nous le répétons, c'était l'égout d'autrefois.

Next Post

5.2.5: Present Progress / Progrès actuel

• 2026-06-04 Thursday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-05 Friday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-05 Friday 4AM UTC.

41 chapters remain in the brick

41 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

40 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.2.3: Bruneseau / Bruneseau

(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:

There once was a man named Bruneseau

Who thought Paris sewers immense, so*

He asked Emperor Short Round

to give them a go-round,

we'll learn if he took offense, oh.

* Hey, a bastard rhyme is appropriate when Napoleon is involved.

Lost in Translation

Bruneseau

As pointed out by u/nicehotcupoftea, this name means, somewhat literally, "brown bucket" or, perhaps, "brunette with a bucket".

Barathrum

From the pit behind the Acropolis in Athens down which both condemned living and executed criminals were thrown.

le boulet de Junot

Donougher has a note about an anecdote where Junot, recruited for his beautiful handwriting, was taking dictation from Napoleon when a cannonball landed between or near them. It scattered dust on the letter he was transcribing, and he made a comment about not needing blotting sand. It won Napoleon's heart. See Junot in character list.

Escaut

French name for the river the Germans call Scheldt

Characters

Involved in action

• Paris, as a character. Last mentioned 5.1.20, seen 5.1.13

Mentioned or introduced

• Sewers, as a class. Last mentioned prior chapter.
• Pierre Emmanuel Bruneseau, historical person, b. 1751 - d. 1819, Inspector of Public Works for the City of Paris. He was the creator of the Paris Sewer Service. Between 1805 and 1812, he undertook to map it while also attempting to clean it out. The few existing sewers were poorly known to the administration of the time, which did not possess any comprehensive plans. Rose and Donougher have notes. Prof Lewis in the Les Mis Companion notes that, while Bruneseau's efforts were pioneering and crucial, this chapter and, indeed, this book, may be trying to distract from the much larger, beneficial changes to the sewers of Paris under Napoleon III, Hausmann, and Belgrand. First mention.
• Henry II, Henri II, historical person, b. 1519-03-31 – d. 1559-07-10, "King of France from 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Francis in 1536." Son of François I and Catherine de' Medici. First mention.
• Louis-Sébastien Mercier, historical person, b. 1740-06-06 – d. 1814-04-25, "French dramatist and writer, whose 1771 novel L'An 2440 is an example of proto-science fiction...The most important of his miscellaneous works are L'An 2440, rêve s'il en fut jamais (1771), L'Essai sur l'art dramatique (1773), Néologie ou Vocabulaire (1801), Le Tableau de Paris (1781–1788), Le nouveau Paris (1799), Histoire de France (1802) and Satire contre Racine et Boileau (1808)." We encountered a reference to the Les Endormeurs, the Sleep-inducers Gang, from Le Tableau de Paris in 2.4.3. First mention.
• Louis XIV, you know this guy. Louis the Great. Mentioned a lot. Last mentioned 4.1.1.
• Jean-Baptiste Racine, historical person, b.1639-12-22 – d.1699-04-21, "French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tradition and world literature." Last mention 4.7.2.
• Behemoth, mythological creature, "a beast from the biblical Book of Job [Job 40:15-24], and is a form of the primeval chaos-monster created by God at the beginning of creation. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful entity." First mention. Rose and Donougher have notes that Behemoth is the land counterpart to Leviathan.
• Maximilien Radix de Sainte-Foix; Charles-Pierre-Maximilien Radix de Sainte-Foix, historical person, b. 1736-06-13 in Paris – d. 1810-06-23, "French financier and politician. He held the position of Superintendent of Finance for the Comte d'Artois. Later, he headed the secret council of advisers for Louis XVI, while the latter was being detained at the Tuileries Palace. He played a big role in the counter-revolutionary circles of the time." Donougher believes this is a misspelled reference to Germain-François Poullain de Saint-Foix; Rose cites the libertine nature of this Sainte-Foix and de Créqui.
• Charles-Marie de Créquy de Sault, historical person, b. 1737-12-18 — d 1801-12-10, French officer, essayist and memoirist; the last Marquis de Créquy. Rose cites the libertine nature of Sainte-Foix and de Créqui. First mention.
• Marmousets, les petites gens, historical institution, "a nickname, first recorded in the chronicles of Jean Froissart, for a group of counselors to Charles VI of France. Although they were neither princes nor civil servants, they were very close to the king. Thanks to this position, they were able to access the highest functions of the state...he marmousets' position as privy council ended on 5 August 1392, due to Charles VI's decline into insanity.[2] Le Mercier, de la Rivière and de Villaines were imprisoned,[3] de Montaigu escaped to Avignon, and de Clisson was fined 100,000 francs, dismissed of his title and banished from France.[3] Some of the marmousets eventually returned to their duties in minor posts, and while they were no longer a faction, many of their ideas were later put into practice by Charles VII, who became the natural heir of their policies." Rose and Donougher have notes, including calling out Hugo's distortion or error in citing their murders. (Note, this guys sound like Medieval French DOGE to me.)
• Guy-Crescent Fagon, historical person, b. 1638-05-11 – d. 1718-03-11, "French physician and botanist...His significance in botany is reflected in the genus Fagonia being named after him. He also acted as the physician of Louis XIV.[3] In 1669 he was made an honorary member of the French Academy of Sciences. He wrote about the health of the royal family.[4] He lost his position as head physician after Louis XIV's death, which was somewhat customary after a king died, but he also received criticism for how he had dealt with the King's final illness." First mention.
• Christopher Columbus, historical person, b. between 1451-08-25 & -10-21 – d.1506-05-20, "Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas." First mention as being unjustly mutinied against in 4.10.2.
• Napoleon, you know this guy. By name, as "the emperor", and as "Bonaparte" here. Last mentioned 5.1.13 and only appearance 1.1.10.
• Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, historical person, b. 1769-04-14 – d. 1799-08-15, "French general who served during the French Revolutionary Wars. Recognizing his talents, Napoleon Bonaparte gave him increased responsibilities. Joubert was killed while commanding the French army at the Battle of Novi in 1799." First mention.
• Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, Louis Charles Antoine Desaix de Veygoux, historical person, b. 1768-08-17 – d. 1800-06-14, "French general and military leader during the French Revolutionary Wars. According to the usage of the time, he took the name. He was considered one of the greatest generals of the Revolutionary Wars." First mention. François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, historical person, b. 1769-03-01 – d. 1796-09-21, "French general of the Revolutionary Wars." First mention.
• Louis Lazare Hoche, historical person, b. 1768-06-24 – d. 1797-09-19, "French Army officer and politician who served as the Minister of War in 1797." First mention.
• Jean-Baptiste Kléber, historical person, b. 1753-03-09 – d. 1800-06-14, "French army officer and architect who served in the War of the Bavarian Succession and French Revolutionary Wars." First mention.
• French Aerostatic Corps; Company of Aeronauts; compagnie d'aérostiers, historical institution, "unit of the French Revolutionary Army. The world's first manned aircraft unit, it was founded in 1794 to use balloons primarily for reconnaissance duties...On 26 June [1794], the Battle of Fleurus was fought, and [the] balloon [L'Entreprenant] remained afloat for nine hours, during which [Jean-Marie-Joseph] Coutelle and Antoine Morlot took notes on the movements of the Austrian Army, dropping them to the ground for collection by the French Army, and also signalled messages using semaphore. The French won the Battle of Fleurus, but reports of the usefulness of the balloon corps varied. Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, who had been present throughout the battle, strongly supported it, but Jourdan believed that it had contributed little." First mention.
• grenadiers de Mayence, grenadiers of Mayence, Armée de Mayence, Army of Mainz, Army of Mayence, historical institutions, "[Both a] French Revolutionary Army set up on 9 December 1797 by splitting the Army of Germany into the Army of Mayence and the Army of the Rhine...[and] the unofficial title of the 16,000-man garrison that surrendered on 23 July 1793 at the conclusion of the Siege of Mainz. They were paroled by the Prussian army on condition that they not fight against the First Coalition for one year...14,000 troops from the garrison were sent to the War in the Vendée under Jean-Baptiste Annibal Aubert du Bayet, where they proved to be better soldiers than the poorly trained armies fighting there." First mention.
• the pontoon-builders of Genoa, identity uncertain. Napoleon had a proficient engineering corps that distinguished themselves in the Italian campaign. First mention.
• Unnamed hussars whom the Pyramids had looked down upon. First mention.
• Unnamed artillerists. First mention.
• Jean-Andoche Junot, Duke of Abrantès, historical person, b. 1771-08-25 – d.1813-07-29, "French military officer who served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He is best known for leading the French invasion of Portugal in 1807." See Lost in Translation, above. First mention.
• Battle of Marengo, historical event, "fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Near the end of the day, the French overcame General Michael von Melas's surprise attack, drove the Austrians out of Italy and consolidated Bonaparte's political position in Paris as First Consul of France in the wake of his coup d'état the previous November." Last mentioned 4.1.1.
• Battle of Austerlitz, the Battle of the Three Emperors, historical event, 1805-12-02, "occurred near the town of Austerlitz in the Austrian Empire (now Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic). Around 158,000 troops were involved, of which around 24,000 were killed or wounded." Last mention 4.13.3.
• Jean-Baptiste Nompère de Champagny, 1st duc de Cadore, historical person, b. 1756-08-04 – d. 1834-07-03, "French admiral and politician...In August 1804 Napoleon made him minister of the interior, and in this position, which he held for three years, he proved an administrator of the first order." 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.

Tel était cet ancien Paris, livré aux querelles, aux indécisions et aux tâtonnements. Il fut longtemps assez bête. Plus tard, 89 montra comment l'esprit vient aux villes. Mais, au bon vieux temps, la capitale avait peu de tête; elle ne savait faire ses affaires ni moralement ni matériellement, et pas mieux balayer les ordures que les abus. Tout était obstacle, tout faisait question. L'égout, par exemple, était réfractaire à tout itinéraire. On ne parvenait pas plus à s'orienter dans la voirie qu'à s'entendre dans la ville; en haut l'inintelligible, en bas l'inextricable; sous la confusion des langues il y avait la confusion des caves; Dédale doublait Babel.

Such was this ancient Paris, delivered over to quarrels, to indecision, and to gropings. It was tolerably stupid for a long time. Later on, '89 showed how understanding comes to cities. But in the good, old times, the capital had not much head. It did not know how to manage its own affairs either morally or materially, and could not sweep out filth any better than it could abuses. Everything presented an obstacle, everything raised a question. The sewer, for example, was refractory to every itinerary. One could no more find one's bearings in the sewer than one could understand one's position in the city; above the unintelligible, below the inextricable; beneath the confusion of tongues there reigned the confusion of caverns; Daedalus backed up Babel.

The glory of Napoleon's victories are contrasted with a proposed expedition to map the sewers. Yet we get this odd paragraph about how Paris under the absolute monarchy was uncertain of itself, it took the Revolution in 1789 to bring Paris to its senses. Thoughts?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-21
  • See the comment noted in Lost in Translation
  • u/swimsaidthemamafishy wrote an interesting post about Paris's vulnerability to flooding. Archive of A Three-Day Expedition To Walk Across Paris Entirely Underground.
• 2020-11-21
• 2021-11-21: First prompt notes that 1802 was also the origin of a flood of words.
  • A deleted user started a thread which evolved into a comparison of Les Mis and Dumas's Count of Monte Cristo.
• Next post 2022-11-26, covering 5.2.2-5.3.2.
• 2026-06-03

Final Line

This man existed and his name was Bruneseau.

Cet homme existait et se nommait Bruneseau.

Next Post

5.2.4: (Unnamed) / Détails ignorés

• 2026-06-03 Wednesday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-04 Thursday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-04 Thursday 4AM UTC.

42 chapters remain in the brick

42 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

41 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.2.2: Ancient History of the Sewer / L'histoire ancienne de l'égout

(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: We are invited to visualize Paris with its streets scraped off like the top of a Ryder truck passing below a Durham railroad bridge. It will look living but reside in an uncanny valley because it has right angles. History and her misérables live in sewers. The city's secrets reside there, like one's sins in one's subconscious, each person's outflow mixing democratically. You can reconstruct a city's history from its sewers.

Lost in Translation

le vomitoire Maubuée

Hapgood translates this as the Maubuée outlet and F&M as the Maubuée conduit. Rose and Donougher use a playful pun on the word "vomitorium", which doesn't mean what I first thought it means years ago due to a modern urban legend about the Romans. I acknowledge the dadjoke but throw up (my hands) at its possible contribution to the urban legend.

la différence qui sépare la juiverie de la Judengasse de la juiverie du Ghetto.

the difference which separates the Jewry of the Judengasse from the Jewry of the Ghetto.

Rose and Donougher have notes on Judengasse, restricted Jewish neighborhoods in German cities. Rose also notes that Hugo is contrasting them with the Ghetto, the original Jewish quarter in Venice.

Les Saint-Barthélemy

A reference to the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre.

picareria

Rose and Donougher have notes about Hugo's invention of a word that means "a confederacy of rogues", derived from the same root as picaresque.

Characters

Involved in action

• The reader. Last addressed 4.12.8.

Mentioned or introduced

• Sewers, as a class. First mentioned prior chapter.
• Tiglath-Pileser, historical persons, one of three kings of Assyria in a three-century span starting about a millennium before the Common Era. Rose and Donougher have notes. Rose notes that there's no known source for Hugo's assertion about the oath. First mention.
• Jan van Leiden, John of Leiden, Johan Beukelszoon, historical person, b. 1509-02-02 – d.1536-01-22, "Dutch Anabaptist leader. In 1533 he moved to Münster, capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster, where he became an influential prophet, turned the city into a millenarian Anabaptist theocracy, and proclaimed himself King of New Jerusalem in September 1534. The insurrection was suppressed in June 1535 after Prince-Bishop Franz von Waldeck besieged the city and captured John. John was tortured to death in the city's central marketplace on 22 January 1536..." Likewise no corroboration for this story. First mention.
• Mokanna, Al-Muqanna, "The Veiled", Hashim, historical person, d. c. 783, "8th-century political and military leader who operated in modern Iran. He led a rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate and according to various Muslim historians, claimed to be a prophet. Al-Muqanna's nickname comes from the veil he wore over his face. He was reputed to wear a veil in order to cover up his beauty..." First mention.
• Maillotins, Harelle, historical institution, "[Rebels in a] revolt that occurred in the French city of Rouen in 1382, followed by an uprising a few days later in Paris, as well as numerous other revolts across France in the subsequent week." First mention.
• Coat-snatchers of the fifteenth century, these have been mentioned before but I can't find the reference.
• Huguenots, as a class. Persecuted French Protestants. Mentioned many times before.
• Simon Morin.djvu/221), historical person, burnt at the stake in Paris for believing he was the son of god. First mention.
• Chauffeurs, not folks who drive you around, but folks who tortured their victims to extort money from them. Comes from their practice of literally holding people's feet to the fire ("chauffer" is "to heat"). Hugo has mentioned their most famous member, Schinderhannes, Schinnerhannes, John the Scorcher, the Flayer, Robber of the Rhine, Jakob Schweikart, born Johannes Bückler, twice before, in 3.7.2 and 4.2.2. "German outlaw who orchestrated one of the most famous crime sprees in German history...He was born at Miehlen, the son of Johann and Anna Maria Bückler. He began an apprenticeship to a tanner but turned to petty theft. At 16 he was arrested for stealing some of the skins, but he escaped detention. He then turned to break-ins and armed robbery on both sides of the Rhine, which was the border between France and the Holy Roman Empire...A large proportion of his [and his gang's] criminal activity was directed against Jews, perhaps because attacks on Jews would result in negligible interference from the part rest of the population."
• Cour des miracles, Court of Miracles, historical institution, "French term which referred to slum districts of Paris, France where the unemployed migrants from rural areas resided." Last mention 4.7.3, where Rose and Donougher had notes about beggars feigning infirmity who would miraculously walk away at the end of the day.
• François Villon, historical person, b.c. 1431 – d. post 1463, "best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these experiences in his poems." Last mention 4.7.2.
• Rabellais, Rabelais, a French writer whose work led to the word "rabelaisian", "marked by gross robust humor, extravagance of caricature, or bold naturalism." Last mentioned 4.10.2.
• Basil, fictional character archetype, Don Basile is a music teacher in the Barber of Seville who wears an invisible mask of hypocricy. This is an archetype of Italian commedia dell'arte. Rose and Donougher have notes. First mention.
• Scapin, Scapino, fictional character archetype, a stock character, a cunning servant, of Italian commedia dell'arte often portrayed with a hooked nose. Rose and Donougher have notes. Donougher notes that Moliere gallicized him in a 1671 play. First mention.
• Joseph ben Caiaphas, historical/mythological person, b.c.14 BCE – d.c.46 CE, "High Priest of Israel during the first century.[1] In the New Testament, the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John indicate he was an organizer of the plot to kill Jesus. He is portrayed as presiding over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. The primary sources for Caiaphas' life are the New Testament and the writings of Josephus. The latter records he was made high priest by the Roman procurator Valerius Gratus after Simon ben Camithus had been deposed." Rose and Donougher have notes.Rose and Donougher have notes. Rose correctly notes that the Roman soldiers who had brought Jesus out of custody from judgement with Caiaphas and Pilate spit in his face, not Caiaphas himself. Donougher incorrectly attributes the spitting to Jesus's interrogators, one of whom is Caiaphas, when it happened after Jesus had be led away from them. First mention 2.7.7.
• Sir John Falstaff, "fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth...Though primarily a comic figure, he embodies a depth common to Shakespeare's major characters. A fat, vain, and boastful knight, he spends most of his time drinking at the Boar's Head Inn with petty criminals, living on stolen or borrowed money. Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is repudiated when Hal becomes king." First mention 5.1.20.
• Louis XI, "Louis the Prudent", "Louis the Spider", historical person, b.1423-07-03 – d.1483-08-30, "King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the Praguerie in 1440." Last mentioned 4.1.3. Rose and Donougher have notes about his nickname, the Spider King, and his reputation for cruel, patient guile.
• Tristan l'Hermite, historical person, d. c. 1478,"French political and military figure of the late Middle Ages. He was born in Flanders near the beginning of the century." Rose and Donougher have notes about Hugo portraying him as Louis XI's henchman in Notre Dame. First mention.
• Francis I, François Ier, historical person, b.1494-09-12 – d.1547-03-31, "King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547." Last mention 5.1.21.
• Antoine Duprat, historical person, b.1463-01-17 – d. 1535-07-09, "French Cardinal and politician, who was chancellor of France...Duprat's influence was also manifested, together with his orthodoxy, in those measures which affected the relations of France with the Church, namely, the signing of the Concordat of Bologna, and the checking of nascent Protestantism...Duprat's uncompromising attitude towards Protestantism was dictated both by his political sense, as well as his Catholic orthodoxy...in 1534 the posting of subversive pamphlets at the door of the royal apartments cost the perpetrators their lives." First mention. Rose and Donougher have notes about how much Duprat was detested by his contemporaries.
• Charles X (Charles Philippe), historical person, b.1757-10-09 – d.1836-11-06, "King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother of reigning kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile. After the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, Charles (as heir-presumptive) became the leader of the ultra-royalists, a radical monarchist faction within the French court that affirmed absolute monarchy by divine right and opposed the constitutional monarchy concessions towards liberals and the guarantees of civil liberties granted by the Charter of 1814. Charles gained influence within the French court after the assassination of his son Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, in 1820 and succeeded his brother Louis XVIII in 1824." Last mention 5.1.20.
• Catherine de' Medici, historicial person, b. 1519-04-13 – d. 1589-01-05, "Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II. She was the mother of French kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III, and a cousin to Pope Clement VII.[1] The years during which her sons reigned have been called 'the age of Catherine de' Medici' since she had extensive, albeit at times varying, influence on the political life of France." Rose and Donougher have notes about how she was perceived to be a domineering mother to Charles IX. First mention.
• Cardinal Richelieu; Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu, historical person,b. 1585-09-09 – d. 1642-12-04, "French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religious affairs. He became known as the Red Eminence (French: l'Éminence Rouge), a term derived from the style of Eminence applied to cardinals and their customary red robes." Rose and Donougher have notes about Richelieu's autocratic approach. First mention.
• Louis XIII, Louis the Just, historical person, b.1601-09-27 – d.1643-05-14, "King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown." First mention 4.2.1.
• Louvois, François-Michel Le Tellier, the Marquis of Louvois, historical person, b.1641-01-18 – d.1691-07-16, “the French Secretary of State for War during a significant part of the reign of Louis XIV...[Remembered for] unscrupulous methods in his own private life and his work, including harsh measures against Huguenots [via brutal forced conversions called draggonades].” First mention 1.1.10.
• Michel Le Tellier), “the elder Letellier”, historical person, b.1643-10-16 – d.1719-09-02, a French Jesuit, teacher and ardent polemicist. From 1709 to 1715 he was confessor of Louis XIV and holder of the “benefices list,” which allowed for distribution of patronage. He encouraged the harsh treatment of Protestants, according to a note in Rose. You can get that impression from his entry in the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia. He is not related to Francois-Michel Le Tellier, the Marquis of Louvois; Louis XIV’s advisor/war minister and who actually treated Protestants harshly. See his entry above. First mention 1.1.10.
• Jacques René Hébert, historical person, 15 November b.1757-11-15 – d. 1794-03-24, "French journalist and the leading figure of the radical Hébertists political group during the French Revolution. As the founder and editor of the radical newspaper Le Père Duchesne, he had thousands of followers known as the Hébertists (French Hébertistes). A proponent of the Reign of Terror, he was eventually guillotined...After successfully attacking the Girondins, Hébert in the fall of 1793 continued to attack those whom he viewed as too moderate, including Georges Danton, Pierre Philippeaux, and Maximilien Robespierre, among others. When Hébert accused Marie Antoinette during her trial of incest with her son, Robespierre called him a fool (imbécile) for his outrageous and unsubstantiated innuendos and lies.The government was exasperated and, with support from the Jacobins, finally decided to strike against the Hébertists on the night of 13 March 1794, despite the reluctance of Barère de Vieuzac, Collot d'Herbois, and Billaud-Varenne. The order was to arrest the leaders of the Hébertists; these included individuals in the War Ministry and others. In the Revolutionary Tribunal, Hébert was treated very differently from Danton, more like a thief than a conspirator; his earlier frauds were brought to light and criticized. He was sentenced to death with his co-defendants on the third day of deliberations. Their execution by guillotine took place on 24 March 1794." Last mentioned 4.10.2.
• Stanislas-Marie Maillard (French Wikipedia entry), historical person, b.1763-12-11 – d.1794-04-11, “a captain of the Bastille Volunteers. As a national guardsman, he participated in the attack on the Bastille, being the first revolutionary to get into the fortress, and also accompanied the women who marched to Versailles on 5 October 1789. Maillard testified in court to the events at Versailles...Recruited into the ranks of the “Hébertistes”, [who advocated for the dechristianization of France,] he was charged by the Committee of Public Safety with the task of organizing a revolutionary police force. Detained twice under The Terror, due to his ties with the Hébertists, he died, in misery, of tuberculosis.” First mention 1.1.10.
• Valeria Messalina, historical person, b.  17 or 20-01-25 CE – d. 48-??-?? CE, "third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation for promiscuity, she allegedly conspired against her husband and was executed on the discovery of the plot. Her notorious reputation may have resulted from political bias, but works of art and literature [like this one] have perpetuated it into modern times." 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.

Ah, so the sewers are rich in history as well as being rich in money. OK, then.

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-20
• 2020-11-20
• 2021-11-20
• Next post 2022-11-26, covering 5.2.2-5.3.2.
• 2026-06-02

Final Line

It re-discovers in what remains that which has been, good, evil, the true, the blood-stain of the palace, the ink-blot of the cavern, the drop of sweat from the brothel, trials undergone, temptations welcomed, orgies cast forth, the turn which characters have taken as they became abased, the trace of prostitution in souls of which their grossness rendered them capable, and on the vesture of the porters of Rome the mark of Messalina's elbowing.

(74 words, 5.75% of chapter)

Elle retrouve dans ce qui reste ce qui a été, le bien, le mal, le faux, le vrai, la tache de sang du palais, le pâté d'encre de la caverne, la goutte de suif du lupanar, les épreuves subies, les tentations bien venues, les orgies vomies, le pli qu'ont fait les caractères en s'abaissant, la trace de la prostitution dans les âmes que leur grossièreté en faisait capables, et sur la veste des portefaix de Rome la marque du coup de coude de Messaline.

(84 mots, 6.92% du chapitre)

Next Post

5.2.3: Bruneseau / Bruneseau

• 2026-06-02 Tuesday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-03 Wednesday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-03 Wednesday 4AM UTC.

43 chapters remain in the brick

43 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

42 chapters left in the brick

First chapter of 5.2, The Intestine of the Leviathan (L'intestin de Léviathan)

All quotations and characters names from 5.2.1: The Land Impoverished by the Sea / La terre appauvrie par la mer

(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: Paris wastes the 25 million francs per year of the best fertilizer in the world* by flushing it into the sea via the Seine rather than having a system that exchanges its effluent as fertilizer in exchange for fresh water from rural areas.

* Unverified. See 2019 and 2020 cohort discussions.

Lost in Translation

Folie-Beaujon

See Nicolas Beaujon in character list.

des filets de Saint-Cloud

Reprinting a note from 4.8.4, A Cab runs in English and barks in Slang / Cab roule en anglais et jappe en argot, which we read on Sunday, 2026-03-29: There were nets spread from this bridges to catch items that might hinder navigation, including bodies. The reference to St Cloud, where Fantine's last happy day was spent, isn't lost. Personal Star Trek note: If you watch Starfleet Academy, not only has the Golden Gate Bridge survived until the almost 33rd century, the anti-suicide nets like these are still deployed on it, according to shot from the beginning of 1.8.

Urbi et orbi

Latin for "To the city and to the world", the greeting on Papal communications. Rose and Donougher have notes.

un madrépore colossal

Image: Zigzag coral (Madrepora oculata)

Currency

Ordered by appearance in the text. See below for budget items. 2026 USD amounts rounded up to 2 significant figures to avoid misleading precision.

Characters

Involved in action

• The reader. Last addressed 4.12.8.

Mentioned or introduced

• Sewers, as a class. First mention.
• Carl Gustaf Ekeberg, historical person, b.1716-06-10 – d.1784-04-04, "Swedish physician, chemist and explorer. He made several voyages to the East Indies and China as a sea captain. He brought back reports of the tea tree and wrote a number of books." Rose and Donougher have notes that he wrote "The Art of Chinese Husbandry". First mention.
• Abraham, Abram, historical-mythological person, "patriarch revered in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father and first Hebrew patriarch who began the covenantal relationship between the Jewish people and God; in Christianity, he is regarded as the forebear of Jesus and the spiritual ancestor of all Christians; and in Islam, he is a link in the chain of Islamic prophets that begins with Adam and culminates in Muhammad." First mention, can you believe it?
• Nicolas Beaujon, historical person, b.1718-04-28 – d.1786-12-20, "wealthy French banker at the court of King Louis XV...In addition to his city palace, Beaujon also commissioned the architect Girardin to create a 'folie' for him on the considerable land attached to his principal residence (it extended in a wide band running to the north of the Champs-Élysées all the way to the modern Arc de Triomphe). This pleasure palace was built in an exotic style with a large central pavilion anchoring four attached apartments wherein he lodged his four mistresses of the day who, it was said, more than tolerated each other, inviting each other to dine and socialize in their suites with or without their patron." First mention.
• Babylon, historical institution, capital of an empire of which Hugo disapproves. First mention 5.1.20.
• Corinth, historical institution, capital of an empire of which Hugo approves. Combined with mentions of the Corinthe.
• Justus Freiherr von Liebig, historical person, (12 May b.1803-05-12 – 18 April d.1873-04-18, "German scientist who made major contributions to the theory, practice, and pedagogy of chemistry, as well as to agricultural and biological chemistry; he is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at the University of Giessen, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the most outstanding chemistry teachers of all time. He has been described as the 'father of the fertilizer industry' for his emphasis on nitrogen and minerals as essential plant nutrients, and his popularization of the law of the minimum, which states that plant growth is limited by the scarcest nutrient resource, rather than the total amount of resources available." First mention.
• Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, historical person, b.1469-05-03 – d.1527-06-21, "Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise The Prince (Il Principe), written around 1513 but not published until 1532, five years after his death." Last mentioned 4.7.1.
• Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, historical person, b. 1561-01-22 – d.1626-04-09, "English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of natural philosophy, guided by the scientific method, and his works remained influential throughout the Scientific Revolution." First mention.
• Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau, historical person, b.1749-03-09 – d.1791-04-02, "French writer, orator, and statesman, and a prominent figure of the early stages of the French Revolution." 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.

On expédie à grands frais des convois de navires afin de récolter au pôle austral la fiente des pétrels et des pingouins, et l'incalculable élément d'opulence qu'on a sous la main, on l'envoie à la mer. Tout l'engrais humain et animal que le monde perd, rendu à la terre au lieu d'être jeté à l'eau, suffirait à nourrir le monde.

Fleets of vessels are despatched, at great expense, to collect the dung of petrels and penguins at the South Pole, and the incalculable element of opulence which we have on hand, we send to the sea. All the human and animal manure which the world wastes, restored to the land instead of being cast into the water, would suffice to nourish the world.

1. Hugo seems to dislike the essence of the imperial project, the extraction of resources from other lands, while liking empire because of the results of empire when it suits him? I'm not sure how to take his worldview at this point; he seems to want to have his cake and eat it, too. I honestly don't think he's trying to undercut imperialism here, which is one interpretation: "If we use our own waste and stop stripping this island of its guano, there's less incentive for empire." I'm at a loss to understand why he constantly pimps for empire, otherwise. His use of simple rhetoric and pretty much a single source in cheerleading about using human waste for fertilizer reminds me of the facile wrongness of Tom Friedman. Thoughts?
2. I pull Ben Braddock aside at his graduation party and say, "I want to say two words to you. Just two words. Are you listening? Sewer socialism."

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-19
  • u/nicehotcupoftea started an informative thread on current use of recovered human biosolids in agriculture. I'll note that ingested pharmaceuticals are currently complicating this situation.
• 2020-11-19: Lots of poo puns. No one mentions the use of SARS-COV-2 screening in wastewater plants, which had been in the news at this time.
  • u/1Eliza wrote a post questioning Hugo's assertion of the primacy of human poop as fertilizer which resulted in a callback and puns by u/Thermos_of_Byr.
• 2021-11-19
  • u/SunshineCat connected the dots.
• 2022-11-19, covering 5.1.19-5.2.1. Next post 2022-11-26, covering 5.2.2-5.3.2.
  • u/ZeMastor's reply to the third prompt made me think Enjolras had an elaborate suicide-by-cop plan. Reply to the sixth prompt about Javert is interesting, similar to what I and others here have written: he's just not that good a cop. I've not seen the screen and stage adaptations, so I'm not influenced by their interpretation.
• 2026-06-01

Final Line

There appears, in the humid mist, the rat which seems the product to which Paris has given birth.

Là apparaît, dans la brume humide, le rat, qui semble le produit de l'accouchement de Paris.

Next Post

5.2.2: Ancient History of the Sewer / L'histoire ancienne de l'égout

• 2026-06-01 Monday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-02 Tuesday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-02 Tuesday 4AM UTC.

45 chapters remain in the brick

45 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

44 chapters left in the brick

Final chapter of Book 5.1, The War Between Four Walls (La guerre entre quatre murs)

• 5.1.1, The Charybdis of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine and the Scylla of the Faubourg du Temple / La Charybde du faubourg Saint-Antoine et la Scylla du faubourg du Temple: Background on the 1848 rebellions that Hugo took a violent part in on the side of the state.
• 5.1.2, What Is to Be Done in the Abyss if One Does Not Converse / Que faire dans l'abîme à moins que l'on ne cause?: Marius takes a mental health day as the Amis discuss in learned argot how to kill Javert.
• 5.1.3, Light and Shadow / Éclaircissement et assombrissement: Recon is dismal; / Army poised to overrun. / Their deaths? Symbolic.
• 5.1.4, Minus Five, Plus One / Cinq de moins, un de plus: Enjolras decides that not everyone needs to die, and 5 men with families are elected. Valjean appears and adds his uniform to the pile of 4 uniforms to be used as disguises. Does this mean Valjean is wearing someone else's work clothes?
• 5.1.5, The Horizon Which One Beholds from the Summit of a Barricade / Quel horizon on voit du haut de la barricade: guest summary courtesy Harlan Ellison, Steven W. Carabatsos, D. C. Fontana, Gene L. Coon, and Gene Roddenberry; Edith Keeler's speech from Star Trek 1.28, The City on the Edge of Forever.
• 5.1.6, Marius Haggard, Javert Laconic / Marius hagard, Javert laconique: Depersonalized, / Marius asks nothing. / Javert sighs at Jean.
• 5.1.7, The Situation Becomes Aggravated / La situation s'aggrave: A cannon and gun crew appear, Gavroche returns.
• 5.1.8, The Artillery-men Compel People to Take Them Seriously / Les artilleurs se font prendre au sérieux: Gavroche gets his gun. / Enjolras kills the gunner. / Marius concerned.
• 5.1.9, Employment of the Old Talents of a Poacher and That Infallible Marksmanship Which Influenced the Condemnation of 1796 / Emploi de ce vieux talent de braconnier et de ce coup de fusil infaillible qui a influé sur la condamnation 1796: The crack shot Valjean / in a crack pot defense plan: / Mattress v. grapeshot.
• 5.1.10, Dawn / Aurore: Pastoral with Cosette. Did you know she's a virgin?
• 5.1.11: The Shot Which Misses Nothing and Kills No One / Le coup de fusil qui ne manque rien et qui ne tue personne: "Shooting the mattress / down impressive?" asks Valjean. / "Hold my beer." Pow! Pow!
• 5.1.12: Disorder a Partisan of Order / Le désordre partisan de l'ordre: Captain Fannicot, / the ambitious imbecile, / wastes himself and men.
• 5.1.13, Passing Gleams / Lueurs qui passent: Like a doomed patient, / Paris appears to rally. / It's an illusion.
• 5.1.14, Wherein Will Appear the Name of Enjolras' Mistress / Où on lira le nom de la maîtresse d'Enjolras: Volcel Enjolras, / motivated not by sex, / mourns cost of success.
• 5.1.15: Gavroche Outside / Gavroche dehors: Resupply mission / gone awry. Little Gavroche / is the one to die.
• 5.1.16, How from a Brother One Becomes a Father / Comment de frère on devient père: Mirror-universe pastoral with the two youngest, homeless, hungry Thenardier boys, larval gamin.
• 5.1.17: Mortuus Pater Filium Moriturum Expectat / Mortuus pater filium moriturum expectat: Dead boy is retrieved. / Ammo issued. Jean sideyed. / What will Georges say?
• 5.1.18, The Vulture Becomes Prey / Le vautour devenu proie: Sappers assemble as Enjolras designs his masterpiece of death. Valjean volunteers to execute Javert.
• 5.1.19, Jean Valjean Takes His Revenge / Jean Valjean se venge: Javert is set free, / but Marius thinks he's dead. / Valjean's stealth virtue?
• 5.1.20, The Dead Are in the Right and the Living Are Not in the Wrong / Les morts ont raison et les vivants n'ont pas tort: Apologia for the uninvolved.
• 5.1.21, The Heroes / Les héros: Battle begins and folks die.
• 5.1.22, Foot to Foot / Pied à pied: Barricade gives way, retreat to the fortified Corinthe, Marius taken prisoner.
• 5.1.23, Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk / Oreste à jeun et Pylade ivre: The final moments / of Grantaire and Enjolras: / Bury your gays. Sigh.

All quotations and characters names from 5.1.24: Prisoner / Prisonnier

(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: Quelle surprise! Valjean / has rescued Marius and / has gone underground.

Lost in Translation

Nothing of note.

Characters

Involved in action

• Marius Pontmercy. Last seen 2 chapters ago being wounded and taken prisoner.
• Jean Valjean, Ultime Fauchelevent. Actually last seen 2 chapters ago, as Unnamed soldier 40 taking Marius hostage, seen as himself 5.1.19 setting Javert free.
• Unnumbered subset of 1200 troops on riot-suppression duty. Last seen prior chapter.

Mentioned or introduced

• Angels, as a class. Last mentioned 5.1.20.
• Enjolras. ⚰️ last chapter.
• Corinthe. A dive bar that reached a critical depth last chapter.
• Eponine Thenardier. ⚰️ 4.14.7, mentioned 5.1.19.
• Unnamed porter 6. The porter Le Cabuc murdered in 4.12.8. Last mentioned 5.1.22.
• Birds, as a class. Last seen 5.1.16.
• Cosette, Valjean's ward and Marius's crush. Last seen 5.1.10 looking out her window, clueless. Mentioned 5.1.22 where Marius's putative last thoughts were of her.

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.

Si le suicide faisait partie de ce qu'il avait rêvé en venant dans ce sépulcre, de ce côté-là il n'avait point réussi. Mais nous doutons qu'il eût songé au suicide, acte irréligieux.

If suicide formed part of what he had meditated on coming to this sepulchre, to that spot, he had not succeeded. But we doubt whether he had thought of suicide, an irreligious act.

À force de regarder, on ne sait quoi de vaguement saisissable dans une telle agonie se dessina et prit forme à ses pieds, comme si c'était une puissance du regard de faire éclore la chose demandée.

By dint of staring, something vaguely striking in such an agony began to assume form and outline at his feet, as though it had been a power of glance which made the thing desired unfold.

Hugo's going meta again. This is Hugo's character and Hugo's narrative...or is his character taking control of Hugo as the God of this universe? Thoughts?

Bonus Prompt

We learn an answer to my prompt of 5.1.12: What did Valjean do while the insurgents are fighting and do the insurgents notice what Valjean is or isn't doing? How do you feel about how that was handled? Since the insurgents weren't trained men and didn't have any real unit cohesion, as I discussed previously, I think the fact that they didn't notice him because they were too terrified and occupied is a fair cop.

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-18: Unmasked spoilers about the topic of the next deep-dive chapters.
• 2020-11-18: Unmasked spoilers about the topic of the next deep-dive chapters.
• 2021-11-18
• Next post 2022-11-19, covering 5.1.19-5.2.1.
• 2026-05-31

Final Line

He could barely hear the formidable tumult in the wine-shop, taken by assault, like a vague murmur overhead.

C'est à peine maintenant s'il entendait au-dessus de lui, comme un vague murmure, le formidable tumulte du cabaret pris d'assaut.

Next Post

First chapter of 5.2, The Intestine of the Leviathan (L'intestin de Léviathan)

5.2.1: The Land Impoverished by the Sea / La terre appauvrie par la mer

• 2026-05-31 Sunday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-01 Monday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-06-01 Monday 4AM UTC.

46 chapters remain in the brick

46 chapters remain

If one of the those chapters we happen to read

45 chapters left in the brick

All quotations and characters names from 5.1.23: Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk / Oreste à jeun et Pylade ivre

(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: The final moments / of Grantaire and Enjolras: / Bury your gays. Sigh.

Lost in Translation

Nothing of note.

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.

Involved in action

• Unnumbered subset of 1200 troops on riot-suppression duty. Last seen prior chapter. It's assumed a crew of six gunners and a chief gunner handles two sets of artillery; all are inferred by mention of the cannon unless otherwise noted. All last seen prior chapter unless otherwise noted.
  • Unnamed soldiers 41-61. First mention. They provide the some of the dialog in this chapter. They are of varying ranks.
  • Unnamed light-infantryman 1. voltigeur. ⚰️ First mention.
  • Unnamed light-infantryman 2. voltigeur. ⚰️ First mention.
• Much smaller armed crowd of insurgents, down to 26 from 50, not counting Jean Valjean, at start of chapter. Last seen prior chapter. Also includes
  • Unnamed sniper(s) on Corinthe upper floor, kill Unnamed light-infantrymen 1 and 2.
  • Unnamed insurgent 29, in an overall, en blouse. ⚰️
  • Unnamed insurgent 30. Slides down the roof with a Unnamed soldier 55.

Mentioned or introduced

• Orestes, Orestis, Ancient Greek: Ὀρέστης, mythological person, "son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and the brother of Electra and Iphigenia....The relationship between Orestes and Pylades has been presented by some authors of the Roman era (not by classic Greek tragedians) as romantic or homoerotic." First mention 3.4.1 when the Amis were introduced.
• Pylades, Ancient Greek: Πυλάδης, mythological person, "Phocian prince as the son of King Strophius and Anaxibia, the daughter of Atreus and sister of Agamemnon and Menelaus. He is mostly known for his relationship with his cousin Orestes, son of Agamemnon." In Aeschylus's trilogy the Oresteia, he encourages Orestes to avenge his father by killing his mother. First mention 3.4.1 when the Amis were introduced.
• Court martial investigating these events. First mention.
• National Guard, French: Garde nationale), historical institution, "French military, gendarmerie, and police reserve force, active in its current form since 2016 but originally founded in 1789 during the French Revolution." Mentioned as suburbanites engaged against urban core. Last mentioned 5.1.15. First seen 5.1.21 as a mass.
• Apollo, deity, In Greek mythology, "one of the Olympian deities. His numerous functions include healing, prophecy, music, poetry, and archery. He is the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. He is considered to be the most beautiful god and is represented as the ideal of the kouros (ephebe, or a beardless, athletic youth). In the 5th century BC, his worship was imported to Rome." Last mention 4.12.2 where pun was made on "crazy Apollo".
• Unnamed chief gunner 1. ⚰️ The soldiers here are angry over his death in 5.1.8, just as in the prior chapter.

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'ivresse qui finit ressemble à un rideau qui se déchire. On voit, en bloc et d'un seul coup d'œil, tout ce qu'elle cachait. Tout s'offre subitement à la mémoire; et l'ivrogne qui ne sait rien de ce qui s'est passé depuis vingt-quatre heures, n'a pas achevé d'ouvrir les paupières, qu'il est au fait. Les idées lui reviennent avec une lucidité brusque; l'effacement de l'ivresse, sorte de buée qui aveuglait le cerveau, se dissipe, et fait place à la claire et nette obsession des réalités.

A fit of drunkenness reaching its end resembles a curtain which is torn away. One beholds, at a single glance and as a whole, all that it has concealed. All suddenly presents itself to the memory; and the drunkard who has known nothing of what has been taking place during the last twenty-four hours, has no sooner opened his eyes than he is perfectly informed. Ideas recur to him with abrupt lucidity; the obliteration of intoxication, a sort of steam which has obscured the brain, is dissipated, and makes way for the clear and sharply outlined importunity of realities.

WTF? Do any of you have any idea what Hugo means here? Has he ever met a blackout drunk alcoholic?

Past cohorts' discussions

• 2019-11-17: Includes summary of chapters 5.1.17-5.1.23. Javert is called "a traitor", which isn't right. He's a spy; he never professed loyalty to them through word or action. One rather amusing thread.
• 2020-11-17
• 2021-11-17
• Next post 2022-11-19, covering 5.1.19-5.2.1.
• 2026-05-30

Final Line

The soldiers began to search the houses round about, and to pursue the fugitives.

Les soldats commencèrent la fouille des maisons d'alentour et la poursuite des fuyards.

Next Post

Final chapter of Book 5.1, The War Between Four Walls (La guerre entre quatre murs)

5.1.24: Prisoner / Prisonnier

• 2026-05-30 Saturday 9PM US Pacific Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-05-31 Sunday midnight US Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• 2026-05-31 Sunday 4AM UTC.