WEBVTT 00:00:00.859 --> 00:00:03.580 Welcome, everyone. We are so glad you're here 00:00:03.580 --> 00:00:05.299 with us today. Yeah, thanks for having me. It's 00:00:05.299 --> 00:00:07.179 great to be here. If you are listening to this 00:00:07.179 --> 00:00:09.859 right now, chances are you're the kind of person 00:00:09.859 --> 00:00:12.580 who loves to learn. You know, someone who really 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:15.720 wants to peek behind the curtain of history and 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:19.280 see how art and culture and politics all just 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:22.820 sort of collide. And that is exactly our mission 00:00:22.820 --> 00:00:25.940 for today's deep dive. We are exploring the history 00:00:25.940 --> 00:00:28.460 behind a monumental piece of French literature, 00:00:28.780 --> 00:00:32.020 Victor Hugo's poetry collection, Les Orientales, 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:35.960 which was first published way back in January 00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:40.130 of 1829. It really is just a fascinating era 00:00:40.130 --> 00:00:42.509 to explore because, I mean, when people hear 00:00:42.509 --> 00:00:44.409 the name Victor Hugo, they usually jump straight 00:00:44.409 --> 00:00:46.829 to the massive, sprawling novels he wrote much 00:00:46.829 --> 00:00:48.689 later in life. Right. The big, heavy ones. Exactly. 00:00:48.729 --> 00:00:51.329 We think of the towering social critiques, the 00:00:51.329 --> 00:00:53.590 heavy philosophical burdens of his older years. 00:00:53.750 --> 00:00:56.350 But focusing on Les Oriental captures something 00:00:56.350 --> 00:00:58.049 completely different. It gives us a snapshot 00:00:58.049 --> 00:01:00.350 of a younger Hugo right at a pivotal moment in 00:01:00.350 --> 00:01:02.759 his career. And more than that, it acts as a 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:05.620 mirror for the broader cultural mindset of the 00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:07.579 French audience he was writing for at the time. 00:01:07.659 --> 00:01:09.959 So this isn't just about blowing the dust off 00:01:09.959 --> 00:01:12.980 some old 19th century literature. This deep dive 00:01:12.980 --> 00:01:15.560 is really a shortcut to understanding how art 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:18.840 can be shaped by political revolution. and how 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:21.280 an artist can play into the cultural biases of 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:23.819 their audience to create an absolute smash hit. 00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:26.359 Right. Okay, let's unpack this because the sheer 00:01:26.359 --> 00:01:29.379 creative output we're looking at here is wild. 00:01:29.579 --> 00:01:33.299 It really is. There are 41 poems in Les Oriental. 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:37.420 But here's the kicker. 36 of those poems were 00:01:37.420 --> 00:01:39.799 written in a single year. Wow. Specifically, 00:01:40.019 --> 00:01:43.260 1828. The creative momentum he must have had 00:01:43.260 --> 00:01:46.420 to produce 36 poems of this caliber in just 12 00:01:46.420 --> 00:01:48.719 months is, well, it's staggering. Yeah, it's 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:50.680 almost a poem a week. And these weren't simple 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:52.780 rhymes either. They are remembered historically 00:01:52.780 --> 00:01:55.340 as highly colored tableau. Okay, what does that 00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:58.239 mean exactly? Basically, Hugo was painting these 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:02.799 incredibly vibrant, intense visual scenes with 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:05.659 his words, all depicting the Eastern Mediterranean. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:08.719 You have to imagine the sheer sensory overload 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:11.979 of the imagery, the blazing sun, the clash of 00:02:11.979 --> 00:02:14.560 empires, the dramatic landscapes. And he wasn't 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:16.360 just pulling this geography out of nowhere to 00:02:16.360 --> 00:02:18.979 be colorful, right? Like there was a very specific 00:02:18.979 --> 00:02:22.280 real world political backdrop that triggered 00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:26.199 this entire collection. Exactly. the collection 00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:28.699 was the greek war of independence right this 00:02:28.699 --> 00:02:31.599 was a major highly publicized conflict at the 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:33.939 time the greeks were fighting to free themselves 00:02:33.939 --> 00:02:36.419 from the ottoman empire and all of europe was 00:02:36.419 --> 00:02:39.180 watching in left oriental the framing of this 00:02:39.180 --> 00:02:42.060 conflict is very deliberate hugo underscores 00:02:42.060 --> 00:02:44.919 a stark binary contrast between the freedom loving 00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:47.560 greeks on one side and the imperialist ottoman 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:50.439 turks on the other Was that a risky move for 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:52.379 a young poet? I mean taking such a hard stance 00:02:52.379 --> 00:02:54.840 on an ongoing geopolitical conflict? Not at all. 00:02:54.900 --> 00:02:56.539 In fact, from a strategic standpoint, it was 00:02:56.539 --> 00:02:59.449 brilliant. Yeah, this specific depiction perfectly 00:02:59.449 --> 00:03:02.250 reflected the cultural and political bias of 00:03:02.250 --> 00:03:04.729 the French public at the time. This wasn't some 00:03:04.729 --> 00:03:07.830 niche avant -garde subject that risked alienating 00:03:07.830 --> 00:03:10.330 his readers. Oh, I see. The subject of the Greek 00:03:10.330 --> 00:03:13.210 struggle was highly fashionable in Parisian salons. 00:03:13.310 --> 00:03:16.430 By tapping directly into what was already trending 00:03:16.430 --> 00:03:18.770 in the minds of the French public, he practically 00:03:18.770 --> 00:03:22.180 guaranteed the book's massive success. I want 00:03:22.180 --> 00:03:23.419 you to think about that for a second because 00:03:23.419 --> 00:03:25.919 we see this all the time today. Think about how 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:28.180 modern media, whether it's a blockbuster movie, 00:03:28.340 --> 00:03:31.020 a hit television show, or even the daily news 00:03:31.020 --> 00:03:33.939 you consume. Oh, absolutely. It often leans heavily 00:03:33.939 --> 00:03:36.919 into the specific biases or interests of its 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:39.840 target audience to ensure engagement. You give 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:41.960 the people exactly what they're already passionate 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:45.159 about. Victor Hugo was doing exactly this in 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:48.439 1829. He was reading The Room, and The Room wanted 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:50.979 to read about the Eastern Mediterranean and the 00:03:50.979 --> 00:03:53.360 romanticized struggle of the Greek War of Independence. 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:55.860 What's fascinating here is the contradiction 00:03:55.860 --> 00:03:58.500 between how the public devoured it and how Hugo 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:00.919 himself described the work. Right, the quote. 00:04:01.060 --> 00:04:03.659 He actually referred to Les Orientales as this 00:04:03.659 --> 00:04:06.879 impractical book of pure poetry. The original 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:10.360 French phrase he used was, Ce livre inutile de 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:13.400 poésie pure. Impractical book. Right. He's almost 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:16.100 waving it away, claiming it has no practical 00:04:16.100 --> 00:04:19.079 real world utility. He is telling the world, 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:22.139 don't look too closely. It's just art for art's 00:04:22.139 --> 00:04:25.060 sake. But historians and literary critics don't 00:04:25.060 --> 00:04:27.100 really buy that, do they? It seems like a classic 00:04:27.100 --> 00:04:30.399 misdirection. it is a massive misdirection despite 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:33.079 hugo's claim that it was just an impractical 00:04:33.079 --> 00:04:35.680 useless book the underlying themes are actually 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:38.699 deeply political how so well the general theme 00:04:38.699 --> 00:04:41.040 of the entire collection is a profound celebration 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:44.319 of liberty Hugo is doing this incredibly sophisticated 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:47.139 thing where he connects the ancient Greeks, the 00:04:47.139 --> 00:04:49.259 founders of democracy with the modern world. 00:04:49.399 --> 00:04:51.860 And by doing so, he is linking the concept of 00:04:51.860 --> 00:04:54.939 freedom in politics directly to the concept of 00:04:54.939 --> 00:04:56.980 freedom in art. Wait, how does writing poetry 00:04:56.980 --> 00:04:59.079 about the Mediterranean translate to artistic 00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:00.959 freedom, though? Was the literary establishment 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:03.399 actually telling him what he could and couldn't 00:05:03.399 --> 00:05:06.500 write? They absolutely were. At the time, the 00:05:06.500 --> 00:05:09.500 French literary world was dominated by the classicists. 00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:12.199 Okay. These were traditional writers who essentially 00:05:12.199 --> 00:05:14.439 felt they owned the rights to ancient history 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:17.120 and classical forms. They believed poetry should 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:20.819 follow strict, rigid rules of meter and focus 00:05:20.819 --> 00:05:24.439 on stoic, restrained themes of Greco -Roman antiquity. 00:05:24.620 --> 00:05:27.720 So very rigid, very old school. Exactly. Hugo, 00:05:27.860 --> 00:05:31.040 by writing these chaotic, vibrant, modern, politically 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:34.439 charged poems about the Mediterranean, was deliberately... 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:37.620 rebelling against that old guard. He was reclaiming 00:05:37.620 --> 00:05:39.920 antiquity on his own terms, using new rhythms 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:42.980 and explosive imagery. So he is actively dismantling 00:05:42.980 --> 00:05:45.740 the old literary regime while pretending he is 00:05:45.740 --> 00:05:48.579 just writing pretty verses. Yes. And this rebellious 00:05:48.579 --> 00:05:50.639 streak ties directly into his own personal evolution 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:53.420 too. It does. We can trace a fascinating shift 00:05:53.420 --> 00:05:55.620 in his political views playing out right there 00:05:55.620 --> 00:05:57.459 in the pages of the poetry. Right. When he was 00:05:57.459 --> 00:06:00.339 in his early 20s, Hugo was known for his staunch 00:06:00.339 --> 00:06:03.259 royalism, supporting the traditional French monarchy. 00:06:03.980 --> 00:06:06.379 But as we move through the poems of 1828, there 00:06:06.379 --> 00:06:09.480 is a clear rediscovery of the Napoleonic enthusiasms 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:11.279 of his childhood. Let's look at the specific 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:14.060 example of this because it's so bold. The 40th 00:06:14.060 --> 00:06:16.220 poem in the collection is simply titled Louis. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:20.319 Which translates to him. Right. Just him. And 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:23.399 in the context of 19th century France, calling 00:06:23.399 --> 00:06:26.060 a poem him wasn't subtle. Not at all. Everyone 00:06:26.060 --> 00:06:30.639 knew exactly who him was. It was a direct, undeniable 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:33.970 nod to Napoleon Bernaparte. Remember, Napoleon 00:06:33.970 --> 00:06:36.569 had been defeated and exiled and the monarchy 00:06:36.569 --> 00:06:40.709 was back in power. So for Hugo, a former royalist, 00:06:40.790 --> 00:06:44.470 to write a soaring poem titled Louis, he is publicly 00:06:44.470 --> 00:06:46.730 charting his political evolution right there 00:06:46.730 --> 00:06:48.649 on the page. He is putting it all out there. 00:06:48.769 --> 00:06:51.009 Yes, he is embracing the complex revolutionary 00:06:51.009 --> 00:06:54.230 and imperial legacy of Napoleon, signaling a 00:06:54.230 --> 00:06:56.410 massive shift in his worldview. He's bailing 00:06:56.410 --> 00:06:58.269 on two fronts then, the political front and the 00:06:58.269 --> 00:07:00.490 literary front, all while hiding behind this 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:03.300 guise of pure poetry. Exactly. But to really 00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:05.319 understand this collection, we also have to look 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:07.600 at how it handles cultural depictions, specifically 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:10.579 regarding the Ottoman Turks. It's not a simple 00:07:10.579 --> 00:07:13.399 one -dimensional portrayal of villains. No, it's 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:16.699 highly complex and deeply contradictory. The 00:07:16.699 --> 00:07:19.259 depiction of Turks in the collection is historically 00:07:19.259 --> 00:07:23.139 documented as a messy mix of condemnation, idealization, 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:26.279 and crude envy. How does that even work? How 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:28.560 do you condemn a culture while simultaneously 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:32.029 idealizing it and envying it? If we connect this 00:07:32.029 --> 00:07:34.529 to the bigger picture, this kind of contradictory 00:07:34.529 --> 00:07:38.509 portrayal is a textbook example of Orientalism. 00:07:38.550 --> 00:07:41.129 Right, Orientalist attitudes. Now, just to be 00:07:41.129 --> 00:07:43.750 very clear for you listening, we are impartially 00:07:43.750 --> 00:07:46.069 reporting the text's analysis here. We are not 00:07:46.069 --> 00:07:48.850 endorsing these viewpoints, but simply conveying 00:07:48.850 --> 00:07:51.350 the historical and cultural attitudes contained 00:07:51.350 --> 00:07:53.990 in the original source material. We have to look 00:07:53.990 --> 00:07:56.379 at this to understand the era. Precisely. In 00:07:56.379 --> 00:07:59.300 the context of 1829 France, Orientalism was a 00:07:59.300 --> 00:08:02.160 deeply flawed stereotype lens through which Western 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.040 artists and writers viewed the East. The Orient 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:07.379 wasn't treated as a real place with real nuanced 00:08:07.379 --> 00:08:10.120 people. It was treated as a blank canvas for 00:08:10.120 --> 00:08:12.360 French psychological projections. It's crucial 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:13.759 to look at this through the lens of history. 00:08:13.899 --> 00:08:16.540 By exploring this, we see exactly how this mindset 00:08:16.540 --> 00:08:19.350 functioned at the time. The biases of 19th century 00:08:19.350 --> 00:08:21.629 France are baked right into the text. Exactly. 00:08:21.829 --> 00:08:24.829 On one hand, French writers would condemn the 00:08:24.829 --> 00:08:26.730 Ottoman Empire politically to support the Greeks. 00:08:26.850 --> 00:08:29.839 Right. But on the other hand... They idealized 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:33.259 the perceived exoticism of the East. They envied 00:08:33.259 --> 00:08:35.879 what they imagined was a world of unbridled passion, 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:39.659 luxury, and freedom from the strict, stuffy moral 00:08:39.659 --> 00:08:42.539 codes of Parisian society. So it was a projection 00:08:42.539 --> 00:08:44.879 of what they couldn't have. Yes. It's a historical 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:47.279 artifact that shows us how a dominant culture 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:50.379 views the other, revealing far more about French 00:08:50.379 --> 00:08:53.059 desires and anxieties than it ever did about 00:08:53.059 --> 00:08:55.360 actual life in the Mediterranean. Here's where 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:57.919 it gets really interesting. Out of all the 40... 00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:00.620 poems in this collection, there's one that demands 00:09:00.620 --> 00:09:03.419 special attention. Oh, absolutely. It's the 34th 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:07.200 poem, written in May of 1828, titled Mazepa. 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:10.700 And the legendary backstory to this poem is just 00:09:10.700 --> 00:09:13.159 absolutely wild. It really is the centerpiece 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:15.379 when it comes to the raw emotion of the collection. 00:09:15.659 --> 00:09:18.100 The poem deals with the historical legend of 00:09:18.100 --> 00:09:20.480 Ivan Mazepa. And the reason he becomes a legend 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:22.720 in this context is because of a brutal, terrifying 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:26.149 punishment. As the story goes, Mazepa was a young 00:09:26.149 --> 00:09:29.210 page who was caught in a love affair with the 00:09:29.210 --> 00:09:32.750 wife of a powerful Polish nobleman. The nobleman's 00:09:32.750 --> 00:09:35.429 revenge is so visceral. The poem is organized 00:09:35.429 --> 00:09:37.850 into two distinct parts, and the first part is 00:09:37.850 --> 00:09:41.429 purely physical agony. Hugo describes Mazepa 00:09:41.429 --> 00:09:44.110 being stripped completely naked and strapped 00:09:44.110 --> 00:09:46.649 tightly to the back of a wild, untamed horse. 00:09:46.830 --> 00:09:49.110 It is a shocking image. And then the horse is 00:09:49.110 --> 00:09:51.549 set loose to race across the vast, unforgiving 00:09:51.549 --> 00:09:54.440 plains of Russia. You have to picture the severity 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:57.299 of this. It's a harrowing image of total helplessness. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:00.639 He is bound entirely to this wild animal with 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:02.899 absolutely no control over where he's going or 00:10:02.899 --> 00:10:05.440 how fast. It's dragged along. He is dragged through 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:07.840 the brush, enduring the blistering sun, the freezing 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:11.039 nights, the hunger, the thirst. Flocks of ravens 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:13.120 are circling overhead, waiting for him to die. 00:10:13.259 --> 00:10:16.440 He is just enduring this terrifying, violent 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:18.480 journey until the horse eventually collapses 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:21.850 and dies from sheer exhaustion. That is the grueling 00:10:21.850 --> 00:10:23.950 physical reality Hugo paints in the first part. 00:10:24.090 --> 00:10:27.490 But then the poem shifts. Yeah. The horse is 00:10:27.490 --> 00:10:30.870 dead. The physical journey is over. And the second 00:10:30.870 --> 00:10:33.620 part goes somewhere completely unexpected. Yes, 00:10:33.779 --> 00:10:35.779 the second part transitions into a spiritual 00:10:35.779 --> 00:10:38.580 journey. It's about Mazepa's spiritual return 00:10:38.580 --> 00:10:41.480 to life after this near -death ordeal. He is 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:44.460 rescued and he eventually rises to become a powerful 00:10:44.460 --> 00:10:47.820 leader. But what makes this so profound is how 00:10:47.820 --> 00:10:51.200 this second half is widely interpreted. Historically, 00:10:51.220 --> 00:10:53.860 this poem is understood as an incredibly potent 00:10:53.860 --> 00:10:57.340 allegory for the creative process itself. Let's 00:10:57.340 --> 00:10:59.860 really unpack that metaphor. The creative process 00:10:59.860 --> 00:11:02.600 is being strapped naked to a runaway horse. Yeah. 00:11:02.730 --> 00:11:05.090 Think about what that represents for a writer 00:11:05.090 --> 00:11:07.830 or an artist. You are bound completely to this 00:11:07.830 --> 00:11:10.370 massive, uncontrollable beast, which is your 00:11:10.370 --> 00:11:13.049 inspiration, your genius, or your muse. And that 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:15.230 beast doesn't care about your comfort. Not at 00:11:15.230 --> 00:11:17.370 all. It drags you through the dirt. It starves 00:11:17.370 --> 00:11:19.769 you. It completely exhausts you until you feel 00:11:19.769 --> 00:11:22.549 like you are dying. The physical toll of trying 00:11:22.549 --> 00:11:24.730 to capture an idea of wrangling with your own 00:11:24.730 --> 00:11:27.929 mind is agonizing. You have no control over where 00:11:27.929 --> 00:11:29.769 the inspiration takes you. You just have to hold 00:11:29.769 --> 00:11:31.951 on and survive the ride. There is a powerful... 00:11:31.950 --> 00:11:33.950 quote that summarizes this allegorical meaning 00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:38.070 perfectly the text says he races he flies he 00:11:38.070 --> 00:11:41.210 falls he rises again king he rises again king 00:11:41.210 --> 00:11:44.769 it is the ultimate vindication the pain the lack 00:11:44.769 --> 00:11:47.590 of control the agonizing journey of the physical 00:11:47.590 --> 00:11:50.250 world that is the suffering the artist has to 00:11:50.250 --> 00:11:53.659 endure but if you can survive it if you can make 00:11:53.659 --> 00:11:55.799 it to the end of that relentless ride without 00:11:55.799 --> 00:11:59.240 breaking you experience a spiritual rebirth you 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:01.379 come out the other side you have created something 00:12:01.379 --> 00:12:04.480 immortal And you rise as a king. It's an incredibly 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:07.340 dramatic, almost violent way to view writing. 00:12:07.539 --> 00:12:09.600 It changes everything about how you read a book. 00:12:09.740 --> 00:12:11.700 And what's also notable here is how interconnected 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:14.860 the art world was regarding this specific legend 00:12:14.860 --> 00:12:17.220 of Mazepa. Hugo wasn't the only one obsessed 00:12:17.220 --> 00:12:18.980 with this imagery. Far from it. It's a fascinating 00:12:18.980 --> 00:12:21.480 web of inspiration. Hugo actually psychs Lord 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:24.220 Byron in the poem. The famous British romantic 00:12:24.220 --> 00:12:26.919 poet had written his own narrative poem, also 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:29.679 titled Mazepa, years earlier. And the connections 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:32.980 don't stop there. Hugo dedicated his version 00:12:32.980 --> 00:12:36.799 of the poem to a man named Louis Boulanger. Boulanger 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:39.039 was a French painter who had actually painted 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:42.980 a dramatic visual version of Lord Byron's Mazepa. 00:12:43.059 --> 00:12:45.559 You can see the feedback loop of 19th century 00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:47.759 art playing out in real time. Right. Everyone 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:49.980 feeding off each other. You have a historical 00:12:49.980 --> 00:12:53.200 legend from Eastern Europe, which inspires a 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:56.120 British poet. whose work then inspires a French 00:12:56.120 --> 00:12:58.860 painter, whose painting then inspires a French 00:12:58.860 --> 00:13:01.679 poet to write his own allegorical masterpiece, 00:13:02.139 --> 00:13:04.539 which he then dedicates back to the painter while 00:13:04.539 --> 00:13:06.720 citing the British poet. That is incredible. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:09.159 All of these works ultimately derive from the 00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:12.580 massive cultural legacy of Ivan Mazepa. It shows 00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:15.100 how a single powerful story of suffering and 00:13:15.100 --> 00:13:17.740 survival can ripple through different mediums, 00:13:17.740 --> 00:13:20.299 crossing borders and languages. It really illustrates 00:13:20.299 --> 00:13:23.309 that nothing is created in a vacuum. These artists 00:13:23.309 --> 00:13:25.090 were reading each other looking at each other's 00:13:25.090 --> 00:13:27.210 paintings responding to each other's interpretations 00:13:27.210 --> 00:13:29.950 of the same myth. They were fueling each other's 00:13:29.950 --> 00:13:32.009 wild horses so to speak. That is a great way 00:13:32.009 --> 00:13:34.049 to put it. And speaking of incredible output, 00:13:34.250 --> 00:13:36.610 as we wrap up our exploration of this specific 00:13:36.610 --> 00:13:39.789 era, I think we have to zoom out and just marvel 00:13:39.789 --> 00:13:42.730 at the sheer scope of Victor Hugo as a literary 00:13:42.730 --> 00:13:45.649 titan. It is essential context. Les Oriental 00:13:45.649 --> 00:13:48.970 was a massive success in 1829, written while 00:13:48.970 --> 00:13:51.210 he was still in his 20s. But when you look at 00:13:51.210 --> 00:13:53.769 the entirety of his bibliography, the endurance 00:13:53.769 --> 00:13:55.990 of his creative output is almost overwhelming. 00:13:56.330 --> 00:13:58.889 Right. He started with early, intense novels 00:13:58.889 --> 00:14:02.029 like Hans of Iceland in 1823 and Bug Jargon. 00:14:02.059 --> 00:14:04.899 all in 1826. But then you look at what he would 00:14:04.899 --> 00:14:07.480 eventually become, the author of works that are 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:11.159 absolute. pillars of world literature. We're 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:12.779 talking about the Hunchback of Notre Dame in 00:14:12.779 --> 00:14:15.100 1831, exploring architecture and the crush of 00:14:15.100 --> 00:14:18.299 fate. Yes. Les Misérables in 1862, which is this 00:14:18.299 --> 00:14:20.539 towering monument to human suffering, justice, 00:14:20.740 --> 00:14:24.220 and redemption. Toilers of the Sea in 1866. And 00:14:24.220 --> 00:14:26.779 it wasn't just novels and poetry. Right. He wrote 00:14:26.779 --> 00:14:28.879 foundational plays like Cromwell and Hernani, 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:30.820 an extensive essay on William Shakespeare in 00:14:30.820 --> 00:14:34.179 1864, and even a fiery political pamphlet called 00:14:34.179 --> 00:14:37.429 Napoleon the Petit in 1852. His career spans 00:14:37.429 --> 00:14:40.669 decades of relentless production. And if we look 00:14:40.669 --> 00:14:42.870 back specifically at the contents list of Les 00:14:42.870 --> 00:14:45.590 Oriental, just reading the titles of the poems 00:14:45.590 --> 00:14:48.250 gives you a sense of the immense dramatic range 00:14:48.250 --> 00:14:50.669 he possessed, even as a young man. Oh, absolutely. 00:14:51.009 --> 00:14:52.950 I'm going to read a few of these out loud just 00:14:52.950 --> 00:14:55.850 to paint a final audio picture for you of what 00:14:55.850 --> 00:14:58.429 readers in 1829 were experiencing when they opened 00:14:58.429 --> 00:15:01.750 this book. You have... evocative titles like 00:15:01.750 --> 00:15:04.049 Le Feu du Ciel, which translates to the fire 00:15:04.049 --> 00:15:06.590 of the sky. Beautiful. You have Les Gens, La 00:15:06.590 --> 00:15:09.169 Douleur du Pacha, Chansons de Pierrettes par 00:15:09.169 --> 00:15:12.370 le Sens. Aha, yes. You have Clevelune, Macheterque, 00:15:12.470 --> 00:15:15.250 and La Ville Prize, The Taken City. You can practically 00:15:15.250 --> 00:15:17.210 hear the clashing swords, the music, and the 00:15:17.210 --> 00:15:19.919 drama just in the titles. This raises an important 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:22.620 question. When you look at the breadth of this 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:25.220 one collection and the entirety of his career 00:15:25.220 --> 00:15:28.519 that followed, how did this man balance creating 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:31.440 something that was highly fashionable and guaranteed 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:34.559 to please the masses while simultaneously sneaking 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:37.659 in profound personal evolution, political critique, 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:41.120 and deep philosophical allegories about the agony 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:44.309 of creation? It's a juggling act. It is. Hugo 00:15:44.309 --> 00:15:46.409 managed to do all of that in a book he publicly 00:15:46.409 --> 00:15:50.169 brushed off as impractical pure poetry. So what 00:15:50.169 --> 00:15:51.950 does this all mean for us today? What's the real 00:15:51.950 --> 00:15:54.389 takeaway for you from this deep dive into an 00:15:54.389 --> 00:15:57.830 1829 poetry collection? Good question. I think 00:15:57.830 --> 00:15:59.769 it reminds us that art is always doing multiple 00:15:59.769 --> 00:16:03.259 things at once. Victor Hugo took a trendy, highly 00:16:03.259 --> 00:16:05.740 publicized political conflict in the Greek War 00:16:05.740 --> 00:16:08.299 of Independence. He mixed it with the existing 00:16:08.299 --> 00:16:11.379 cultural biases and Orientalist attitudes of 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:15.179 his French audience. And in doing so, he charted 00:16:15.179 --> 00:16:18.019 his own political awakening, moving from conservative 00:16:18.019 --> 00:16:20.820 royalism to a complicated Napoleonic enthusiasm 00:16:20.820 --> 00:16:23.259 right there on the page. And through the legend 00:16:23.259 --> 00:16:26.320 of Mazepa, he gave us a timeless, brutal metaphor. 00:16:26.909 --> 00:16:29.490 for the creative process itself. And that metaphor 00:16:29.490 --> 00:16:31.370 leaves us with something really compelling to 00:16:31.370 --> 00:16:33.529 think about. We talked at length about Mazepa 00:16:33.529 --> 00:16:35.549 being strapped naked to a dying horse, racing 00:16:35.549 --> 00:16:37.889 across the plains until he falls, only to rise 00:16:37.889 --> 00:16:40.149 again as a king, and how that represents the 00:16:40.149 --> 00:16:42.950 agonizing, involuntary journey of creation. If 00:16:42.950 --> 00:16:45.250 that is truly how Victor Hugo viewed the creative 00:16:45.250 --> 00:16:48.570 process as a young man in 1828, how should that 00:16:48.570 --> 00:16:50.970 change the way we read his later works? That 00:16:50.970 --> 00:16:53.100 is a fascinating lens to look through. Think 00:16:53.100 --> 00:16:55.620 about the massive, agonizing struggles of the 00:16:55.620 --> 00:16:58.139 characters in his later novels. When we read 00:16:58.139 --> 00:17:00.039 about Jean Valjean carrying the weight of the 00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:02.720 world through the sewers of Paris in Les Miserables 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:05.740 or Quasimodo bound to the stone wheels of fate 00:17:05.740 --> 00:17:09.019 in Notre Dame. Wow. Were those sweeping stories 00:17:09.019 --> 00:17:12.759 just about society, law and justice? Or was Hugo, 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:15.519 on some deeply personal level, always writing 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.799 about that same painful, relentless ride of creation 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:22.240 he first outlined in Les Oriental? Was he always 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:24.680 just Mazepa on the horse, enduring the agony 00:17:24.680 --> 00:17:27.180 until he could rise again? That is such a brilliant 00:17:27.180 --> 00:17:29.460 thought to leave on. Every massive novel he wrote 00:17:29.460 --> 00:17:31.700 might just be another wild ride across the steps. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:33.640 We will leave you to mull that one over on your 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:35.529 own. Thank you so much for joining us for this 00:17:35.529 --> 00:17:37.869 deep dive into Victor Hugo, French literature, 00:17:38.130 --> 00:17:40.950 poetry, politics, and the wild ride of creativity. 00:17:41.289 --> 00:17:43.430 It was a pleasure. We love exploring these fascinating 00:17:43.430 --> 00:17:46.109 corners of history with you. Until next time, 00:17:46.130 --> 00:17:48.609 keep learning, keep questioning, and we will 00:17:48.609 --> 00:17:50.430 see you on the next deep dive.