He was out there alone with himself, composed, tranquil, adoring, comparing the serenity of his heart with the serenity of the skies, moved in the darkness by the visible splendors of the constellations and the invisible splendor of God, opening his soul to the thoughts that fall from the Unknown. In such moments, offering up his heart at the hour when the flowers of night emit their perfume, lit like a lamp in the center of the starry night, expanding in ecstasy in the midst of creation’s universal radiance, perhaps he could not have told what was happening in his own mind; he felt something floating away from him, and something descending upon him; mysterious exchanges of the soul with the universe.He contemplated the grandeur, and the presence of God; the eternity of the future, that strange mystery; the eternity of the past, a stranger mystery; all the infinities hidden deep in every direction; and,, without trying to comprehend the incomprehensible, he saw it. He did not study God; he was dazzled by Him.
This is in the unabridged version of Les Misérables. People don’t write like this anymore. I am tempted to reread this insanely long novel. Victor Hugo uses words so elegantly. I just wish I could read it in French.
Nothing says you can't learn French, though it would be arduous. Remember that line in “National Treasures” when they were reading from the Declaration of Independence:.
ReplyDelete“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”
And Gates comments to Riley, “People don’t talk liked that anymore.”
Karen words excite your soul, which is why you desire to read Les Miserables in the original language and are thinking of rereading a very long novel, in addition to your other work. Reading produces writing and one day you will be writing as elegantly as Victor Hugo, because your soul will express itself.