Literary Classics Challenge - Friday Progress (7)

Woman Reading - anythinggauche.com

After two months of Victorian reading (June & July) I felt quite exhausted; so for August I have picked books that I really want to read, and most of them are not classics. However I still put two classics in my schedule. One of them is from Albanian’s author: Ismail Kadare. I haven’t read his works before, and this time I read the translated version (Bahasa Indonesia) of The Palace of Dreams. It’s a bit magical realism, and the main theme is the dictatorship of Ottoman Empire in 19^th century who controlled the dreams of its people. Although the theme is quite interesting, I did not find it very entertaining. Here’s my review.

Yesterday I started Germinal by Emile Zola. Zola is one of my favorite authors, and I found the first few pages were beautifully written, that I have a feeling I’ll enjoy this book. Next week will be a long holiday here in Indonesia (the moslem will celebrate Idul Fitri), so from 17^th to 22^nd I will stay at home, and hopefully I can read as much as I want to. Along with Germinal, I have planned to re-read ancient Indian epic: Mahabharata. I have the re-told version in graphic novels in my collection (two hardcover books), it’s in Bahasa Indonesia and illustrated in Indonesian folklore by a famous Indonesian comics illustrator. I have read this several times when I was a kid, and it will be nice to re-read it as an adult reader. I still remember that there are many good moral value in it, which I think worth to read for many times.

So…how about you? How is your classics reading for this week? And what is your plan for next week?

The Palace of Dreams (Istana Mimpi)

[conclusion is at the bottom of this post]

“Setiap orang yang menguasai daerah kegelapan dalam diri manusia akan memiliki kekuatan yang luar biasa.”

‘Daerah kegelapan’ di quote tersebut dapat kita asumsikan sebagai mimpi. Maka setiap orang (atau institusi) yang menguasai mimpi manusia, akan memiliki kekuatan luar biasa. Dalam kisah realism-magis karya Ismail Kadare ini, kekaisaran Ottoman yang meraja di abad 19 memiliki institusi yang disebut Istana Mimpi atau Tabir Sarrail. Di Tabir Sarrail, mimpi dari seluruh masyarakat se-kekhalifahan dikumpulkan, disalin, dipilah-pilah, kemudian ditafsirkan. Dari mimpi-mimpi itulah Sultan atau pemimpin kekhalifahan mengetahui kondisi kekhalifahan yang dipimpinnya; mirip dengan dinas inteligen dalam suatu negara.

Mark-Alem adalah seorang pemuda pemalu dan penggugup yang kebetulan merupakan anggota keluarga Quprili—keluarga paling berpengaruh yang banyak menempatkan anggotanya dalam jabatan-jabatan tinggi di kekhalifahan. Antara Sultan dan keluarga Quprili selalu ada permusuhan, gara-gara kecemburuan Sultan terhadap keluarga Quprili yang kisahnya sering disebut-sebut dalam epik di Albania maupun Serbia, sementara tak pernah ada orang menciptakan epik tentang sang Sultan sendiri. Dalam kondisi ini, Mark-Alem tiba-tiba mendapati dirinya diterima bekerja di Tabir Sarrail sebagai staf bagian Penyortiran. Mark yang tak tahu apa-apa, selalu kebingungan dari awal bekerja, tak tahu apa yang harus dikerjakannya, tiba-tiba saja karirnya melesat dengan cepatnya. Meski ia perlahan-lahan menyadari bahwa keberadaannya di Tabir Sarrail adalah karena kepentingan politik keluarganya, ia tak tahu apa yang mereka harapkan darinya. Hingga terjadilah sebuah malapetaka bagi keluarga Quprili, dan saat itulah Mark menyadari betapa besar kekuasaan sebuah mimpi terhadap jatuh bangunnya sebuah kekuasaan!

Buku ini berkisah tentang kediktatoran, di mana sebuah institusi dapat mengontrol bukan hanya kehidupan rakyatnya, namun hingga hal pribadi seperti mimpi. Aku masih saja bertanya-tanya, bagaimana kekhalifahan dapat ‘memperdaya’ rakyatnya untuk mengirimkan mimpi-mimpi mereka? Tak sadarkah mereka bahwa itu melanggar hak asasi mereka? Apalagi pasti sudah banyak kasus para pemimpi yang mimpinya bersifat ‘berbahaya’ hilang lenyap tanpa pernah kembali ke rumahnya setelah diinterogasi di Tabir Sarrail. Pertanyaan kedua, bagaimana penguasa dapat memastikan bahwa mimpi yang dikisahkan itu adalah mimpi sebenarnya yang dialami pemimpi? Atau justru, bagaimana mereka dapat memastikan bahwa mimpi itu bukan rekayasa salah satu pihak untuk menjatuhkan mereka?

Kalau demikian halnya, pertanyaan terbesarnya: Sebenarnya siapa yang menguasai siapa? Kekhalifahan menguasai rakyat karena mengontrol mimpi mereka? Ataukah mimpi-mimpi milik rakyat itu yang justru menguasai kekhalifahan, karena Sultan begitu percaya (dan takut)nya pada mimpi-mimpi itu? Ironisnya, lewat Istana Mimpi Sultan berhasil menyerang keluarga Quprili, namun justru lewat Istana Mimpi pula kurasa keluarga ini—lewat Mark-Alem yang akhirnya menjadi Kepala Istana Mimpi—akan berbalik mengalahkan sang Sultan. Sang Sultan boleh saja tetap penguasa kekhalifahan, namun bukankah siapa yang menguasai mimpi berarti memiliki kekuatan luar biasa?

Sebuah penggambaran metafora yang indah dari Ismail Kadare tentang kediktatoran yang menguasai pikiran, namun aku merasa kisah ini lemah sebagai fiksi karena ceritanya melompat begitu cepat, tanpa keterangan apakah dari scene sebelumnya ke scene berikut berjarak hari, bulan atau tahun. Mark-Alem mulai bekerja setelah lulus kuliah, namun di akhir kisah ia tiba-tiba berusia 28 tahun, jadi apakah rentang waktu antara ia mulai masuk Tabir Sarrail hingga menduduki posisi puncak memakan waktu bertahun-tahun? Di sini Ismail Kadare kurang teliti dalam merakit cerita, mungkin justru dengan sedikit melebarkan plot, beliau akan menghasilkan cerita yang lebih berkesan.

Tiga mimpi untuk Istana Mimpi!

Judul: Istana Mimpi (judul asli: The Palace of Dreams)

Penulis: Ismail Kadare

Penerjemah: Fahmy Yamani

Editor: Adi Toha

Penerbit: Serambi Cerita Utama

Terbit: Juni 2012

Tebal: 274 hlm

Conclusion:

The Palace of Dreams is a magic-realism story by Ismail Kadare about how the dictatorship of Ottoman Kingdom in 19^th century oppressed its people by controlling their dreams. Everyone must send details of their dreams to be noted, sorted and interpreted by an institution called The Palace of Dreams or Tabir Sarrail, which was run by the Sovereign. These dreams are powerful tools for the Sovereign to keep updated about every movement among the Kingdom; some kind of intelligence agencies.

The protagonist is Mark-Alem, a young man who was just graduated and found a job inside the Palace of Dreams; this story was told from his point of view. Later on he realized that he was placed there by his powerful family—the Quprili—who had the biggest influence in the whole Kingdom, that even the Sovereign was terrified of them. Mark worked at the Selection department, and one day he found a specific dream. He did not know what to do with it or how to interpret it. Little did he know that that particular dream would cause a huge blow for someone he loved; if only he had known what that dream was about when he was in charge of it! What had happened to the Quprilis only confirmed that who holds people’s dream, has the biggest power on his hands. And poor Mark-Alem, despite of his career leap from the Selection department to the highest level in Tabir Sarrail, was only a helpless pawn in a power war between Quprili family and the Sovereign.

This is quite an interesting story but there are few things that I did not really get it. Firstly, how the Kingdom forced people to voluntarily send every personal dream they had? Didn’t it occur to the people that that practice was against their human rights? They could have lied that they rarely had a dream; who could proof it? Secondly, how did the Sovereign make sure that the dreams received by Tabir Sarrail were not fake dreams written by whomever against them? If they were so affected by the dreams, that the Sovereign used them to make his decisions, how absurd it was! Didn’t it mean that the dreams have controlled the Sovereign rather than the other way?

The story’s idea is OK, but I think Kadare should have widened the plot to make it flow more naturally. There are no signs of time setting in this book, I did not know whether Mark-Alem has been working for weeks or month or years before he was promoted to a higher level. He started his career straight after his graduation, however he was already twenty eight when the story ended. Did it mean all of these had happened for years? I don’t know…

Three stars for The Palace of Dream, the first Albanian literature I have ever read! [I read the Indonesian translation edition]

Jack Worthing on The Importance of Being Earnest

The main protagonist in this Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is Jack Worthing. I see Jack as a respectable young man with a polite manner. Although he was only found and adopted by a rich Mr. Cardew, he had grown up in an honorable family. Of course, Jack also adhered to Victorian values at that time, which were respectable and responsible. Jack has become a guardian to Mr. Cardew’s granddaughter, and I think, has been an honorable example for his community. These are others thought about Jack:

“Dear Uncle Jack is so very serious! Sometimes he is so serious that I think he cannot be quite well.” ~Cecily.

“I know no one who has a higher sense of duty and responsibility.” ~Miss Prism.

 Although he has tried to fulfill the Victorian society expectations (about honor and respectability), Jack felt the responsible is unbearable that he needed something to balance his life. He hid himself in his fictional young brother Ernest Worthing’s role every time he needs to run away. On the contrary to his own qualities, Jack invented an irresponsible character of Ernest, who was pictured as evil by Cecily. This was the only negative side I found in Jack. I knew it was wrong, it was hypocrite, yet I could understand how distressing it might be for Jack to always be perfectly serious and responsible. Sometimes people need to be careless, to do whatever he wants, and don’t have to think about the consequences.

[source]

Other than that, Jack was a patient man. I can’t imagine how he could befriend with the reckless and immoral Algernon without hating him or loosing his temper—well he might have lost his temper once, but it did not bring him to break his friendship with Algy. I also found Jack to be a tender hearted man, for when he—in front of Algernon—said bad things upon Lady Bracknell who has insulted him, he apologized to Algy because he did not want to hurt his feelings. 

Later when Gwendolen (his girlfriend) and Cecily knew the truth about the never-existed Ernest, Jack gallantly admitted that he had deceived them, that he never had any brother, and brave enough to take the risks (of losing Gwendolen’s love). And despite of his eagerness to take Gwendolen to become his wife, Jack spoke the truth about his rather humiliating history (being found in a handbag in a public place) to Lady Bracknell. He never felt ashamed of his life, and has the courage to take any risks, to be able to marry the girl he loved. That was the quality of a man which I always love!

If I can choose between the original Jack and Ernest, I would pick Jack. The real Jack who did not like the glamorous of Victorian social life like theatre or clubs; Jack who—although sometimes told lies (hey…don’t we all too?)—still had the courage to speak the truth when valuable and important things in life were the concerns.   

Classics Authors of August

Meski agak terlambat, aku tetap mau mengajak anda berkenalan dengan para penulis klasik yang lahir pada bulan Agustus. Di antara mereka banyak nama-nama besar seperti Leo Tolstoy, Guy de Maupassant dan Jorge Luis Borges. Mari simak kehidupan mereka, baik sebagai penulis maupun sebagai pribadi….

Herman Melville

Penulis Amerika bernama Herman Melville ini lahir pada 1 Agustus 1819 di New York City. Beliau adalah seorang novelis, selain penyair, penulis esai dan cerita pendek. Meski salah satu novelnya yang paling terkenal adalah Moby-Dick, namun Typee adalah novel pertamanya yang laris. Ayah Melville adalah seorang pedagang, namun setelah dua bisnisnya mundur lalu bangkrut, tak lama kemudian sang ayah meninggal, meninggalkan kemiskinan bagi keluarganya saat Melville berusia 12 tahun. Melville masuk akademi dan menyambi bekerja sebagai anak buah kapal. Pada 1841 Melville kembali berlayar selama 18 bulan ke Pasifik Selatan, dan belakangan mengaku hidupnya ‘dimulai’ pada saat itu. Kemungkinan banyak detail perjalanan itu ia tuangkan ke novel Moby-Dick yang berkisah tentang ikan paus.

Tahun 1847 Melville menikah, kemudian selama 13 tahun sibuk mengurus pertaniannya sambil terus menulis. Di pertanian itu pula ia berteman dengan penulis klasik besar lainnya Nathaniel Hawthore, yang tinggal tak jauh dari situ. Bahkan Melville mendedikasikan Moby-Dick untuk Hawthorne. Namun buku Melville yang berjudul Pierre tidak mendapat sambutan baik, malah ia dicap sebagai ‘gila’ di surat kabar. Di akhir perjalanan karirnya, keadaan keuangan Melville bertambah parah, dan ketika itu perkawinannya goyah, ditambah dengan kematian putranya yang menembak diri sendiri (kemungkinan kecelakaan).

Guy de Maupassant

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant, atau dikenal dengan Guy de Maupassant terkenal sebagai penulis Prancis abad ke 19. Ia dianggap sebagai ‘Bapak’ penulisan cerita pendek modern. Karya-karyanya kebanyakan diwarnai nuansa Franco-Prussian War, dan salah satu karya terbesarnya adalah Ball of Fat selain Mademoiselle Fifi. Beliau lahir 5 Agustus 1850 dari keluarga borjuis kaya yang tinggal di chateau (rumah besar bak istana ala Prancis). Ketika Maupassant berusia 11 tahun, orangtuanya bercerai, dan ia tinggal bersama ibunya yang suka membaca karya klasik terutama Shakespeare. Maka tak heran jika pada usia 13 tahun Maupassant dikirim ke seminari untuk belajar klasik.

Pada usia 18 tahun Maupassant sempat menyelamatkan  Algernon Charles Swinburne, seorang penyair terkenal, yang nyaris tenggelam. Ia juga kemudian berkenalan dengan Gustave Flaubert, penulis klasik terkenal asal Prancis juga, yang kemudian mengambilnya menjadi anak angkat sekaligus semacam pelindung literatur Maupassant, dan membimbingnya memasuki dunia literasi. Di rumah Flaubert lah Maupassant sempat berjumpa dengan Émile Zola dan Ivan Turgenev. Flaubert memuji Ball of Fat sebagai "a masterpiece that will endure". Gabungan antara bakat menulis dan kemampuan bisnis dengan cepat membuat Maupassant kaya. Salah satu novelnya yang paling terkenal adalah Bel-Ami. Di akhir hidupnya Maupassant mengalami ketakutan akan kematian dan ingin menyendiri. Ia mencoba bunuh diri namun gagal, dan akhirnya menjadi salah satu penghuni paling terkenal sebuah rumah sakit jiwa di Paris, di mana Maupasant akhirnya menghembuskan napas terakhirnya.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Lahir pada 8 Agustus 1896 di Washington D.C., Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings kelak dikenal sebagai penulis klasik wanita yang memperoleh penghargaan Pulitzer pada tahun 1939 lewat karyanya The Yearling (diterjemahkan Gramedia). Rawlings sudah menunjukkan minat menulis sejak usia 6 tahun, ia sering mengirimkan tulisannya ke surat kabar di bagian anak-anak hingga usia 16 tahun. Setelah menikah, Rawlings membeli tanah pertanian di Cross Creek, Florida dari warisan yang ia terima dari ibunya, dan lokasi itu kelak menjadi setting novel-novelnya yang terkenal. Karyanya yang lain adalah Cross Creek dan The Sojourner.

Pada tahun 1943 Rawlings dituntut oleh sahabatnya atas tuduhan merusak privasi karena menulis tentang putra sang sahabat di kisah Jacob’s Ladder. Setelah kasus itu selesai Rawlings meninggalkan Cross Creek selamanya dan tak pernah lagi menulis tentang wilayah itu. Dengan uang hasil penjualan The Yearling, Rawlings akhirnya membeli cottage di tepi pantai di St. Agustine, di mana ia tinggal bersama suami keduanya, dan akhirnya meningal dunia pada 1953.

Sir Walter Scott

Walter Scott adalah penulis asal Skotlandia yang lahir pada 15 Agustus 1771. Beliau banyak menulis novel sejarah, naskah drama dan puisi, dan menjadi penulis Inggris pertama yang merasakan ketenaran yang mendunia di saat hidupnya. Ivanhoe dan Rob Roy adalah dua di antara novel-novel terkenalnya. Scott lahir di Edinburgh, dan pada usia 2 tahun berhasil bertahan dari penyakit polio, yang setelahnya membuatnya sedikit cacat pada kaki. Untuk menyembuhkan cacatnya, Scott dikirim ke desa tempat kakeknya tinggal. Di sana neneknya mengajari Scott membaca dongeng dan legenda, yang kelak menjadi dasar karyanya. Pada usia 12 tahun Scott sudah mulai belajar klasik di universitas.

Sejak muda Scott selalu tertarik pada dongeng-dongeng Skotlandia yang dituturkan secara verbal (story teller). Ia terobsesi untuk mengumpulan dongeng-dongeng itu. Di usia 25 tahun ia mulai menulis secara professional, kemudian menerbitkan tiga set kumpulan dongeng koleksinya. Inilah pertanda awal minatnya terhadap sejarah Skotlandia. Tahun 1825 terjadi krisis perbankan, dan perusahaan penerbitan ke mana Scott menginvestasikan uangnya jatuh bangkrut, dan Scott pun jatuh miskin. Ak mau mengaku bangkrut, Scott menjaminkan rumahnya pada kreditor dan bertekad akan terus menulis novel serta biografi Napoleon Bonaparte untuk keluar dari hutang, namun sayang kesehatannya memburuk, dan akhirnya  meninggal. Untunglah, novel-novelnya terjual terus hingga akhirnya mampu melunasi seluruh hutangnya.

Edith Nesbit

Terkenal dengan nama E. Nesbit, Edith Nesbit—kemudian menjadi Edith Bland setelah menikah—adalah penulis 60 buku anak-anak dan puisi asal Inggris. Lahir tanggal 15 August 1858, Nesbit menikah pada usia 22 tahun dengan Hubert Bland saat hamil tujuh bulan, pernikahan yang kemudian terbukti membawa petaka. Bland ketahuan berselingkuh dan menghamili sahabat Nesbit dan seorang wanita lain yang mengaku tunangan Bland. Nesbit bertengkar hebat dengan suaminya namun tetap bersedia mengadopsi kedua bayi wanita itu.

Beberapa novel terkenalnya antara lain The Railway Children (diterjemahkan Gramedia) didedikasikan untuk putra tertuanya, serta The Enchanted Castle (diterjemahkan Atria). Nesbit disebut-sebut sebagai penulis modern pertama untuk buku anak-anak, yang mengubah tradisi literasi anak warisan dari Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald dan Kenneth Graham. Menggabungkan kisah anak-anak kontemporer yang bersetting dunia nyata dengan obyek-obyek sihir, Nesbit berpengaruh dalam era penulis kisah anak-anak modern setelahnya seperti Diana Wynne Jones, J. K. Rowling dan C. S. Lewis.

Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges, atau yang biasa kita kenal sebagai Jorge Luis Borges lahir pada 24 Agustus 1899 di Buenos Aires, Argentina. Borges adalah penulis cerita pendek, esai dan puisi serta penerjemah. Beberapa karyanya yang terkenal adalah Ficciones, Labyrinths dan The Aleph, yang merupakan komplilasi cerita pendek yang dihubungkan dengan tema serupa, antara lain mimpi, labirin, perpustakaan, agama, Tuhan, dsb. Karyanya masuk ke genre literatur filosofis maupun fantasi. Pada usia 9 tahun Borges sudah menerjemahkan The Happy Prince karya Oscar Wilde ke bahasa Spanyol.

Pada thn. 1938 ayah Borges, yang amat dekat dengannya, meninggal dunia dan mendatangkan tragedi baginya. Natal tahun itu Borges mengalami cedera kepala parah yang nyaris merenggut nyawanya. Setelah peristiwa itu, Borges mulai menerapkan gaya baru dalam menulis yang kelak membuatnya terkenal. Ketika penglihatannya mulai kabur sebelum berusia 30 tahun dan Borges tak mampu menulis lagi, ia menapaki karir baru sebagai ‘public lecturer’. Pada akhir thn 1950 Borges akhirnya buta total, kemudian meninggal dunia karena kanker liver pada 1986.

Mary Shelley

30 Agustus 1797 merupakan tanggal kelahiran seorang penulis wanita asal Inggris yang bernama lengkap Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, namun yang kelak lebih dikenal sebagai Mary Shelley. Selain sebagai penulis novel (novel paling terkenalnya adalah kisah gothic Frankenstein—diterjemahkan Gramedia), Shelley juga penulis cerita pendek, naskah drama, esai, biografi dan kisah perjalanan. Shelley dibesarkan oleh ayahnya, dan saat berusia 17 tahun ia memiliki hubungan romantic dengan pengikut politik ayahnya—Percy Bisshe Shelley—yang sudah menikah. Shelley mengandung bayi Percy, namun sayangnya dalam dua tahun pasangan ini menghadapi pengucilan, belitan hutang dan kematian bayi prematur mereka. Mereka baru menikah thn 1816 setelah istri Percy bunuh diri.

Ide menulis Franskenstein tiba saat pasangan baru ini menghabiskan musim panas di Swiss. Lalu pada 1822 Percy mati tenggelam ketika perahu yang dinaikinya tenggelam dalam badai. Setelah itu Shelley memutuskan untuk mengabdikan hidup untuk membesarkan putra semata wayang mereka dan menekuni penulisan profesional. Sayangnya di usia 53 Shelley harus menghadapi ajal akibat tumor otak yang selama decade terakhir hidupnya terus menggerogotinya.

Karya siapa yang akan and abaca bulan ini?

Aramis on Twenty Years After: Character Thursday (22)

For me, Aramis is always the most intriguing character among the four musketeers. It’s not easy to describe his personal character; if you were asked, what kind of man Aramis is, well…it’s quite difficult to answer in one short sentence. May I just say that Aramis has a flamboyant character? Nevertheless, I am trying to describe him as best as I could, from what I have learned from Twenty Years After and The Man In The Iron Mask (I did not mention Three Musketeers because I did not find the characters being much revealed in that book).

Aramis was described by d’Artagnan as an elegant man with beautiful black hair, elegant figure and lady’s hands. I wonder..has he a handsome and attractive face too? Certainly, for if not, how can all the women got attracted to him easily? :) I noticed in this book, that Aramis often produce that mysterious smile of him, that I suspected to be his main weapon to steal women’s heart….

Do you find Luke Evans to well represent Aramis?

Unlike d’Artagnan, Aramis’ service for the Kingdom was not pure devotion. He is an ambitious man with his own purposes. We can say Aramis has a high ego, and always act for his own interest. However, his true ambition is not quite clear either; it seems that Aramis was always torn between his desire to serve the Church, and to become a chevalier. It’s interesting to look upon d’Artagnan’s comment about his friend:

“I am thinking, my dear fellow, that when you were a musketeer you were forever becoming the abbé, and now you are an abbé you appear to me to have a strong leaning to the musketeers.”

And what was Aramis’ answer to that?

“That is true. Man is a strange creature, made up of contrasts. Since I have been an abbé I dream only of battles.”

But the contrast—as he said himself—is not only that. No matter how often he was called as the Abbé D’Herblay, I can never picture him as an abbé. On the contrary, I always see Aramis as a womanizer. He has made a lot of affair with charming duchess and noble ladies (even when he was already an abbé!). -Also, I have never seen him in any occasion act as an abbé, there is no preaching-like in his words; in short…there is not any indication that can lead us to imagine Aramis as an abbé. His lifestyle, for example, is far from the humble qualities we usually find in God’s servant.

Here’s d’Artagnan observation on Aramis’ bedroom,

“He (d’Artagnan) had never seen a room at the same time more warlike and more elegant. At each corner were trophies of arms… It is true that in addition there was nothing to indicate the abode of an abbé; the hangings were damask, the carpets came from Alençon, and the bed especially seemed more fit for an elegant lady, with its lace hangings and its counterpane, than for a man who had taken a vow to gain heaven by abstinence and hardship.”

Aramis is a man of contradictory and he has a quality of kept hiding his interests in a mask of calm and noble man that he often wears. I remember from The Man In The Iron Mask, d’Artagnan felt that Aramis must have been planning something big, but he could never guessed anything. When Aramis said anything, I can’t but thinking, does he really mean that? Or what he’s really up to?

Although he has a noble taste, but his heart is far from being noble. Aramis is an ambitious man, who always thinks of himself and his interest. How he could always keep his friendship with the three other musketeers, I can’t imagine. Among the bound of their friendship, I think, Aramis’s part is the weakest.

One interesting thing from The Three Musketeers, is the love affair Aramis had with Madame de Chevreuse. Later in the Twenty Years After, I learned that Madame de Chevreuse, in her exile, has had a one-night love affair with Athos. This is one thing Aramis never knew about his former lover, ah yes…in Twenty Years After he has found a new lover, Madame de Longueville :). Can you imagine what he would think or say, if he gets to reveal who Raoul’s mother is?....

That is my Character Thursday of this week, an analysis of book character of my choice, who is yours?... Just put your post URL in the linky below. Do you like to join us in discussing characters from books you read? See the details of Character Thursday first.

A Victorian Celebration Wrap Up

Two months have been running so fast…and suddenly we have arrived in the last day of July, meaning that A Victorian Celebration, the event hosted by Allie will soon end. I suddenly realized that for the last two months (or at least the entire July) all my readings are classics-victorian-in-english books. Wow! I mean, I am Indonesian, and reading seven books—all in English—for the whole two months was a new record to me, really! When I first put the list, I did not think I will “survive”, I only thought…yeah, it’s only a list, I can just scrap few books of them if it turned out I could not make it. But in the end, instead of scrapping few books, I managed to add one book and three short stories into the list :) Here are they:

The original list:

Sketches by Boz - Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens: Dickens Bicentenary 2012 - Lucinda Dickens Hawksley

Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

The Old Curiosity Shop - Charles Dickens

Twenty Years After - Alexandre Dumas

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson

In the end, I scrapped Dr Jekyll, and replaced it with

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

…and added this to the list:

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

Besides those novels, I have also added three short stories:

The Three Strangers - Thomas Hardy

A Terribly Strange Bed - Wilkie Collins

The Half-Brothers - Elizabeth Gaskell

Other than the books, I also posted two author profiles, both of them are Non English Victorian Authors:

Emile Zola

Alexandre Dumas

And from Sketches by Boz, I posted four independent posts about Victorian London based on the description in the book:

The Victorian London from Sketches by Boz: The Amusements

The Victorian London from Sketches by Boz: The Occupations

The Victorian London from Sketches by Boz: The Streets & Shops

The Victorian London from Sketches by Boz: The Transportation

Finally, I can only say that I really-really enjoyed A Victorian Celebration. It was fun, very fun! All with the posts of all participants (and I must admit I only read several of them), Victorian book reviews, Victorian authors, also quiz and giveaways. Thanks a bunch to Allie, for all your efforts to host this event, it gave me the opportunity to savour the privilege of Victorian readings! I hope we can do something like this again i the future!. :)

Twenty Years After

[conclusion in English is at the bottom of this post]

Pertengahan abad 17 tercatat dalam sejarah Prancis sebagai tahun-tahun penuh pergolakan. Saat itu masih bergolak Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659), perang yang dicanangkan Cardinal Richelieu terhadap Spanyol yang dianggap membahayakan teritorial Prancis. Di tengah-tengah perang itu, pecah pula perang saudara di dalam negeri Prancis sendiri. Saat itu Cardinal Richelieu telah meninggal dan digantikan Cardinal Mazarin yang dekat dengan Ratu Anne of Austria, yang saat itu memerintah Prancis karena sang Raja—putranya—Louis XIV masih kanak-kanak. Mazarin, dalam upaya memperlambat ledakan populasi saat itu, mengeluarkan kebijakan menaikkan pajak yang membuat rakyat marah, dan akhirnya membentuk pergerakan yang dikenal dengan The Fronde. Sementara itu, para bangsawan dan parlemen juga berselisih, ada yang memihak kerajaan, ada yang memihak The Fronde. Di tengah kemelut inilah Alexandre Dumas merajut kisah keempat musketeers yang pernah berjaya di masa King Louis XIII: Athos, Porthos, Aramis dan D’Artagnan.

Dua puluh tahun berlalu, hanya D’Artagnan yang masih mengabdi pada kerajaan sebagai Letnan Musketeers, sementara ketiga mantan rekannya sudah pensiun. Athos (Comte de la Fère) menikmati perannya sebagai seorang ayah dan pelindung bagi Raoul, pemuda berusia 15 tahun. Porthos (Monsieur du Vallon) menikah dengan janda dan memiliki tiga rumah besar. Aramis mengabdikan diri pada Gereja dengan menjadi imam, dan dikenal sebagai Abbé d’Herblay. D’Artagnan dipanggil bertugas oleh Mazarin (yang tidak disukai semua pihak kecuali Ratu Anne yang—menurut gossip—menikah dengannya), dan harus membujuk ketiga mantan rekannya untuk bergabung. Mulailah D’Artagnan yang telah berpisah selama 20 tahun, bergerilya mencari ketiga rekannya untuk kembali mengulang kejayaan mereka masa lalu. Hanya Porthos yang bersedia bergabung, dengan iming-iming dianugerahi status Baron, sementara Athos dan Aramis menolak dengan alasan tak berminat.

Padahal sesungguhnya Athos dan Aramis telah merancang rencana sendiri untuk membebaskan seorang bangsawan yang telah dipenjara oleh Ratu Anne dan Mazarin karena menolak perintah. Di sini jelaslah bahwa meski keempat sahabat sehidup semati yang dahulu pernah mengucap sumpah: “All for one and one for all” itu semuanya telah ‘turun gunung’ untuk berjuang, mereka berada di dua kubu yang bermusuhan. Athos dan Aramis di kubu Fronde, D’Artagnan dan Porthos di kubu kerajaan/Mazarin. Bagaimana mereka dapat tetap memegang prinsip mereka tanpa mengorbankan persahabatan? Inilah aspek yang paling menarik di buku ini, yang dapat anda baca di refleksiku tentang Twenty Years After.

Twenty Years After, sebagai sekuel langsung dari The Three Musketeers, ternyata jauh lebih bagus daripada pendahulunya yang—herannya—justru lebih terkenal. Karakter para musketeers di sini lebih menonjol dan lebih terasah; Dumas tak hanya mengandalkan sisi hiburannya saja lewat petualangan heroik mereka (dan kuakui petualangannya pun Three Musketeers kalah memikat dengan penerusnya), namun ia juga memasukkan nilai-nilai moral, terutama tentang prinsip keluhuran (nobleness), loyalitas dan persahabatan. Kalau di Three Musketeers, musuh abadi keempat sahabat adalah Milady, maka bersiap-siaplah bertemu dengan manusia yang kejamnya hamper sama dengan Milady yang sempat membuat para sahabat kita bergidik ngeri…

Apa yang mereka ucapkan tiap kali menetakkan pedang bersama di The Three Musketeers: “All for one and one for all” mungkin tak mereka ucapkan lagi di buku ini, namun semangat yang mereka bawa tetap hidup di hati mereka masing-masing. Meski berbeda pendapat, berbeda prinsip, berbeda kepentingan, aku senang melihat bagaimana Dumas mengumpulkan mereka—sekali-lagi—dalam petualangan demi petualangan menegangkan dengan selalu mempertahankan prinsip keluhuran.

Lima pedang untuk Twenty Years After!

Conclusion:

First of all, I am surprised that The Three Musketeers is more famous than the sequel, Twenty Years After. Personally I think Twenty Years After is much more entertaining and engaging. Being a direct sequel of Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After followed the story of D’Artagnan—now lieutenant of Musketeers, who were tracing his former three best friends: Athos, Porthos and Aramis, to re-enter the political whirl and intrigue during civil war when Queen Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin ruled France. D’Artagnan and Porthos were on Mazarin’s and Queen’s party, while Athos and Aramis were on the Frondeur side. However, being on opposite sides, the four of them kept firm their friendship which they have had under the oath of “all for one, and one for all”, twenty years ago. For although they were each a different person now, with different interests and motifs, they still had one aspect in common, that is their noble hearts. Read my reflection about how the musketeers reconciled their dispute.

This book offers a high fast-paced adventures, heroic acts, historical events, as well as manifestation of nobility, loyalty and friendship. My favorite would always be D’Artagnan, for he was a brave, smart, honest, loyal, humorous, and witty man. Although I have before liked Athos, I change my mind now, for I found him here too absurd for a man. Athos seemed to live beyond his world. For a chevalier, he used his heart more often than his sense, that sometimes I would think it as cowardice, if I had not known his noble quality. One should follow strictly his principles, but on certain circumstances—especially when it was related to his friends’ life, one ought to make an exception. Here, again, I admire D’Artagnan to be someone of action; I can’t imagine how the musketeers would survive without D’Artagnan’s smart plans which often saved them all.

“I declare, my friend, that you have no equal under heaven for nobleness and courage; while we were thinking you indifferent to our griefs, you alone found that we were vainly seeking. I repeat it, then, d’Artagnan, you are the best of us all; and I bless and love you, my dear son.” ~Athos

However, as a noble man, Athos was the noblest of them all. One thing that I admire from him was his principle to always serve the principle of monarchy, and not the throne sitter. It’s not the figure of King that he praised, but the noble principle that a King held. So, instead of serving the Queen and Mazarin, Athos decided (together with Aramis) to help King Charles I of England who was in desperate position in the English Civil War.

“…the most sacred cause in the world, that of misfortune, royalty and religion.” ~Athos

And what amazed me still is that D’Artagnan turned out to be a brilliant diplomat too. It is he who finally brought peace back to France, in his persuasion to the queen. Here in the last chapters we will see the nobleness quality of D’Artagnan. He pushed and cornered the queen to surrender her stubborn vanity over her people (with his diplomacy), but when the queen was weeping for her lost, D’Artagnan got down on his knees, bending to his Majesty and yielded to his own emotion. This was one of the most emotional parts in this book, which make me love it more.

Dumas has not only crafted France history in a wonderful adventurer fiction, but he also uphold nobility—one thing that has been slowly dissipating through centuries now—and reminded us of how important it always be for the world.  

Five stars for Twenty Years After.

Title: Twenty Years After

Author: Alexandre Dumas

Publisher: Wordsworth Classics

Published: 2009

Pages: 686