Konstantin, this is a brilliant, brilliant essay. I think I'm going to re-read The 3 Musketeers, which I liked very much when I was 9, and I'll enjoy it again, but in a different, more aware way, thanks to you.
Great essay. I, too, remember being struck by a different perspective when reading as an adult... And the "trial" of Milady - ! But it's still a brilliant book...
Loved reading this for the second time, as did for the first.
still vehemently disagree on a lot of it, being closer to "Milady"-but it's fun, all in all. To disagree on things like that. To read books together, in a way.
Could not agree more that the Milady captivity chapters are a highlight of the book. When I first read Scott Alexander's stuff about the superintelligent AI god basilisk cajoling us into letting it out of its cage, that's where my mind went.
You touched a little on it in passing but an important part of the puzzle is that the Muskeeters are teenage boys, what they really need is two hours detention and a shower, not to be handed live weapons. Which the multiple adaptations have blurred by regularly casting actors in their late twenties or older, and which wafted back into the perception on the novel (the guys on the book cover you posted aren't teenagers, and they're far from the worst I've seen).
Indeed the end of the novel is largely a condemnation of the four men and a vindication of Richelieu, where the three secondaries are sentenced (by the narrative) to become grown-ups, and D'Artagnan gets sentenced (by the Cardinal) to become something even worse, a grown-up with responsabilities. Which is explicitly framed in terms in "now you'll see it feels to deal with a bunch of jokers nominally under your orders".
Unrelatedly adaptations are also responsible for a type of soldier literally named after a firearm to become associated with swordplay in the public consciousness. In Dumas, they do make use of gunpowder!
Well, not all of them are teenagers; Athos is probably 28, and Aramis and Porthos are probably between 22-25. But year, much younger than typically portrayed. In a recent one, Athos is played by a 57-year-old Vincent Cassel, fcol!
The second point is very funny and true. I guess swordfights are inherently more exciting than a shootout when you have to spend a couple of minutes to reload after each shot.
Konstantin, this is a brilliant, brilliant essay. I think I'm going to re-read The 3 Musketeers, which I liked very much when I was 9, and I'll enjoy it again, but in a different, more aware way, thanks to you.
Thank you! It is an enjoyable book, after all.
Great essay. I, too, remember being struck by a different perspective when reading as an adult... And the "trial" of Milady - ! But it's still a brilliant book...
Thanks! Dumas was an expert writer, and his craft is probably slightly underapprreciated in our days.
I think your essay might change that here…
Loved reading this for the second time, as did for the first.
still vehemently disagree on a lot of it, being closer to "Milady"-but it's fun, all in all. To disagree on things like that. To read books together, in a way.
Thanks! This is probably one of the few last things, disagreeing on which doesn't immediately lead to mutual hatred :)
I'm very poor with hatred, so poor it actually bothers me. But I know what you mean)
probably a good way to stand out :)
Could not agree more that the Milady captivity chapters are a highlight of the book. When I first read Scott Alexander's stuff about the superintelligent AI god basilisk cajoling us into letting it out of its cage, that's where my mind went.
You touched a little on it in passing but an important part of the puzzle is that the Muskeeters are teenage boys, what they really need is two hours detention and a shower, not to be handed live weapons. Which the multiple adaptations have blurred by regularly casting actors in their late twenties or older, and which wafted back into the perception on the novel (the guys on the book cover you posted aren't teenagers, and they're far from the worst I've seen).
Indeed the end of the novel is largely a condemnation of the four men and a vindication of Richelieu, where the three secondaries are sentenced (by the narrative) to become grown-ups, and D'Artagnan gets sentenced (by the Cardinal) to become something even worse, a grown-up with responsabilities. Which is explicitly framed in terms in "now you'll see it feels to deal with a bunch of jokers nominally under your orders".
Unrelatedly adaptations are also responsible for a type of soldier literally named after a firearm to become associated with swordplay in the public consciousness. In Dumas, they do make use of gunpowder!
Well, not all of them are teenagers; Athos is probably 28, and Aramis and Porthos are probably between 22-25. But year, much younger than typically portrayed. In a recent one, Athos is played by a 57-year-old Vincent Cassel, fcol!
The second point is very funny and true. I guess swordfights are inherently more exciting than a shootout when you have to spend a couple of minutes to reload after each shot.