Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
Indeed.
Now, oddly enough, another note: I've finally abandoned finishing Dumas' The Three Musketeers, (after years of trying) and for anyone who is incredibly fond thereof, because they've only seen movie or TV versions, and never read it, I'd recommend sticking with--unbelievably--the video or celluloid versions. At 2/3rds of the way through reading how rollicking it was to be a quartet of penniless gigolos who openly stole from women and avidly avoided work of any kind, and rather heartlessly ruined marriages sans thought, the heroic movie versions of the foursome saving the French Queen or the nation, etc., are far more attractive. Plus...it's incredibly bloody BORING. The characters are flatly unlikable, there's a serious absence of plot, other than brawls which aren't even well-scripted, and, well...did I say, BORING? Granted, I'm sure it's more offensive now than it was when written, but I still don't know how this crew could have been perceived as remotely heroic in ANY era. They are simply itinerant laborers with swords, (not even very good swordsmen, BTW, unlike their Errol-Flynn-selves), frankly a step below Highwaymen, who at least worked for their coin instead of mooching it off women.
Hitch
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I absolutely love to read books that - in someone's opinion - are boring, especially one that is so loved for being.....well.....boring. (I'm being very serious here. I'm someone who enjoys works from the French New Novelists, [Nouveau roman] from the movement popular during the 1950s [Claude Simon, Nathalie Sarraute, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Michel Butor, the early work of J.M.G. Le Clezio, etc.]).
Thank you for the recommendation!
FULL DISCLOSURE: I actually read this as a child and loved it, and have been meaning to go back and re-read it. I recently purchased six Delphi Classics compilations, one of them being the Dumas collection. I also purchased one with a new translation.
Don