The Hunchback of Notre Dame
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Product Description
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With an Introduction and Notes by Keith Wren, University of Kent at Canterbury. Set in 1482, Victor Hugo s powerful novel of imagination, caprice and fantasy is a meditation on love, fate, architecture and politics, as well as a compelling recreation of the medieval world at the dawn of the modern age. In a brilliant reworking of the tale of Beauty and the Beast, Hugo creates a host of unforgettable characters amongst them, Quasimodo, the hunchback of the title, hopelessly in love with the gypsy girl Esmeralda, the satanic priest Claude Frollo, Clopin Trouillefou, king of the beggars, and Louis XI, King of France. Over the entire novel, both literally and symbolically, broods the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Vivid characters and memorable set-piece action scenes combine to bring the past to life in this story of love, lust, betrayal, doom and redemption.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great, if tormenting, pleasure...,
By
This review is from: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Wordsworth Classics) (Paperback)
"...something has disappeared. That vast body is empty - it is like a skeleton - the spirit has quitted it - they see its place and that is all. It is like a skull, which still has holes for the eyes, but no longer sight."
The classics are classics for a reason - they have a place in our modern cultural consciousness - even if they've largely got there thanks to Disney. To read the originals is often a great, if tormenting pleasure, and Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame is no exception. Tormenting for what would be called today authorial indulgence on a grand scale, and whilst I am a purist in terms of reading unabridged versions, I couldn't read beyond 5 pages of Book Three, Chapter Two: A Bird's Eye View of Paris. It recounts the layout of the city in excruciating detail, and whilst it ends with a beautifully descriptive paragraph about the city as a great symphony, it will bore all but the most dedicated of readers senseless. (I say this in a whisper: "It can be completely skipped!") A great pleasure because the story itself is rich and compelling. A wonderful cast of characters fill the streets of Paris, and the gothic "character" of Notre Dame cathedral looms in the background. Quasimodo remains a favourite - and I would argue the only character whose love for Esmeralda, and his actions in general, are even remotely pure - which makes him the hero of the novel in my eyes. Claude Frollo, the dark and dangerous priest, is another of my favourite characters, to the point where I am frustrated by Hugo's overall neglect of his background and development. As usual, the Wordsworth Classics version comes with a "jargon-free", though rather critical introduction, from Keith Wren, and is a very cheap way to enter the world of 15th Century Paris, replete with the enduring themes of literature: love, murder, fate, revenge and redemption.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Do not buy this edition!,
This review is from: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Kindle Edition)
This is a terrible edition of this book; there are footnotes in random places, paragraph breaks in the middle of sentences, new chapters appear without warning. If you can, buy a different edition. I can bearly read this.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful- persevere!,
By
This review is from: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Wordsworth Classics) (Paperback)
Set around the beautiful cathedral of Notre Dame the book illustrated to me the curse of both beauty and ugliness.
I loved this book, especially once I got over half-way through I couldn't put it down. However, I had to come back to it a few times at first. It's well worth persevering through the first few chapters.
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