Nel-ii - An Homage To My Thirteen-year-old Self

armenia and les mis

no better way to show some pride in my homeland of armenia than showcasing a little bit about it's history with my beloved les miserables!

we commonly call it Թշվառները in the armenian language, which means "the miserable" much like the original french.

character names as they most often appear in translations (all phonetic translation from french into armenian, pronounced similarly to their french names aside from small differences)

jean valjean, Ժան Վալժան

javert, Ժավեր

fantine, Ֆանտին

cosette, Կոզետ

marius pontmercy, Մարիուս Պոնտմերսի

eponine, Էպոնին

m. thenardier, Թենարդիե

mme. thenardier, Թենարդիե տիկին (տիկին means mrs or lady in armenian)

gavroche, Գավրոշ

enjolras, Անժոլրա (pronounced ahnzzlora)

grantaire, Գրանտեր

some history

the first translation of the novel into armenian was first printed in the 1880s, and remained in print until the early 1900s. its completely lost media as far as i know and despite my best efforts, i have not been able to unearth a copy. i doubt it's gone forever though, so who knows where one may be lurking!

soviet era armenia was full of translations, the most well known being in 1987, even receiving an audiobook recording (year of recording unknown)

not a single professional production of the musical has been performed in the country to this day, with no plans to as far as i know. but several adaptations have been subbed in armenian and released in the country. many other adaptations have also made it here through their russian (a popular language spoken in armenia as well) dubs and subs

also i think you all would like to know that there was a small fandom of armenian fans in the 2010s haha

les mis enjoltaire fans will find the worst, grainiest, blinded by stage lights, most corrupted 30 seconds of bootleg on the world wide web and go "THEY HELD HANDS HEREEE"

This is an abridged arabic edition of Les Misérables with Arabic and English translation, Published in (2018)

It contains the entire story in 277 pages.

This edition is intended to learn English only bc the Arabic translation is accurate while the English translation is very simplified, so it is great for reading and learning at the same time for Arabic speakers!

The funny thing about it is that this edition contains only 15 chapters with the important parts of the story bc you know it is an abridged edition.

..and despite that, there is a chapter for the PARIS SEWERS.

Here is a translation of the chapter names:

1 - Jean Valjean

2 - Fantine

3 - Monsieur Madeleine

4 - The Man In The Long Yellow Coat

5 - Valjean and Cosette

6 - Marius

7 - The Jondrettes

8 - Marius and Cosette

9 - Monsieur Gillenormand

10 - The Barricade

11 - The Letter

12 - Fight To The Death

13 - THE SEWERS OF PARIS

14 - The Wedding

15 - The Truth at Last

I went to see Les Mis a few days ago! Here are my notes:

- Killian Donelly's Valjean, I think, fits so perfectly with Bradley Jaden's Javert. Killian is a little more harsh, a little more desperate to atone for his sins. He trembles when he holds those silver candlesticks, you could hear his desperate breaths. No matter how soft or how gentle he’s become, he is still so, so anxious and paranoid.

- But y know what? There was freedom when he saved Javert from the barricades. There was freedom when he grounds himself in his love for Cosette. There was freedom when he shows mercy and forgiveness. At the face of love and mercy, he is free and I FUCKING WENT INSANE

- Bardley Jaden’s Javert's transformation from start to finish is terrifying and I'll say it again. He was not so violent at first. He was composed, strong-willed. He held his nose high and looked down at everyone. He pitied Fantine and smiled at her, he looks to the audience with gentle eyes asking to be justified, asking for some kind of sympathy as if he was a saviour taking action so no one else should. It is such a contrast to Valjean's anxious nature.

- but Javert is capable of fear. I have never thought I would see a Javert so terrified of somehow being misunderstood, of being proven wrong for his ideals and principles. Normally, Javert is angry with his sights only on Valjean, but Bradley makes this character so fearful AND IT IS SCRUMPTIOUS. Almost near the end he's afraid of even Valjean's touch. He doesn't look at the audience, he looks up at the heavens instead.

“Dedma” has been an interesting word for me. I never personally used it but it’s been on my mind for the longest time.

ignoring • the act of ignoring • feigning unawareness • short for "dead malice"

Like it doesn’t just mean ignoring!! It is used with the assumption that someone did you wrong. Like it specifically has something to do with someone who you are trying to be petty with. It’s inherently petty.

It’s interesting to me that we had to create words like these to describe this specific action. We couldn’t just say, “pabayaan mo na.” NO.

We created and use this word because we feel the need to acknowledge or recognize the idea that we are deliberately ignoring someone to keep our own peace, when in fact, we are being petty as hell.

Don’t you think that’s fucking interesting? We are so obsessed with the image of our lives that we try to describe our own experiences for other people in fear of them mischaracterizing us. We have to shape our slangs and language around the idea of being perceived.

We can’t just say we’re ignoring someone. No, we have to say that we’re ignoring them in spite of their shitty attitude. We have to make sure that we are in the right. This slang was so intentionally created for the sake of the “bigger person”.

That shit is interesting to me. To me, personally, I can never use this word because I can never be so petty, though I wish I could. “Dedma.” Wow. Using this word really does give you the image of the bigger person.

Feeling normal about Javert and Eponine today

Grantaire had some pretty sexy fantasies before he began dating Enjolras 😏.....alas their lives are a bit more swamped with work than he imagined it'd be 😔

But at the end of the day, they still get to snork mimimi/honk shoo together ❤️

A quick little series of doodles for @lesmisshippingshowdown too 🙂‍↕️

To the sewers!

I feel like Victor Hugo would love this transition to the sewers setting

Jean Valjean catches Marius falling from having been shot. He points at an escape route and tells the audience he'll go via the sewerage. (Les Misérables peking opera, 2006)

The fact that I cannot understand Chinese at all, and this was one of the few terminologies I could read (since Japanese uses the same characters) made me accidentally laugh out loud.

It was a jumpscare of comprehension.

I will say, this is obviously my first experiencing watching a Peking Opera, so I'm just not used to the style of writing yet. I really love it though!! I can't believe this artistic, fun, acrobatic way of theatre was hidden away from me 😭😭

Enjolras

Alt under cut

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