[HBP] Possible literary allusions in HBP
So I was reading Les Miz today (past p. 700, woo!) and I came across something interesting...
Book Seven, Chapter One of Marius in Les Misérables by Victor Hugo talks about how from society, a number of "mines" are dug from it: religious, philosophic, economic, political, revolutionary, using the metaphor that every pick is an idea, figure, etc.
Branching from this, he says that the workers (philosophers, great thinkers) become more "mysterious" the farther down in the mine you go, and also that "At certain depths, the excavations become impenetrable to the soul of civilization, man's breathing limit surpassed; the existence of monsters becomes possible."
He continues on to say later:
Nevertheless, whatever the contrast, all these workers from the highest to the deepest down, from the wisest to the craziest, have one thing in common, and that is disinterestedness. Marat, like Jesus, forgets about himself. They leave self aside; they omit it; they do not think of themselves. They see something other than themselves. They have a light in their eyes, and that light is searching for the absolute. The highest has all heaven in his eyes; the lowest, enigmatic as he may be, still has beneath his brows the pale glow of the infinite. Whatever he may do, venerate anyone who has this sign, the star-eye.
The shadow-eye is the other sign.
There begins evil. Before the one whose eye has no light, reflect and tremble. Social order has its dark miners.
There is a point where undermining becomes burial, and where light goes out.
Below all these mines we have mentioned, below all these galleries, below this immense underground venous system of progress and utopia, far deeper in the earth, lower than Marat, lower than Babeuf, lower, much lower, and without any connection with the upper galleries, is the ultimate hole. An awe-inspiring place. this is what we have called the third substage. It is the grave of shadows. It is the cave of the blind Inferi.
It gives onto the abyss.
Now, isn't that interesting? Not only the mention of Inferi, but also a cave--like the one that Dumbledore and Harry entered to look for the Horcrux.
I do believe that Voldemort is a psychopath, but also something of an evil genius--he is a great thinker, but this could allude to the fact that he's metaphorically "dug" too low, too close to the abyss. Voldemort is probably one of those people with what Hugo calls the "shadow-eye", where there is no light at all.
Conversely, Albus Dumbledore is continually described as having a twinkle in his eye--could that be a reference to the "star-eye", meaning that he should be revered?
I'm just musing randomly, but I really wonder if the connection has significance.
Book Seven, Chapter One of Marius in Les Misérables by Victor Hugo talks about how from society, a number of "mines" are dug from it: religious, philosophic, economic, political, revolutionary, using the metaphor that every pick is an idea, figure, etc.
Branching from this, he says that the workers (philosophers, great thinkers) become more "mysterious" the farther down in the mine you go, and also that "At certain depths, the excavations become impenetrable to the soul of civilization, man's breathing limit surpassed; the existence of monsters becomes possible."
He continues on to say later:
Nevertheless, whatever the contrast, all these workers from the highest to the deepest down, from the wisest to the craziest, have one thing in common, and that is disinterestedness. Marat, like Jesus, forgets about himself. They leave self aside; they omit it; they do not think of themselves. They see something other than themselves. They have a light in their eyes, and that light is searching for the absolute. The highest has all heaven in his eyes; the lowest, enigmatic as he may be, still has beneath his brows the pale glow of the infinite. Whatever he may do, venerate anyone who has this sign, the star-eye.
The shadow-eye is the other sign.
There begins evil. Before the one whose eye has no light, reflect and tremble. Social order has its dark miners.
There is a point where undermining becomes burial, and where light goes out.
Below all these mines we have mentioned, below all these galleries, below this immense underground venous system of progress and utopia, far deeper in the earth, lower than Marat, lower than Babeuf, lower, much lower, and without any connection with the upper galleries, is the ultimate hole. An awe-inspiring place. this is what we have called the third substage. It is the grave of shadows. It is the cave of the blind Inferi.
It gives onto the abyss.
Now, isn't that interesting? Not only the mention of Inferi, but also a cave--like the one that Dumbledore and Harry entered to look for the Horcrux.
I do believe that Voldemort is a psychopath, but also something of an evil genius--he is a great thinker, but this could allude to the fact that he's metaphorically "dug" too low, too close to the abyss. Voldemort is probably one of those people with what Hugo calls the "shadow-eye", where there is no light at all.
Conversely, Albus Dumbledore is continually described as having a twinkle in his eye--could that be a reference to the "star-eye", meaning that he should be revered?
I'm just musing randomly, but I really wonder if the connection has significance.