Queen Margot, Or Marguerite De Valois (1994) - Plot & Excerpts
Man, nobody (at least not that I’ve read) writes court intrigue like Dumas. So many twists and turns, and although you’re reasonably confident about who’s backstabbing whom at any given time, you’re never sure who’s actually going to come out on top. Up to a point, of course. Henri de Navarre did eventually become king of France, so one could be pretty confident that he wasn’t going to die, despite certain characters’ best efforts. Everyone else, though, was pretty much fair game, and some deaths were really quite sad. Not to mention kind of beautifully and subtly (sort of?) foreshadowed, in a Chekhov’s gun sort of way.I also enjoyed the "Lower Decks"* aspect of having much of the action viewed from the perspective of two courtiers who find themselves connected to powerful people, but who are really just two regular guys. It wasn't exclusively that; we definitely got private conversations between the king and his brother, for example, but the whole thing was tinged with a certain slightly removed quality that I thought was kind of an interesting angle. A little Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, in a way.I didn’t find this one quite as aggressively witty as, say, The Three Musketeers, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless, and will definitely continue to look forward to the other Dumas titles that are on The List.I did find myself thinking about translation when reading this, though. Not because of any obvious flaws in the translation or anything, but because of a simple fact of the English language: it does not have a formal and an informal “you,” and I found myself wondering how many subtle nuances English translations miss because of that. And not just from French books. I know for sure that French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German all have that distinction, and it’s often hugely important in social discourse, power dynamics, relationships, etc. especially in settings like a 16th century royal court. The use of “vous” or “tu” says, in a single word, so many things about a particular interaction that English has to either gloss over or find some other, much less elegant way of conveying. All of which I find fascinating, and it got me thinking about my upcoming graduate adventure in Switzerland. I’m going to have to a write a thesis, which is something I’ve been stressing a little about for a while, because I had no idea what I might be interested enough in to delve into that deeply. This is obviously not specific enough and would need to be fleshed out and an angle found that hadn’t already been covered by someone else, but seriously, y’all? The distinction between “tu” and “vous” and how to translate that interest me. A lot. I think there’s something there.And if you haven’t read Dumas, you should. He’s great.
By turns highly unlikely and highly hilarious, Dumas' La Reine Margot is a wildly uneven, careening tale that knows perfectly well what it is and wants your gasps, sighs, and unbidden, unstoppable, "Oh no he didn't!"s. Or perhaps I should say "Oh no she didn't!" as the most shocking, ridiculously amazingly evil and awful moments are reserved for the truly unbelievable Satan of the piece, Catherine de Medici. She spends most of the book figuring out new ways to poison, arrest and assassinate anyone she doesn't like, or who pisses her off just by living- or even just anyone she can use for a momentary whim. She kills people with poison on gloves, in smoke from a lamp, with lip balm on their mistress' lips, with arsenic soaked treatises on sports, and oh yes, with poisoned apples. She sends people to murder others in their beds, has people tortured so she can cut off their heads and use it for auguring, and opens trap doors to send people plunging to their deaths in the dungeons. There's really no mildly irritating Catherine de Medici. She will kill you for wearing clashing socks. Oh sure, there's some sort of prophecy regarding Henry of Navarre about there, but I'm pretty sure that's not the point. Not sure if Dumas is indulging in some xenophobia there, but I wouldn't be surprised. She's referred to as "the Florentine," as much as she's referred to by name. No Frenchman could ever be so evil....! And yet. The majority of the Frenchmen in the book suck, too. (It should also be noted that Dumas took a whole lot of liberties with history, particularly with the characters and relationship of Henry and Marguerite. Catherine is as evil as legend would paint her, though she never quite lived up to that in reality. Lots of little other details, but all in the name of story.) The back of the book tells me one of the massacring, Catholics is supposed to be the hero- I don't get that. Except maybe if making out with his dead best friend's severed head is supposed to redeem him. (Oh yeah, that happened.) I think I liked about two people all through the book. Well, and the loving to hate Catherine too. There was that.In the end it became a bit of an unexpected slog to get through because I kept losing interest in the paper thin characters and the repeated terrible ideas that passed for plots, and the often motivation-less changes of loyalty. But then there would be a great scene or one of Catherine's amazing assassination attempts, and I'd be drawn back in. I just wish the interludes between these had been remotely as interesting. I'd have ripped through this in hours.
What do You think about Queen Margot, Or Marguerite De Valois (1994)?
Ten years ago I saw an old book with yellow pages covered in dust on the top shelf of the library at home. The title reminded me of few frames of nudity and violence that I had seen in a movie trailer some time ago. Out of curiosity I started reading the novel completely unaware of what I was about to experience. There isn't a year that goes by without recalling the events that took place in Paris in the night of 24th August, 1572. The story is dynamic, enchanting but also realistic, I dare say... addictive. I lived in this world eagerly observing it through the narrator's eyes and those of its characters. Alexander Dumas is a literature genius, no doubt about it, but ''La Reine Margot' is the highest accomplishment of his talent. I have read the book dozen of times and yet when I start wandering through its pages again, I laugh and I cry and I fear and I shiver every single time! This novel is a masterpiece. I don't exaggerate. The story touched me deeply. It is a must-read book and I recommend it rather than just seeing the movie.
—Kamelia
Fast-paced action, but some of the characters are pretty flat, all the women seem to be beautiful strangely, and La Mole is a saint. Rene is interesting, he's a poisoner who tries to stop somebody getting poisoned. A lot of changing sides and positions from some characters.. Some things feel a bit too hard to believe - that La Mole would get a wax figure done to make Marguerite love him? I like the open ending, leaves you with a lot of questions that I'm still pondering even though I finished it about a month ago. The description of the killing of the Huguenots is pretty grotesque - especially as it has a bit of a comical tone to it. Glad I read it, not as good as the Musketeers though, sorry Dumas!
—Helen Pattison de bellasis
I give up on this at sixty-something percent. The rating might have been different, had I read it some 15 years ago. But then again, I tried reading 'The Count of Monte Christo' and 'Vocomte de Bragelonne' back then and couldn't get through. So maybe Dumas is just not my cup of tea.If I compare literature to visual or performing arts, some novels are theatre, some are movies and others are cartoons. This book was the latter - one dimensional; based solely on direct speech, adventure, gossip and intrigue.
—Speranza
