On Hugo, and how he’s not just for girls

Yes, another Corey Vilhauer Book of the Month Club selection has been posted at The Millions (A Blog About Books) in which I expound upon Victor Hugo and how much I actually liked The Hunchback of Notre Dame, even though I went into it expecting sentimental romantic blather.

Okay, everyone. Listen up – especially you men out there. There’s a common feeling among casual readers that certain authors are untouchable by the male mind – books that are filled with flowery descriptions and love and all that crap. Books by Woolf, or by either of the Brontes. Or Austen. Or Hugo.

Hugo. Victor Hugo, the man who, without knowing, created a Broadway play, a handful of movies, one of which starred Liam Neeson, and penned one of the best character names – Jean Valjean, a name that, to me, ranks up there with Oakland quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo as a classic in pronunciation. Victor Hugo, the man who posed for this awesome picture, a portrait that somehow symbolizes all that being a male author in the 1800s (and, on into the 1900s, of course) was all about – namely, drinking and hangovers.

For the rest, you’ll have to head to C. Max McGee’s lair — The Millions.

This was lovingly handwritten on December 4th, 2006