Oct 24 2008
Les Miserables Uniting the World?
Many thanks to Damaris for posting this link. I had mentioned in class that Les Miserables the novel has been translated into many languages and is one of the best selling books in history. We also listened to some of the music from the Schonberg and Boublil opera and discussed how the musical version has been translated into many languages as well. The clip below is from the 10th anniversary celebration—so from 1990 I guess? You will hear “Do You Hear the People Sing” sung in several languages. It is beautiful to listen to all these different words, yet the message of the song is not “lost in translation.”
However, upon further inspection you will notice that all of the countries represented—all of the countries for whom Les Miserables carries a special meaning—are democracies. So really does this story unite the world or just people who share an ideology?
