One of the finest classics in French literature, the hunchback of Nortedame is an unusual lovestory which figures the ugliest creation of god -QUASIMODO in love with the most beautiful gypsy girl LA ESMERALDA..Pardon me for calling it a love story because it is more of a historic novel.
VICTOR HUGO is one of those very rare literary fugures who was at the same time a great poet and a great novelist.He was the supreme lord of words. In sheer abundunce of language, Shakespear alone can be considered as his superior. He could perform any miracle with words. He can conjure up the strangest visions of fancy; he can evoke glamour and the mystery of the past; he can pour out the tenderness of passion; he can fill his lines with fire; he can utter the secret cravings of the human spirit and give voice to the solemnity of fate.
I think it is not QUASIMODO or LA ESMERLDA or the preist Claud frollo who is the most important character in the novel. It is the CATHEDREL of Nortredame! The original name of the novel itself was Nortredame de paris.The word ’hunchback’ appearing in the English translation leads many to beleive that Quasimodo is the central character and it is his story.I would like to take you to the conceptualisation of this great work to realise why the cathedral is the central point of the story.
Hugo started working work on this novel in 1829. he had a contract to complete it the same year.He confined himself to his room but for his nocturnal vists to the cathedral. He was fascinated by this imposing srtucture. He spent hours studying its staircases, hidden chambers sculptures and inscriptions. You will find the minutest details of the cathedral in the novel.Every inch of it every single detail is described with unfailing precision and a passion for architecture.
The hunchback::Quasimodo is the the bellringer at Nortrdame. He was picked up by the archdeacon, CLAUD FROLLO as an abandoned child.He thought he had committed a crime. ! The crime of being born as an ugly creature somthing nearer to beast than human, He could never forgive himself for this crime.But this did not stop him from loving the most beautiful La esmerlda. Qusimodo and Laesmrlda were two extremes. The bellringer could never consummate his love during his lifetime. Quasimodo had gone to her grave after her execution and he meets his end there.Years after when somebody finds two skeletons entwined together, and when they tried to seperate one from the other, they crumbled to dust!
There are many aspects of the book which remain engraved in your mind long after you complete it.The predicament of the archdeacon which oscillates between his loylaty to the church and his lust towards La esmerlda., the innocense of the gypsy girl, the waywardness of jehan the brother of the Archdeacon, Quasimodo’s extreme misery of being born as an ugly creature ...the society and culture of fouteenth century Paris..and above all the towering cathedral of Nortredame which is the central stage of the entire story.
There were many film adaptations of the story starting from the silent movie in 1923. The 1956 version starring Anthonny QUINN as QUASIMODO was much acclaimed. That was one of the finest roles QUINN enacted.Then there was a 1982 version starring Anthony Hopkinns and Derk Jacobi.The animated version of 1996 is a good way of introducing children to this great classic.
But none of the films could do justice to the novel.
It is said that poetry is that ’which is lost in translation’.I would say a good novel is that which is lost in ’filming’