Bienvenue à Marseille | 2025 The Count of Monte Christo, read-a-long

[AgualusasLover]

Following the success of the continuing Dickensalongs, Fallen Women and various other classics, please join The Count of Monte Christo read-a-long, kicking off on 1 January 2025.

The ultimate tale of revenge, with swashbuckling, chicanery and bare faced lies - The Count of Monte Christo has it all.

Editions: most important point is an unabridged version, coming in at just over 1,200 pages. This thread discusses the various translations – the Penguin Classics, trans by Robin Buss is very popular and the one I am reading but what you have already is likely fine and the nuances of translation are always fun to discuss.

What’s the best translation of The Count of Monte Cristo? • We Love Translations

I’ve been thinking about the best way to read-a-long. There have been red-alongs by the day, in chunks and every which way.

I think we have two options:

There are 118 chapter and my proposal is we do one a day, starting on 1 January, 2025. (W&P and all the Fallen Women books worked well this way)

We could also convene weekly e.g. no spoilers until Sunday and read it as it was released, in 18 parts c.65 pages per week. (I remember The Woman in White worked well this way and so do the Dickensalongs)

For now, I have assumed a chapter a day as it has served us well so far, if the majority strongly object, I have put placeholders in my copy breaking it down and can update in readiness for January.

Schmoop very handily has chapter by chapter breakdowns. Here is the Intro https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/count-of-monte-cristo/

MN meet up in Marseille 2025!

Yes thanks for the video, clearly there were also political prisoners, so the note in my version is a bit misleading.

Great to visualise it : )

I have the same note in mine!

I think it had many prisoners over the years, according to Wikipedia over 3000 Huguenots were imprisoned there, also the leader of the Paris Commune.

I think that knowing you were in sight of your home city but that it was out of reach would be a particularly cruel part of the punishment.

I love those links between languages. I'm reading on my iPad, so it's very easy to consult the online dictionary by tapping the word. My old dictionary is very useful for the old fashioned words though, which just don't feature in modern dictionaries.

I have also noticed words like corridor used in the French, I would have expected couloir.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh escabeau is similar to escalier and escalader - maybe it’s a little step stool? (I love languages!)

I had a good look at Chateau d’If on Google Maps this morning… very forbidding looking castle walls with an old courtyard and well inside.. clearly a big tourist attraction - and not that far from Marseille, about a mile maybe? Swimmable, like Alcatraz?
Then I had a little wander around Google and saw that La Plage de Catalans is nearby (as Dantès notes when he thinks he sees Mercédès’ light) - but now backed up by high rise buildings and hotels and a very busy « city beach! » How things change!

Now I appreciate the significance of the photo in AgualusaLover’s original post!

It’s not looking good for Dantes - a real reversal of fortune. Villefort is clearly desperate to protect his reputation. I don’t know anything about the justice system under this regime but surely Dantes is entitled to some sort of trial and can’t be imprisoned on the decision of one man (and no evidence). Or perhaps he can…

Bloody hell, things escalated quickly in this chapter. Poor Dantes. I have no idea about the French legal system at this time, so I assume this is totally normal (apart from the whole letter burning thing)?

9 The Evening of the Betrayal
• That same evening, Villefort makes his way back to the Saint-Méran house. He lets everyone know that he must take his leave, and asks for a moment in private with the Marquis.
• He tells Mademoiselle de Saint-Méran that he must leave for a few days.
• After moving to the Marquis' private study, Villefort tells his future father-in-law that he should sell any government stock he has, and requests that he procure a letter that will allow him an audience to the King. He makes it clear that he – and he alone – should be seen as the bearer of the news he has. If all goes to plan, he tells to Marquis, my career will be secure.
• With that, Villefort takes his leave and heads outside to catch his ride to Paris. This time he's intercepted by Mercédès, who demands to know where Edmond's been taken.
• Though he feels bad for her, all he can manage to say to Mercédès is "no comment." He makes one last stop at M. Saint-Méran's – it's not clear, but it seems that he and his wife maintain two residences – where he says his goodbyes to the Marquise and his fiancée.
• Meanwhile, Mercédès returns to her home, followed by Fernand, who spends the evening watching her while she sleeps. (Creepy, no?)
• M. Morrel won't stop trying to help Edmond. He does his best to find information about his friend, but soon he realizes that there's not much he can do.
• Caderousse gets wasted.
• Danglars sleeps like a baby.
• Villefort, after obtaining the necessary letter, kisses everyone goodbye and heads off.
• Old Dantès is already dying with grief.
• And, well, Edmond's still in prison.

Having not posted all week, dropping in to say what a twat Villefort is - all that stuff about wanting to be a nice guy and do the right thing gets dropped as soon as there’s a risk to him personally, and he’s happy to ruin another man’s life to protect himself. Danglars is obviously an unmitigated villain but Villefort is a slimy git who seems likely to sail through life getting what he wants and being unjustly respected for it!

There were so many opportunities for Dantès to be cleared of wrongdoing in this chapter and the last one, and each one was missed - excruciating, even though we know this has to happen for the plot (otherwise it would be a very short book! 😄)

I absolutely agree, Villefort is the ultimate villain.

Villefort really is showing his self-interest here although intrigued how he plans to capitalise on his position and why it’s necessary to liquidate government stock. Pleased to see that his conscience is troubling him - long may it continue to do so.

Fernand is really weird - getting real stalkerish vibes from him.

I’m a little confused. Can I check a few things with you here please?

Did Villefort destroy the letter because it was addressed to his own father? Have I got that right? He destroyed it to save his father, but mostly his own reputation by association?

So now, Villefort is off to see the King - are we to assume he’s wanting to be the hero of the hour by warning of a Bonapartist plot? It was a SERIOUS letter in that case, and Dantes was naive to carry it, but ultimately was used.

A few guilty consciences in this chapter 🥺

The liquidation of Government stock would be so that Villefort’s future father-in-law does not lose all his money IF the Bonapartists succeed in overthrowing the Government. At least, I can’t see any other reason. He’s marrying into a very wealthy Aristocratic family and wants to make sure that wealth eventually gets to him.

Are we seeing the first signs of guilt from Villefort? His legs give way and he slumps into a chair after his encounter with Mercedes. I'm intrigued to know if and how guilt might be developed as a theme.

I liked the line where it said that Villefort felt judged by Mercédès. There is lovely descriptive writing about guilt and its effects on a person. I hope Villefort experiences it all!

I'm finding the historical details very interesting. I'd say Villefort would put away his own father too if it meant furthering his own interests and saving himself!

I think that when he destroyed the letter (yes it was addressed to his own father) he was prepared to hand Edmond over to his boss, who would almost certainly agree that he was 'just obeying orders' and release him - with the benefit that no one will know about his naughty dad.
He then comes up with a plan (we don't yet know what) that will give him a massive leg up in his career, but which involves sacrificing Edmond.

He is beginning to feel misgivings but is going to go ahead anyway.

Caderousse is completely hopeless, his little scene is actually quite funny.

Thank you, I’m glad to see I haven’t gone completely astray.

For anyone reading, sorry if my thoughts above seem spoiler-ish. I was a bit concerned I’d missed something big - my assumption of why Villefort is rushing off to Paris could be completely wrong. I haven’t read the book before, I’m just scraping the barrels of my brain for some memories of studying the French Revolution period 30+ years ago 😂 🫣

You could understand Villefort's initial panic, but the fact that he has clearly decided to condemn an innocent man, not to save himself, but to further his career is appalling. I hope he hasn't managed to fully smother that ember of his conscience, and what what he had done haunts him.

This is all very exciting, I could tell the dreadful Villefort was not to be trusted.

I was wondering about the original serialisation and where the divisions between the 18 sections were and found this List of original publication dates. You can see there were one or two of the chapters published every day which is why there are so many cliff hangers. And thefinal chapter came out two weeks after the penulitimate chapter, can you imagine the wait!

10 The Little Cabinet in the Tuileries
• Over in Paris, the King and his advisors are chilling at the Palais des Tuileries.
• King Louis XVIII is doing his best to ignore one of his ministers and read some Horace; despite being the king, he's not really into politics.
• The Duke of Blacas is attempting to warn the king that there's some trouble brewing in southern France – that's in the direction of Marseille; Bonaparte, or at least his followers, may be getting up to no good. In fact, he tells the king, there's a visitor from the South carrying with him some very bad news.
• After a brief argument between Blacas and the Minister of Police, the king finally allows Villefort – whose name Louis XVIII actually remembers – to enter the room.
• Villefort informs the king and his ministers that he has it on good authority that Napoleon has left Elba – and may already be in France.
• When the king asks him where he got his information, he says it came from "an interrogation," and that the man he interrogated has been put into prison.
• The king does not seem particularly fazed by Villefort's information – but then the Minister of Police enters the room, looking shaken

I like the fact that Louis the 18th is a character in the book! I hadn't known that he had been exiled to Hartwell.

It's surprisingly gripping bearing in mind that a) there's a lot of talking and b) we pretty much know what's going to happen next!

I really enjoyed today’s chapter and it was such a cliff hanger I did read a little bit of the next one! It’s so good!

@JaninaDuszejko thank you for this. Really useful context.