I started reading The Count of Monte Cristo after seing that is is widely recommended by the redditors. Than in chapter 22 I saw the following sentence :
"Your fellow-countryman, Bonaparte, became emperor.” We had forgotten to say that Jacopo was a Corsican." Is this something significant?? Is it because the novel was serialised and Dumas dicided to make Jacopo a Corsican after the characters introduction?
by blackandwhiteddit
2 Comments
Perhaps. One of the beautiful things about literature of yore is when there is a slight break of the fourth wall, as if you, the reader, are being told a story. I noticed it most recently in *Jane Eyre*, where a few times Charlotte Brönte refers to us as “reader”.
Also, why should character-building all be done in one fell swoop at the introduction of *any* character? Are you bothered by this in every book you read, when you learn more about a character, like, later?
Napoleon was Corse, Jacopo is Corse, therefore they are fellow countrymen, and it’s probably right around the time Corse came under French rule.
What am I missing that makes this not a fairly straightforward sentence?