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Tag Archives: l’homme qui rit

The “French Connection” Linking Victor Hugo, Verdi, Batman, and the Film “Se7en” Posted by on Aug 9, 2011

Today, Opera composer Giuseppe Verdi is widely celebrated as one of the major figures of what Italians proudly call “il Risorgimento“, the movement which, exactly 150 years ago, gave birth to l’unification de l’Italie (the Italian unification.) Many people, however, still ignore, even in today’s Italy, that their beloved maestro italiano was in fact born a Frenchman! The reason being that, when Verdi was born…

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Victor Hugo’s Joker: “L’Homme qui rit” Posted by on Aug 4, 2011

Only a select few of people, even amongst the most passionate die-hard superhero comics fans and “connaisseurs“, seem to be aware that Batman‘s tragicomic arch-nemesis, the Joker, finds his original inspiration in a literary work—a work by the same author of les Misérables, Victor Hugo, of all people!  Dans un roman (in a novel) published in 1869…

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