Partly due to the movie in theaters at the moment of this writing, and partly because I have always wanted to, I ask for a copy of Les Miserables in audiobook form this past Christmas. It was an amazing unabridged version of 50 hours narrated by Frederick Davidson (Pseudonym). Sadly, after finishing it I went looking for the narrator to see if there was anyway I could contact him and let him know how he made this novel come alive with his voice, I found out he had passed away in 2005. If you have never read Les Miserables, I highly recommended. If the width of the book, at 1,000 plus pages, intimidates you, you are not alone. The book form of the novel is often referred to as "the brick". However, it will be one of the most transcendental books you will read in your entire life. Victor Hugo's tale of grace in the face of misery and love I the face of death will move you. I chose an audiobook form so I could listen to it in my daily commute, the best commute ever in the last couple of weeks.
But wait, this blog is about me learning calculus. Where does les Miserables fit in? Well, as I listened to the book I started to notice that Victor Hugo used many allusions to math, the scientific method, chemical properties to describe characters and situations. I specifically remember his calculated descriptions of different cannons and the parabolas the trajectory of their balls describes in order to let you know which was was better for urban warfare. He would also project his beliefs on knowledge and science as the "light" that dispels the shadows of superstition. Crudely put as per my understanding, the republic, science, mathematics, God as a duty towards fellow humans equaled light while monarchy, superstition, and religion as an excuse to marginalized fellow humans equaled shadow.
Upon further research, I found out Victor Hugo was an excellent student in literature and mathematics. I can nos understand the spirit of his thoughts. He was, in my opinion, a voice influenced by the age of enlightenment. A proponent of education as the savior of humanity. In fact the right for a free, accessible education for all children is repeated throughout the book as a novel and revolutionary idea. It was sobering to imagine a times in which that was not the case. In which ignorance was not a product of a system in need of repair like today, but it came with the wealth of your family. If you had no money, you got no formal education.
Just to think that the reason I am trying to learn calculus is because I felt I could have done better with the education the state provided to me free of charge from primary to high school, and at a very low cost in the public university of Puerto Rico. If I had lived in Victor Hugo's france, calculus could have been unattainable for me in my struggle to go on in life.
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