#NOTMYEMPEROR : Ridley Scott- “Napoleon”

Most of us have very specific, unshakeable conceptions about which 20th-century leaders to hate and which ones to praise. We’ve decided which ones are the bad guys, and which ones are the good guys who had to stop the bad guys, even if general awareness of perspective alerts us that we might be missing pieces …

Svengali in the Altogether : George Du Maurier – “Trilby”

I'm quite romantic, but rarely about romance. Romance brings out my cynicism; whenever I stumble across love, I feel like I'm stepping on the pretty, colorful tail of a long animal that ends in deadly claws and jaws. However, I still get tricked into romanticism by friendship. In my eyes, the great romantic novel is …

The Time of the Cathedrals : Victor Hugo, “Notre-Dame de Paris”

Esmeralda shouldn't be so spectacularly attractive. After all, Victor Hugo tells us how pretty she is again and again, which is enough to make us suspicious. It's just like hearing a car dealer go on about some beaut he seems desperate to get rid of, and we know that (Disney adaptations be-damned) Victor Hugo definitely …