Phantom Thoughts pt. 46

[zellephantom]

 Yikes! It's been a while... I can never seem to keep posting consistently here, and I seem to be always apologizing for the fact, but maybe this time I'll manage it. Speaking of managing, back to the managers slowly going insane!

{The time passed, slow, heavy, mysterious, stifling. Richard tried to laugh.

"I shall end by believing in the omnipotence of the ghost," he said. "Just now, don't you find something uncomfortable, disquieting, alarming in the atmosphere of this room?"}
 

The only strange, odd, and bizarre thing here is the number of synonyms being used in one sentence. Did Richard recently acquire a thesaurus and couldn't resist showing it off?

{"Of course, as you said, we can't be robbed without noticing it."}

Are you entirely sure of that? (I'd imagine Erik would probably enjoy the irony...)

{Richard tore off his coat. The two managers turned the pocket inside out. THE POCKET WAS EMPTY. And the curious thing was that the pin remained, stuck in the same place.

Richard and Moncharmin turned pale. There was no longer any doubt about the witchcraft.}

So shall we place an order for pitchforks and torches, then?

{"What do you mean, she has to be found? Has she disappeared?"

"In the middle of the performance!"

"In the middle of the performance? This is extraordinary!"

"Isn't it? And what is quite as extraordinary is that you should first learn it from me!"}

This is why you don't waste time walking backwards and looking at safety pins- important things could be happening! (Also why does this exchange seem so funny to me- particularly their initial reaction {"Christine Daae here?" echoed Richard. "No. Why?"})

{"Yes, she was carried off in the Prison Act, at the moment when she was invoking the aid of the angels; but I doubt if she was carried off by an angel."

"And I am sure that she was!"}

Way to make a dramatic entrance, Raoul! 

{"That Christine Daae was carried off by an angel, M. LE COMMISSAIRE and I can tell you his name."

"Aha, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! So you maintain that Christine Daae was carried off by an angel: an angel of the Opera, no doubt?"

"Yes, monsieur, by an angel of the Opera; and I will tell you where he lives ... when we are alone."}
 

Angel of the Opera? No, Raoul, you're thinking of the Phantom of the Opera/Sherlock Holmes crossover novel by Sam Siciliano.

{"M. le Commissaire, the angel is called Erik, he lives in the Opera and he is the Angel of Music!"

"The Angel of Music! Really! That is very curious! ... The Angel of Music!" And, turning to the managers, M. Mifroid asked, "Have you an Angel of Music on the premises, gentlemen?"}

"I don't think angels try to extort people or crash chandeliers, so no. Maybe try Notre Dame?"

{"Oh," said the viscount, "those gentlemen have heard of the Opera ghost. Well, I am in a position to state that the Opera ghost and the Angel of Music are one and the same person; and his real name is Erik."

M. Mifroid rose and looked at Raoul attentively.

"I beg your pardon, monsieur but is it your intention to make fun of the law? And, if not, what is all this about the Opera ghost?"}

Javert voice: "I am the law and the law is not mocked!" 

{Richard rose, with the remaining hairs of his mustache in his hand.

"No, M. Commissary, no, we do not know him, but we wish that we did, for this very evening he has robbed us of twenty-thousand francs!"}

Yes, we wish we knew him so we could take him out to dinner and congratulate him for pulling such an effective con on us. (Random idea: Modern!Erik as an eccentric social engineering penetration tester the managers hired whose infiltration goes too far...)

{"Monsieur," said Raoul, "I can quite understand how absurd my replies must seem to you. But I beg you to believe that I am in full possession of my faculties. The safety of the person dearest to me in the world is at stake. I should like to convince you in a few words, for time is pressing and every minute is valuable. Unfortunately, if I do not tell you the strangest story that ever was from the beginning, you will not believe me. I will tell you all I know about the Opera ghost, M. Commissary. Alas, I do not know much! ..."

"Never mind, go on, go on!" exclaimed Richard and Moncharmin, suddenly greatly interested.

 

Unfortunately for their hopes of learning some detail that could put them on the track of their hoaxer, they were soon compelled to accept the fact that M. Raoul de Chagny had completely lost his head. All that story about Perros-Guirec, death's heads and enchanted violins, could only have taken birth in the disordered brain of a youth mad with love. It was evident, also, that Mr. Commissary Mifroid shared their view; and the magistrate would certainly have cut short the incoherent narrative if circumstances had not taken it upon themselves to interrupt it.}

Little bit of an unintentional self-burn there, Leroux, calling the story an 'incoherent narrative'. But I suppose Raoul is too distraught to do it justice.

{"Monsieur, we have talked enough about the ghost. We will now talk about yourself a little, if you have no objection: you were to carry off Mlle. Christine Daae to-night?"

"Yes, M. le Commissaire."}

I would think it's maybe not the best idea to admit that you were going to run off with someone while there's an investigation going on about that person being abducted. "Yes, it's terrible that she's gone- if only I had gotten to her first! Then she'd still be gone, but with me!"
 

{"Did you know that there were three other carriages there, in addition to yours?"

"I did not pay the least attention."

"They were the carriages of Mlle. Sorelli, which could not find room in the Cour de l'Administration; of Carlotta; and of your brother, M. le Comte de Chagny..."}

So how does Sorelli have her own carriage, and what's the deal with her not being able to find room? Was it the equivalent of having terrible luck finding a parking space?

{"I beg your pardon. Was not M. le Comte opposed to your marriage with Mlle. Daae?"

"That is a matter that only concerns the family."

"You have answered my question: he was opposed to it ... and that was why you were carrying Christine Daae out of your brother's reach... Well, M. de Chagny, allow me to inform you that your brother has been smarter than you! It is he who has carried off Christine Daae!"}
 

It would be kind of funny if he did, and Erik had to counter-kidnap Christine in order to go through with his plans... And if Philippe had taken Christine, I'd imagine that would be pretty awkward- what would they even talk about, sitting in the carriage together? Or would they just sit in uncomfortable silence.

"For the record, I love your brother."

"Of course you do... However, I love him enough to ensure his future is not ruined by an opera wench."

"We weren't going to get married! He was going to take me away and return alone!"

"Tell that to L'Epoque."

"Because gossip in the papers is always so reliable, is it?"

{"Oh," cried the young man, "I shall catch them!" And he rushed out of the office.

"And bring her back to us!" cried the commisary gaily ... "Ah, that's a trick worth two of the Angel of Music's!"}

You're looking in the wrong place, Raoul. (And where had Philippe's carriage gone? I'd assume Philippe wasn't in it, given where he turns up later...) What does he mean by that statement? Is the commisary basically saying 'If he finds Christine, it'll be worth having to hear all that nonsense'?

{A tall figure blocked Raoul's way.

"Where are you going so fast, M. de Chagny?" asked a voice.

Raoul impatiently raised his eyes and recognized the astrakhan cap of an hour ago. He stopped:

"It's you!" he cried, in a feverish voice. "You, who know Erik's secrets and don't want me to speak of them. Who are you?"

"You know who I am! ... I am the Persian!"}

They're both so dramatic XD And yaaay the Persian's here and we're finally getting somewhere!

Comments

[igenlode]

Did Richard recently acquire a thesaurus and couldn't resist showing it off?

That would be Leroux... given that we already had "slow, heavy, mysterious, stifling" in the previous paragraph!
You'll observe that the construction isn't nearly as noticeable there, though; that's because it's much more natural to put descriptions like that at the end of a phrase, 'in apposition' as a repetition and enlargement of the original (the ship swept by quite oblivious to our presence, imposing, daunting, towering over our own little craft) rather than as a stuttering list in the *middle* of a phrase (the imposing, daunting, towering ship swept by). So, as so often, the oddity is at least partly due to the translation: the original reads ne trouves-tu pas qu’il y a dans l’atmosphère de cette pièce un je ne sais quoi qui inquiète, qui indispose, qui effraie?, which simply can't be rendered into English using any word order resembling the original -- which is why you end up with that incongruous list of adjectives holding up the revelation of the main part of the sentence, whereas the French culminates with a list of activities being performed by an entity that was specified right at the start (as in my example above).

I can't really blame de Mattos for that one, other than to say that his English would have sounded less peculiar if he'd taken a few more liberties with the text at this point. (Ribière, for example: "Just now, for instance, there is something uncomfortable, disquieting, even frightening about the atmosphere in this room, do you not sense it?" She has substituted an outright "there is" for Leroux's "don't you find that" and added the question back onto the end, in addition to inserting an 'even' -- "even frightening" -- which has no basis in the original list, but produces a phrase that sits much more naturally in English. So with a couple of slightly creative tweaks, she has created an equivalent to Leroux's list of mounting disquiet to echo the effect of the original while fitting within the constraints of English word-order... which is more than I managed when I tried to translate it just now!)

Richard and Moncharmin turned pale. There was no longer any doubt about the witchcraft.

It's never really explained how Erik did manage that particular trick, when the pocket was not only pinned shut but *being watched* throughout the entire period!

Little bit of an unintentional self-burn there, Leroux, calling the story an 'incoherent narrative'. But I suppose Raoul is too distraught to do it justice.

I've always thought that this was one of the more effective tropes used by Leroux; the protagonist tells the precise truth, but no-one believes him... ironically enough, just as he failed to believe Christine when she told him her totally implausible story about angels in the walls. Philippe didn't believe him either ("that girl and her ghost-stories").

So how does Sorelli have her own carriage, and what's the deal with her not being able to find room? Was it the equivalent of having terrible luck finding a parking space?

Presumably Sorelli arrives at the theatre in her own conveyance, instead of walking. (After all, there are no opera dormitories for the performers, so they all live elsewhere :-p)
The "cour de l'administration" appears to be the performers' entrance ("l'Administration' is the wing at the back of the building that holds all the offices, the workshops, the artistes' dressing-rooms and the other less glamorous areas); there's a reference to it at the start of the book, where Sorelli places a lucky horseshoe by the stage door entrance. According to Wikipedia, the entrance by the Rotunda was originally intended to provide access for the vehicles of the abonnés, the patrons who subscribed to boxes for the entire season and were allowed into the Ballet Room (along with various other privileges). So Sorelli probably shouldn't have been parking there, but the performers' car park was full and she had to use the patrons' special parking area ;-P
Carlotta's carriage was also standing outside the Rotunda, but then she was present that night in the role of a member of the audience (or at least, as the guest of someone with a box). I'm a bit puzzled that there apparently weren't any other vehicles to speak of that night, as the house was pretty full; maybe the other patrons were considerate enough not to keep their horses standing in the cold for three hours, and either took a hired conveyance or sent their coachman home with instructions to return after the performance!
(I'm pretty sure, from descriptions of people leaving the opera in London at least, that it wasn't normal for vehicles, even cars, to stand outside during the performance waiting for their owners; they are described as driving up to the door in turn while the intended passengers are summoned out of the crowd by the commissionaire. But then London theatres have no parking space at all, and apparently the Opera Garnier, thanks to Hausmann's demolition projects, did.)

(And where had Philippe's carriage gone? I'd assume Philippe wasn't in it, given where he turns up later...)

Leroux gives us a summary of Philippe's activities in "The End of the Ghost's Love Story"; having discovered Raoul's planned itinerary for the elopement, including the route he meant to take out of Paris, he had raced off in what he assumed to be pursuit. But when he realised that there was no sign of the young couple having passed ahead of him on the Brussels road, he remembered Raoul's 'ravings' on the subject of an insane kidnapper living under the stage at the Opera, drove back at top speed, and discovered that his brother had last been seen trying to gain access to the basement. Convinced that Raoul really had lost his mind, Philippe plunged down after him -- presumably in order to convince him he was being an idiot and drag him back to the surface, rather than in order to rescue him from the supposed madman :-(

What does he mean by that statement? Is the commisary basically saying 'If he finds Christine, it'll be worth having to hear all that nonsense'?

Mifroid is just boasting about how clever he is: according to Raoul's story, this Angel of Music supposedly has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve, but he, Mifroid, also knows a trick or two as good as any of those.