NCantonLibrary Chat discussion

Wow! This discussion is next week already! Hope everyone is as excited to discuss this as I am!

Ooo! As I read, I'm going to post the music that's being discussed! In Chapter 2, it's mentioned that Christine sings something from Gounod's Romeo and Juliet. It would guess it was this aria:

https://youtu.be/PRDtTBiXVu8

As I'm reading more of this, and REALLY enjoying it, I worry that folks who don't have footnotes or my familiarity with opera might feel a little lost at times. If this is the case, please harass me! Leave questions here, or hit me up privately in a message here or email.
-Shelia

North Canton wrote: "Wow! This discussion is next week already! Hope everyone is as excited to discuss this as I am!"

Woo-hoo! Yeah! Just finished. Loved it. So much to discuss!

C.T. wrote: "North Canton wrote: "Wow! This discussion is next week already! Hope everyone is as excited to discuss this as I am!"

Woo-hoo! Yeah! Just finished. Loved it. So much to discuss!"
I'm finding that I wish we were discussing this the month AFTER instead of before Doctor Faustus, though. Oh well, we can talk about it some more next month as well!

Also, rather than making a million posts here, I'm making a YouTube playlist with the music mentioned in the book!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

One of the Youtubers I follow, Lindsay Ellis (who also does video essays for PBS) did a few videos talking about adaptations of the Phantom of the Opera. In talking adaptations, though, she talks about the original novel too, so I thought I'd share them.

Warning for strong language and lots of sarcasm

About The Persian in adaptations, background about the character, and a brief history: https://youtu.be/XrhrXTDeue0

About the character of The Phantom in adaptations: https://youtu.be/6srPCZhecOY

Thanks for the links (and the warnings!).

One more link today: https://artsandculture.google.com/par...

It's a virtual tour of the Palais Garnier!

I just finished tonight and have to say... SO CREEPY. I need to watch the musical, because I actually now understand the plot.

Thanks for all the extra resources!! :)

Courtney wrote: "I just finished tonight and have to say... SO CREEPY. I need to watch the musical, because I actually now understand the plot.

Thanks for all the extra resources!! :)"
I've loved sharing all the extras. This book has been a ton of fun!

Hey folks. Here are some questions provided by Penguin we might discuss tonight.

1. Some modern critics feel the characters in The Phantom of the Opera are static and shallow, that Christine is too innocent, Raoul too noble, and Erik’s obsession with Christine never fully explained. Do you think Leroux purposely did this, and if so, why?

2. The Phantom of the Opera was published as the romantic movement was slowly turning into the gothic movement. How would you classify it?

3. Leroux wrote The Phantom of the Opera in a time when there was widespread French interest in Freudian psychoanalysis and particularly the libidinal/infantile/mother-seeking unconscious. How does Leroux work this into his novel? Are there characters that fit the infant or mother role?

4. Some critics see the Phantom as simply the unconscious, the Freudian superego. Do you believe this is what Leroux was truly writing about, or did he give his monster more depth?

5. Some see Erik as not shifting his class status, the theme of many gothic novels, but instead shifting his race. What scenes in the text help, or hinder, this assessment? Why would Leroux write of something so controversial?

6. One of Leroux’s major themes in this novel is the changing of one’s class. Consider Christine, the daughter of a fairground fiddle player, now besting the most talented opera singer in Paris and winning the heart of a viscount. What is Leroux saying here? Is it meant to simply be a happy ending?