Faldoni, parts 2904 - 2907

  2904. The experience of seeing the goodness of the priest transforms Valjean’s character, and he vows to stop being a thief, and become a virtuous man. 

 2905. Victor Hugo was living in London when he finished writing “Les Miserables.” He was in London because he had been driven out of France by the faction that wanted to make Napoleon the third the new emperor. So, France’s greatest writer was driven out of France. Italy’s greatest writer Dante, was driven out of Florence never to return to his home town. And Dostoevsky was sent away to Siberia because he was suspect of being politically similar to Hugo.

 2906. Which shows that the great writers can be known by the company they refused to keep.

2907. About the time Hugo was having Valjean steal the silver dinner service from the Bishop, Dostoevsky was creating a character by the name of Fedka. Fedka is a very unimportant character in the novel “The Devils,” but he is of interest to our story because he is another one of those persons involved in stealing things from the church, and so, even though he is a fictional character, he has a bearing on our story of Faldoni, we will have a peek at this person and see how Dostoevsky describes him.