these far and starlit shores

Heh! And I find Hugo much, much more readable and nuanced than Dickens, but I have had a bit of an allergic reaction to Dickens and cordially loathe him, so. I was entirely unprepared for Hugo's willingness not just to present both thesis and antithesis, but to specifically refuse to synthesize; to say that the lack of synthesis is the point, that humanity is self-contradicting at the heart and that we can only muddle forward. Which, when combined with his enthusiasm for absolutes, is fascinating and has many contradictory layers, and I cannot say how much I respect that, what it boils down to, is that at the end of the day what really matters is that we are all -- all-- human, and deserve respect.