Conversations with Eternity: The Forgotten Masterpiece of Victor Hugo

No Spoilers? Well, caveat emptor. It's NOT an old book written by Victor Hugo. Not very pleased at very least is what we'll say and leave it at that.

I had heard of this book for sometime before actually reading it and when I finally ordered it and began my reading; I was off on the most amazing adventure of metaphysical ideas I've ever encountered. As a student of Spiritualism as well as the Alan Kardec inspired spiritualist philosophy known as Spiritism from a historical and sociological perspective, this book brings to life the intensity of those 19th century psychonauts who in living with human mortality in a much more immediate way than we do now, documents their explorations of one of the fundamental questions of existence- do we survive death.And the answers to those pointed questions that were revealed to the Hugo circle during his period of exile from France are simply breathtaking. First is their sheer poetic verbal majesty, secondly in the intimations of a universal mind that is both the embodiment of that "love which steers the stars" of Dante's "Divine Comedy" to the impersonal karmic justice that minimizes the inflated human ego in the scheme of things.I cannot recomend this book highly enough, it will remain with you for thought & contemplation long after you've finished the final page.

I am telling you, what a trip! Well if you can believe it, the table did rock! Victor Hugo (1802-1885) is in excile on a lonely island and to pass time, he and his retinue conduct seances. Animals, of course, are the incarnations of criminals. (How good to know, that Stalin is now a dung beatle.) The Dove of the Ark had been guided by God to the landing place for Noahs gigantic boat. Not only animals, but also plants and stones knew what crime they had committed. Why was such knowledge not granted to man? Animals are prisons of the soul. The animal sees man and glimpses the angels. Forgiveness is Noah's Ark. Well, I think this is worth reading, even though it comes down from another century. Be curious! Gerborg

I thought this was an extremely well-written introduction to the world of spiritism as it was practiced in Victor Hugo's time. This is truly the Victor Hugo you never knew. It also provides a rational explanation of how spiritism may work! I recommend this book highly.

Presented here is a whole `nother side to the incredible mind that wrote "Les Misérables." Recorded during his three-year exile on the Isle of Jersey using the séance method of table-tapping, this "channeled" conversation reveals a particularly unusual spiritual experience in the renowned 19th-century French writer's life. Covering everything from Hugo's beloved daughter, who had died, to the subject of Napoleon and a brush with Galileo, lively bantering with Sir Walter Scott, "Death," the planet Mercury, and many other subjects, the book makes you feel like an ambitious yet misguided archeologist who accidentally unearths the ancient text that provides a spiritual Missing Link. Read it, love it, share it, talk about it; most of all, have fun with it. This is a total adventure, and I would give my eyeteeth to have been there! - TE

Few people are aware that while in exile on the island of Jersey, the great French writer Victor Hugo channeled thousands of messages from the dead. "This emotional experience lasted for over two years," writes Martin Ebon in the introduction, "and the record of its exalted nights and days is certainly a unique document, as well as a glimpse into the subconscious of an egocentric, frustrated genius, seeking to crash through the barriers of human communications... And--who knows--it may even be that Hugo succeeded." This book translates a good deal of Hugo's channeling into English for the first time. Stitching it all together-and providing the much needed history and perspective--is John Chambers' brilliant running commentary. Quite a surprise, quite a delight.