Description
Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo has been described as one of literature’s greatest novels. The first two volumes were published in French in March 1862 and translated into English later the same year. Since then it has been translated by numerous others and has been adapted for film, television, radio, animation and the stage.
This epic novel tells the story of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who is attempting to escape from his past. Newly released from the galley-ships, Jean Valjean steals the silverware from the bishop who has taken him in for the night. When he is captured, the bishop urges him to use the silver to become an honest citizen. Valjean becomes a wealthy man, owner of a factory and mayor of his town but his past is only a footstep away in the form of Javert, Inspector of Police, who recognises Valjean from his time as a guard.
A factory-worker, who has been dismissed from Valjean’s employment, is sentenced to six months imprisonment but ends up dying in the town’s hospital and Valjean feels responsible for the downward spiral of her life, so rescues her child, Cosette, from the corrupt inn-keepers with whom her mother had left her.
The rest of the novel tells the stories of Valjean, Cosette and other characters which intertwine with each other. Hugo also included a number of “digressions” on subjects including cloistered religious orders, the use of slang language and, most significantly, the battle of Waterloo.
The book was highly anticipated in 1862, having been advertised from as early as 1860. Hugo did not allow the publishers to summarise the story in advance, surely because any summary could not do a novel of this length any justice.
Description
Esmeralda is a breathtaking beauty and attracts the attention of men all around her, including an actor, a captain, and an archdeacon, to whom she is of course forbidden. But because of a kindness she paid to him, there is one whose love for her is pure: the archdeacon’s bellringer. The actions of the archdeacon, who cannot control his lust for the young woman, ultimately draws all four men into her orbit, and his, with tragic consequences.
Hugo’s tragic novel is an ode to gothic architecture in general and that of Notre-Dame de Paris in particular. Hugo was upset both at the neglect of buildings like Notre-Dame, and the modernization of those that weren’t being neglected. By centering on the building, he was able to bring all classes into his story: from kings and nobles to bellringers and sewer rats. The first American translation changed the title to “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” shifting attention to the bellringer, but Hugo’s focus was always on Notre-Dame and the beautiful gothic architecture of Paris.