Les Misérables

Les Misérables
Portrait of "Cosette" by Emile Bayard, from the original edition of Les Misérables (1862)
Author	Victor Hugo
Country	France
Language	French
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Ce.
Publication date	1862
Media type	Print

Les Misérables (pronounced: /le miːzeʁabl(ə); translated variously from French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims) (1862) is a novel by French author Victor Hugo, and among the best-known novels of the 19th century. It follows the lives and interactions of several French characters over a twenty year period in the early 19th century that starts in the year of Napoleon's final defeat. Principally focusing on the struggles of the main character,ex-convict Jean Valjean, who seeks to redeem himself from his past mistakes. The novel also examines the impact of Valjean's actions for the sake of social commentary. It examines the nature of good, evil, and the law, in a sweeping story that expounds upon the history of France, architecture of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, law, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables is known to many through its numerous stage and screen adaptations, of which the most famous is the stage musical of the same name, sometimes abbreviated "Les Mis" or "Les Miz" (pronounced /leɪ ˈmɪz/).

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 2.1 Major 2.2 Minor 3 Critical reception 4 English translations 5 Adaptations 5.1 Film adaptations 5.2 Musical adaptation 6 References 7 External links

Plot

Les Misérables contains a multitude of plots, but the thread that binds them together is the story of the ex-convict, Jean Valjean, who becomes a force for good in the world, but cannot escape his past. The novel is divided into five parts, each part divided into books, and subdivided into chapters. Each chapter is relatively short, (usually no longer than a few pages). Nevertheless, the book in its ensemble is quite lengthy by usual standards, well exceeding twelve hundred pages in unabridged editions. Within the borders of the novel's story, Hugo fills many pages with his thoughts on religion, politics, and society, including his three lengthy digressions, one being a discussion on enclosed religious orders, another being on argot, and most famously, his epic retelling of the Battle of Waterloo.

The story starts in 1815, in Toulon.The peasant Jean Valjean has just been released from imprisonment in the bagne of Toulon after nineteen years: five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family, and fourteen more for numerous attempts to escape. However, he is required to carry a yellow passport that marks him as a convict, regardless of already paying his debt to society by serving his time in jail. Rejected by innkeepers, who do not want to take in a convict, Valjean sleeps on the street. However, the benevolent Bishop Myriel, the bishop of Digne, takes him in and gives him shelter. In the middle of the night, he steals the bishop’s silverware and runs. He is caught, but the bishop rescues him by claiming that the silverware was a gift and at that point gives him his two silver candlesticks as well. The bishop then tells him of the promise, (one Jean has no recollection of making), to make an honest man of himself. As Valjean broods over these words, he accidentally steals a child's money when the boy's coin rolls under his shoe; he chases the child away (Petit Gervais). Soon after, he finds the coin under his shoe, realizes his mistake, and decides to follow the bishop's advice. He searches the city for the child whose money he accidentally stole. At the same time, his theft is reported to the authorities, who now look for him as a repeat offender. If Valjean is caught, he will be forced to spend the rest of his life in prison, so he hides from the police.

Six years later, Valjean, having assumed the nom de guerre (translation: name of war) of Monsieur Madeleine to avoid capture, has become a wealthy factory owner and is appointed mayor of his adopted town of Montreuil-sur-mer. Sometime later, Valjean meets the dying Fantine, who has been fired from her job at his factory and has resorted to prostitution to pay for her daughter's board and expenses. Her young daughter, Cosette, lives with a corrupt innkeeper and his selfish, cruel wife.Fantine is unaware of the constant abuse to her daughter and continues to try to pay the Thénardiers. Separated from Cosette, Fantine is slowly dying from an unnamed disease, (probably tuberculosis). Valjean, seeing in Fantine similarities to his former life of hardship and pain, promises her that he will take care of Cosette, despite the imminent threat of arrest. The town's police inspector, Javert, had already suspected the identity of Madeleine and Valjean as the same person, whom he had seen in jail as a guard in Toulon. This suspicion is momentarily dispelled when another man is mistakenly accused of being Valjean after being arrested and having noticeable similitude to the real Valjean. To save the man, Valjean reveals himself in the court trial and is sent to jail. During his incarceration, Valjean fakes his death and escapes. He pays off the innkeeper, Thénardier, to obtain Cosette, and flees with her to Paris. Once in Paris, they find shelter in a convent.

Ten years later, as Valjean and Cosette are leaving the convent, students, led by Enjolras, are preparing an anti-Orléanist revolution on the eve of the Paris uprising on June 5–6, 1832, following the death of General Lamarque, the only French leader who had sympathy towards the working class. They are also joined by the poor, including the young street urchin Gavroche. One of the students, Marius Pontmercy, who has become alienated from his family because of his liberal views, falls in love with Cosette, who has grown to be very beautiful. The Thénardiers, who have also moved to Paris, lead a gang of thieves to raid Valjean’s house while Marius is visiting. However, Thénardier’s daughter, Éponine, who is also in love with Marius, convinces the thieves to leave. Valjean, believing that the authorities have found him again, plans to move to London.

The following day, the students revolt and erect barricades in the narrow streets of Paris. Marius, believing that Cosette has gone to London with her father and that he will never see her again, goes to fight with his friends. Valjean, learning that Cosette's lover is fighting, joins them, not certain if he wants to protect Marius, or kill him. Éponine also joins and ends up taking a bullet for Marius and dying happily in his arms. During the ensuing battle, Valjean saves Javert from being killed by the students by taking him out of sight, shoots into the air, and lets him go. Valjean carries off the injured Marius, but all others, including Enjolras and Gavroche, are killed. Valjean escapes through the sewers, carrying Marius's body on his shoulders. At the exit, he runs into Javert, whom he persuades to give him time to return Marius to his family. Javert grants this request and another, and then realizes that he is caught between his belief in the law and the mercy Valjean has shown him, as he can no longer give Valjean up to the authorities. Unable to cope with this dilemma, Javert throws himself into the Seine. Marius and Cosette are soon married. Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an ex-convict. Marius is horrified by the news. Convinced that Valjean is of poor moral character, he steers Cosette away from him. Valjean loses the will to live and takes to his bed. Marius learns of Valjean's good deeds too late and rushes to Valjean's house, where he lies dying. Valjean reveals his past to the pair and in his final moments, he finally realizes happiness with his adopted daughter and son-in-law by his side. He expresses his love to them, and then dies.

Characters

Major

• Jean Valjean (a.k.a. Monsieur Madeleine, a.k.a. Ultime Fauchelevent, a.k.a. Monsieur Leblanc, a.k.a. Urbain Fabre) — Convicted for stealing a loaf of bread, he is paroled from prison nineteen years later. Rejected as former convict, Bishop Myriel turns his life around. He assumes a new identity to pursue an honest life, becomes a factory owner and a mayor. He adopts and raises Fantine's daughter, Cosette, and dies at an old age.
• Javert (a.k.a. Monsieur DeMasi, a.k.a. Les Gremlin, a.k.a. Hano'n) — An obsessive police inspector who continuously hunts, tracks down, and loses Valjean. He goes undercover behind the barricade, but is discovered and unmasked. Valjean has the chance to kill Javert, but lets him go. Later Javert allows Valjean to escape. For the first time, Javert is in a situation in which to act lawfully is immoral. His inner conflict leads him to committing suicide by jumping into the River Seine.
• Bishop Myriel, the bishop of Digne — A kindly old priest who is promoted to bishop by a chance encounter with Napoleon. He convinces Valjean to change his ways, after Valjean steals some silver from him.
• Fantine — A Parisian grisette abandoned by her lover Félix Tholomyès, Fantine leaves her daughter Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, innkeepers in a village called Montfermeil. She finds work at Monsieur Madeleine's factory, but is fired by a woman supervisor because she is an unwed mother. To meet repeated demands for money from the Thénardiers, she sells her hair, then her front teeth, and finally turns to prostitution. Valjean learns of her plight when Javert arrests her for attacking a man who tried to force her to bed him. She dies of tuberculosis before Valjean is able to reunite her with Cosette.
• Cosette — The daughter of Fantine, she is raised by Valjean after her mother dies. For the first few years she is raised, she is used as a worker and beaten by the Thénardiers. She falls in love with Marius Pontmercy, and marries him at the end of the novel.
• Marius Pontmercy — An aristocrat who fell out with his royalist grandfather after discovering his father was an officer under Napoleon. He studies law, joins the revolutionary ABC students and later falls in love with Cosette.
• Thénardiers — A corrupt innkeeper and his wife. They take in Cosette in her first years, mistreating and abusing her. They end up losing the inn and move to Paris, living as the Jondrettes. Thénardier is later the head of a criminal gang called the Patron-Minette. The family also live next door to Marius, who recognizes Thénardier as the man who tended to his father at Waterloo.
• Éponine — The Thénardiers' elder daughter. As a child, she is pampered and spoiled by her parents, but ends up as a waif when she reaches adolescence. She participates in her father's crimes to obtain money. She is also in love with Marius. At Marius' request, she finds Cosette's address for him and leads him to her. She dies at the barricades when she reaches out her hand to stop a soldier's bullet heading for Marius: she is mortally wounded as the bullet goes through her back and dies. Her final request is that once she has passed, Marius will kiss her on the forehead. He does.
• Gavroche — The unloved son of the Thénardiers. He is the brother of Éponine and Azelma and two unnamed younger brothers. He lives on his own and is a street urchin. He takes part in the barricades and dies collecting bullets from dead National Guardsmen.
• Enjolras — The leader of the revolutionary students. He dies during the fighting at the barricade.

Minor

• Petit Gervais — A small boy who drops a coin. Valjean, still a man of criminal mind, places his foot on the coin and refuses to return it to the boy, despite Gervais' protests. When the boy flees the scene and Valjean comes to his senses, remembering what the bishop had done for him, he is horribly ashamed of what he has done and searches for the boy in vain.
• Fauchelevent — Valjean saves Fauchelevent’s life when Valjean is able to lift a carriage underneath which he is caught. Fauchelevent later will return the favor by providing sanctuary for Valjean and Cosette at a convent, and by providing his name for Valjean's use.
• Mademoiselle Baptistine — Bishop Myriel's sister. She loves and venerates her brother.
• Madame Magloire — Domestic servant for the Bishop and his sister. She grumbles at the life of poverty the Bishop insists upon, and is fearful that he leaves the door open to strangers.
• Sister Simplice — A nun who cares for Fantine on her sickbed. She also lies to Javert to protect Valjean.
• Monsieur Gillenormand — Marius' grandfather. A Monarchist, he disagrees sharply with Marius on political issues, and they have several arguments. He attempts to keep Marius from being influenced by his father, an officer in Napoleon's army. While in perpetual conflict over ideas, he does illustrate his love for his grandson.
• Mademoiselle Gillenormand — M. Gillenormand's daughter, she lives with her father.
• Colonel Georges Pontmercy — Marius' father, and an officer in Napoleon's army. Wounded at Waterloo, Pontmercy erroneously believes M. Thénardier saved his life. He tells Marius of this debt.
• Azelma — The younger daughter of the Thénardiers. Like her sister Éponine, she is spoiled as a child, and suffers the same ragged fate as her when she is older. She also takes part in her father's crimes, and continues to stay with him after the rest of her family perishes. She goes to America with him at the end of the novel.
• Grantaire — Alcoholic womanizing revolutionary student, who, unlike the other revolutionaries, does not strongly believe in the cause of the ABC Society, but is a member because he hero-worships Enjolras. Grantaire is executed in the wine shop with Enjolras.
• Montparnasse, Babet, Claquesous, and Gueulemer — Collectively, Patron-Minette, a quartet of bandits who assist in the Thenardiers ambush of Valjean.

Critical reception

The first two volumes of Les Misérables were published on 3 April 1862, heralded by a massive advertising campaign;^[1] the remainder of the novel appeared on 15 May 1862. At the time, Victor Hugo enjoyed a reputation as one of France's foremost poets, and the appearance of the novel was a highly anticipated event. Critical reactions were wide-ranging and often negative; some critics found the subject matter immoral, others complained of its excessive sentimentality, and still others were disquieted by its apparent sympathy with the revolutionaries.^[2] The Goncourt brothers expressed their great dissatisfaction, judging the novel artificial and disappointing.^[3] Flaubert could find within it "neither truth nor greatness."^[4] French critic Charles Baudelaire reviewed the work glowingly in newspapers,^[5] but in private castigated it as "tasteless and inept."

Nonetheless, the book was a great commercial success. First translated into foreign languages (including Italian, Greek and Portuguese) the same year it originally appeared, it proved popular not only in France, but across Europe.

It has been a popular book ever since it was published, and was a great favorite among the Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War, who called it "Lee's Miserables"(a reference to their deteriorating conditions under General Robert E. Lee). Its popularity continues to this day, and it is viewed as by many as one of the most important novels written.^[6][7]

English translations

• Charles E. Wilbour. New York: Carleton Publishing Company. June 1862. The first American translation, published only months after the French edition of the novel was released. Also, New York: George Routledge and Sons. 1879.
• Lascelles Wraxall. London: Hurst and Blackett. October 1862. The first British translation.
• Translator Unknown. Richmond, Virginia. 1863. Published by West and Johnston publishers.[3]
• Isabel F. Hapgood. Published 1887, this translation is available at Project Gutenberg. [4]
• Norman Denny. Folio Press, 1976. A modern British translation subsequently published in paperback by Penguin Books, ISBN 0-140-44430-0. In the very strictest sense this edition is not quite an unabridged translation: Norman Denny explains in his introduction that he moved two of the novel's longer digressive passages into annexes, and that he also made some minor "abridgements" in the text.
• Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee. Signet Classics. March 3, 1987. An unabridged edition based on the Wilbour translation with modernization of language, considered by some the most readable of current translations. Paperback ISBN 0-451-52526-4
• Julie Rose. 2007. [Vintage Classics, July 3, 2008]. The first new complete translation for over a decade. Julie Rose lives in Sydney and is the translator of more than a dozen works, including a well-received version of Racine's Phèdre as well as works by Paul Virilio, Jacques Rancière, Chantal Thomas, and many others. This new translation published by Vintage Classics includes a detailed biographical sketch of Victor Hugo’s life, a chronology and notes. ISBN 9780099511137

Adaptations

Film adaptations

• 1907, On the barricade, directed Alice Guy Blaché, early adaptation of a part of the novel
• 1907, Le Chemineau
• 1909, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
• 1909, The Bishop's Candlesticks, directed by Edwin S. Porter
• 1911, directed by Albert Capellani
• 1913, directed again by Albert Capellani
• 1913, The Bishop's Candlesticks, directed Herbert Brenon, adaptation of the second book of the first volume
• 1917, directed by Frank Lloyd
• 1922, director unknown
• 1923, Aa Mujo, directed by Kiyohiko Ushihara and Yoshinobu Ikeda, Japanese film, production cancelled after two of four parts
• 1925, directed by Henri Fescourt
• 1929, The Bishop's Candlesticks, directed by Norman McKinnell, first sound film adaptation
• 1929, Aa mujo, directed by Seika Shiba, Japanese film
• 1931, Jean Valjean, directed by Tomu Uchida, Japanese film
• 1934, directed by Raymond Bernard
• 1935, directed by Richard Boleslawski
• 1937, Gavrosh, directed by Tatyana Lukashevich, Soviet film
• 1938, Kyojinden, directed by Mansaku Itami, Japanese film
• 1943, Los Miserables, directed by Renando A. Rovero, Mexican film
• 1944, El Boassa, directed by Kamal Selim, Egyptian film
• 1947, I Miserabili, directed by Riccardo Freda
• 1949, Les Nouveaux Misérables, directed by Henri Verneuil
• 1950, Re mizeraburu: Kami to Akuma, directed by Daisuke Ito, English title: Gods and demons
• 1950, Ezai Padum Pado, dirceted by K. Ramnoth, Indian film
• 1952, directed by Lewis Milestone
• 1952, I miserabili, re-release of the 1947-film
• 1955, Kundan, directed by Sohrab Modi, Indian Hindi film
• 1958 Les Misérables, directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois, French film starring Jean Gabin
• 1958, Os Miseráveis, directed by Dionísio Azevedo, Brazilian film
• 1961, Jean Valjean, Korean film by Seung-ha Jo
• 1967, directed by Alan Bridges
• 1967, Os Miseráveis, Brazilian film
• 1967, Sefiler, Turkish film
• 1972, directed by Marcel Bluwal
• 1973, Los Miserables, directed by Antulio Jimnez Pons, Mexican adaptation
• 1977, Cosette, animation
• 1978, UK telefilm, directed by Glenn Jordan
• 1978, Al Boasa, Egyptian adaptation
• 1979, Jean Valjean Monogatari, directed by Takashi Kuoka, Japanese animation
• 1982, directed by Robert Hossein
• 1985, TV version of the 1985 film
• 1988, animation
• 1991, Les Misérables, Dutch version on stage. Translated by Seth Gaaikema, associative directing by Mariano Detry.
• 1995, directed by Claude Lelouch (a loose, multi-layered adaptation set in the 20th century starring Jean-Paul Belmondo)
• 1995, Les Misérables - The Dream Cast in Concert Musical done in concert style
• 1998, directed by Bille August and starring Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman, and Claire Danes
• 2000, French TV miniseries directed by Josée Dayan and co-produced by Gérard Depardieu (starring: Gérard Depardieu, Christian Clavier, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Virginie Ledoyen, Asia Argento, Jeanne Moreau, Veronica Ferres, John Malkovich,...)
• 2007, Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette, Japanese animated TV series by Nippon Animation
• 2007, Les Misérables: School Version copyrighted
• 2008, Les Misérables: Le Capitole de Quebec Version directed by Frédéric Dubois
• 2008, Les Misérables, Dutch revival.

Musical adaptation

In 1980, a musical of the same name (see Les Misérables (musical)) opened in Paris which has gone on to become the most successful musical in history. It was written by Robert Hossein and the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and the librettist Alain Boublil. Many of the songs from Les Misérables, the musical, are well-known individually in the music world.

References

External links

• French text of Les Misérables
• Les Misérables at Project Gutenberg – English translation.
• Detailed analysis of Les Misérables
• Les Misérables according to a Bonapartist
• Reflections on Les Misérables – discussion of characters and themes.

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo Characters Jean Valjean • Fantine • Cosette • Marius • Javert • M. & Mme. Thénardier • Éponine • Gavroche • Patron-Minette • Bishop Myriel • Enjolras • Champmathieu Films 1934 • 1935 • 1952 • 1958 • 1982 • 1995 film • 1995 TV special • 1998 Other adaptations Les Misérables (musical) • Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette • Jean Val Jean • Songs from Les Misérables