Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables"

Paper Summary:

The paper shows how Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" intends to draw not only the picture of a few isolated characters, but that of the entire Parisian life towards the middle of the nineteenth century. The paper describes the main characters who portray the reality of single mothers and orphaned children. The paper notes that while civilization seems to have evolved towards a more stable system, the situation of single mothers and orphans is still authentic in many respects and applicable to today's societies.

From the Paper:

"Victor Hugo, the most important French Romantic writer, managed to draw in his novels a faithful and realist representation of Paris as it was in the century of Napoleon, at the same time enfolding the representation in a rich coat of symbols and metaphors which make his novels true, aesthetic masterpieces. Hugo was moreover one of the most successful and popular authors of all times, both in his own century and afterwards. Nevertheless, as most of the writers of genius, he did not elicit only admiration but also harsh criticism from the public and from other writers as well. Writing in the aftermath of the great French Revolution, Hugo was inspired by its humanitarian and idealistic philosophy which pervades most of his work."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brosman, Catherine Savage. "Victor Hugo," in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 119: Nineteenth-Century French Fiction Writers: Romanticism and Realism, 1800-1860
• Grossman, Kathryn M. Figuring Transcendence in 'Les Miserables': Hugo's Romantic Sublime.
• Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables. New York: Penguin, 1971.
• Lynd, Robert. "Jean Valjean," in Books and Writers, J. M. Dent & Sons, 1952

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