Les Misérables

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Jean Valjean redirects here. For the novel by Solomon Cleaver, see Jean Val Jean. For the musical theater production, see Les Misérables (musical).

Image:Victor Hugo-Cossette.jpg Les Misérables (trans. variously as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Victims) (1862) is a novel by French novelist Victor Hugo. Among the most well 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 includes the Napoleonic wars and subsequent decades. Principally focusing on the struggles of the protagonist — ex-convict Jean Valjean — to redeem himself through good works, the novel examines the impact of Valjean's actions as 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, commonly known as "Les Mis" (pronounced /Template:IPA/).

Contents

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Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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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 each book divided into chapters. Each chapter is relatively short; usually no longer than a few pages. Nevertheless, the book in its entirety is quite lengthy by usual standards, well exceeding twelve hundred pages in unabridged editions. Within the borders of the novel's story arc, 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.

After nineteen years of imprisonment for stealing food for his starving family, the peasant Jean Valjean is released on parole. However, he is required to carry a yellow ticket, which marks him as a convict. Rejected by innkeepers who do not want to take in a convict, Valjean sleeps on the street. However, the benevolent Bishop Myriel takes him in and gives him shelter. In the night, he steals the bishop’s silverware and runs. He is caught, but the bishop rescues him by claiming that the silver was a gift. The bishop then tells him that in exchange, he must become an honest man.

Six years later, Valjean has become a wealthy factory owner and is elected mayor of his adopted town, having broken his parole and assumed the false name of Père Madeleine to avoid capture by Inspector Javert, who has been pursuing him. Fate, however, takes an unfortunate turn when another man is arrested, accused of being Valjean, and put on trial, forcing the real ex-convict to reveal his true identity. At the same time, his life takes another turn when he meets the dying Fantine, who had been fired from his factory and has resorted to prostitution. She has a young daughter, Cosette, who lives with an innkeeper and his wife. As Fantine dies, Valjean, seeing in Fantine similarities to his former life of hardship, promises her that he will take care of Cosette. He pays off the innkeeper, Thénardier, to obtain Cosette. Valjean and Cosette flee for Paris.

Ten years later, angry students, led by Enjolras, are preparing a 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. One of the students, Marius Pontmercy, 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.

The following day, the students initiate their revolt and erect barricades in the narrow streets of Paris. Valjean, learning that Cosette's love is fighting, goes to join them. Éponine also joins. During the battle, Valjean saves Javert from being killed by the students and lets him go. Javert, a man who believes in absolute obedience of the law, is caught between his belief in the law and the mercy Valjean has shown him. Unable to cope with this dilemma, Javert kills himself. Valjean saves the injured Marius, but everyone else, including Enjolras and Éponine, are killed. Escaping through the sewers, he returns Marius to Cosette. Marius and Cosette are soon married. Finally, Valjean reveals to them his past, then dies.

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Themes

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Grace

Les Misérables is, among its many other themes, a discussion and comparison of grace and legalism. This is seen most starkly in the juxtaposition of the protagonist, Valjean, and the apparent antagonist, Javert.

In the beginning of the book when Valjean breaks away from prison after serving 19 years, all Jean Valjean knows about is the judgment of the law. He committed a crime, he suffered the punishment — although he feels that this is somehow unjust. In a way, his view at this point is similar to that of Javert, with the exception that Javert does think the punishment just. Nevertheless, both operate on a basis of deeds and rewards, or legalism: in the musical adaptation of the work, this is expressed very well in the solo "Stars", with the lines:

And so it has been, and so it is written
On the doorway to paradise
That those who falter and those who fall
Must pay the price

It is from the starting-point of legalism that the two worldviews start to separate. Valjean's first encounter with grace occurs after he has found himself rejected because of his status as an ex-convict, and is forced to take refuge with a bishop for the night (see synopsis). He runs off with the bishop's silver, is caught and returned, but the bishop not only says that the silver was a gift, but famously also gives him the two silver candlesticks from his table. This treatment that does not correspond to what Valjean "deserves" is a powerful image of grace.

Throughout the course of the novel, Valjean is haunted by his past, most notably in the form of Javert. It is therefore fitting that the greatest triumph of grace in the book is between Valjean and Javert. After Javert is captured going undercover with the revolutionaries, Jean Valjean volunteers to execute him. However, instead of taking vengeance as Javert expects, he sets the policeman free. This can be seen as the ultimate triumph of grace in Valjean's life; however, the author also makes the point that legalism can become entrenched: Javert is unable to reconcile his black-and-white view with the apparent high morals of this ex-criminal and with the grace extended to him, and commits suicide.

Grace is seen as a positive moral force in Valjean's life. Whereas prison has hardened him to the point of stealing from a poor and charitable bishop, grace frees him to himself be charitable to others — as in the case of Fantine, accused of prostitution, and of the falsely accused "Jean Valjean" (who is in fact an innocent man — see the synopsis). It also teaches him to react differently to his mistakes: having ducked responsibility when Fantine is fired by his foreman, Valjean proceeds to try to right the wrong. Despite his selfishness in guarding Cosette and keeping her from Marius, when he reads Marius's last note to her he goes to the barricades to save Marius. The reforming nature of grace as opposed to the embittering nature of legalism is a major theme in Les Misérables.

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Translations

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English translations

At least four English translations of the novel exist, by:

  • Charles E. Wilbour. The first translation, published in 1862, only months after the French edition of the novel was released.
  • Isabel F. Hapgood. This version is in the public domain and is that offered by Project Gutenberg.
The 1887 edition printed by Thomas Crowell and Co, New York is complete in one volume with various pagings to each section plus a 2 page index and an additional 2 page advertisement in the back of the book including a full page for Anna Karenina. 7 1/2" X 5" Brown hardcover with gilt title on spine and light green flowered endpapers. Frontis illustration plus 4 additional plates by F Meaulle.
  • Norman Denny. Published 1976.
  • Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee. Published in 1987, based on the Wilbour edition with updates, generally considered the most readable of current translations.
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Adaptations

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Film adaptations

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Adaptations in other media

In 1935, Solomon Cleaver published a short English-language adaptation titled Jean Val Jean. It remains a popular children's version of Les Misérables.

In 1937, Orson Welles wrote, produced and directed a seven-part series for radio. Welles himself narrated the story and played the part of Valjean. The series co-starred Martin Gabel as Inspector Javert, and featured his then wife Virginia Nicholson Welles as the older Cosette, with Gwen Davies (young Cosette), Alice Frost (Fantine), William Johnstone (Marius), and in other roles, Frank Readick, Ray Collins, Agnes Moorehead, and Everett Sloane, many of whom would perform for The Mercury Theatre on the Air.

In 1980, a musical (see Les Misérables (musical)) opened in Paris which has gone on to become one of the most successful musicals in history. It was written by the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and the librettist Alain Boublil.

In 1998, possibly the strangest adaptation of Hugo's work was released in the form of a 2-D computer fighting game published by a Japanese developer known as Takase. Entitled "Arm Joe," (a pun based on the Japanese translation of the title "Les Miserables," "Aa Mujo") the game's character roster is drawn directly from the novel, with the exceptions of a personification of divine judgement, an animated stuffed rabbit, and a robotic replica of Valjean.

In 2001, BBC Radio 4 produced a 25-part radio dramatisation, with a cast of 27 featuring Joss Ackland narrating, Roger Allam as Valjean, and David Schofield as Javert. (Allam also originated the role of Javert in the English language version of the Boublil/Schönberg musical.)

In May 2001, François Cérésa published Cosette, or the Time of Illusions, a sequel to Les Misérables. Victor Hugo's descendants attempted to have the book banned, condemning it as a money-seeking enterprise and an attack on Hugo's work (more subjective offences aside, it is undeniable that Ceresa retconned a key scene in Hugo's novel to avoid the death of a character he wanted to use in his novel). Victor Hugo's heirs and the Société des gens de lettres lost the first trial [1] but won in appeal [2].

The plotline of Terry Pratchett's 28th Discworld novel, Night Watch, is inspired by uprisings such as the one in Les Misérables.

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Cultural references

Jean Valjean's prisoner number was 24601. The number was chosen by Hugo because it was the date that he was conceived (24th of June, 1801). In addition, the number has frequently appeared as a reference in other works:

  • Sideshow Bob's prisoner number in The Simpsons episode 8F20 – "Black Widower"
  • the number on Principal Skinner's helmet in The Simpsons episode 9F21 – "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" It is possible that this number has appeared at other points in the series as well.
  • the employee number of the hacker/player character in System Shock
  • in South Park episode 4.02 – "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000", a prison guard refers to Eric Cartman as 24601 even though his prison uniform says 23654. Also, an entire song in South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut that is based on "One Day More", a song from the musical. Finally, in Episode 414 "Helen Keller! The Musical", the "musical theater expert" sounds similar to Colm Wilkinson, who played the original Jean Valjean on Broadway. In fact, Cartman says the expert (introduced as Geoffrey Mainard) played the lead in a production of Les Misérables.
  • in Drawn Together episode #206, Captain Hero's indiscretion before the League of Friends is cited as "24601"
  • In Arrested Development, Oscar Bluth's prison number is 24601.
  • In the comicbook GrimJack issue #73, the main character's prison number is 24601.

During the American Civil War, many Confederate soldiers carried the book with them to read. Most could not pronounce the name correctly so they would just say "Lee's Miserables", a reference to General Robert E. Lee.

  • Animaniacs parodied the musical using Rita and Runt under the name 'Les Miseranimals'.
  • Gothic horror anime "Le Portrait de Petite Cossette" ("Portrait of Little Cossette") uses the title of the Emile Bayard illustration for its title character, though little else is borrowed from the story.
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External links

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fr:Les Misérables he:עלובי החיים ja:レ・ミゼラブル pl:Nędznicy sv:Samhällets olycksbarn (bok) zh:悲惨世界

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