Les Misérables
In 1829, Victor Hugo watched a man being taken away by police for stealing a loaf of bread. Two onlookers stood nearby and stopped to watch the scene unfold. A mother and her daughter observed the arrest with pity in their eyes. This moment became the seed for Fantine and Cosette. Hugo imagined the life of the thief inside jail while the women were separated from him forever.
Hugo visited Toulon in 1839 to see the Bagne prison where convicts worked. He took extensive notes about the place but did not begin writing the book until 1845. On one page of his notes he wrote JEAN TRÉJEAN in large block letters as a possible name for his hero. That name eventually became Valjean when the final manuscript was completed.
During 1841, Hugo saved a prostitute from arrest for assault. He used part of that real dialogue when recounting Valjean's rescue of Fantine in the novel. The chapter titled 1841 Origin of Fantine draws directly from this event. Hugo also witnessed an altercation between an old woman scavenging through rubbish and a street urchin in December 1846. This encounter might have inspired Gavroche.
The novel contains 655,478 words in its original French version. It is divided into five volumes each containing several books and subdivided into chapters. There are 48 books and 365 chapters in total. Each chapter remains relatively short often no longer than a few pages.
More than a quarter of the text consists of essays that do not advance the plot. One count shows 955 out of 2,783 pages are devoted to these digressions. These sections argue moral points or display encyclopedic knowledge about topics like cloistered religious orders and Paris sewers.
Hugo devotes nineteen chapters to an account of the Battle of Waterloo. He visited the battlefield in 1861 and finished writing the novel there. The opening volume begins with details about the bishop of Digne in 1815 before shifting focus. Only after fourteen chapters does Hugo pick up the thread again in October 1815 to introduce Jean Valjean.
Jean Valjean's character draws loosely from Eugène François Vidocq. Vidocq became head of an undercover police unit and later founded France's first private detective agency. He was also a businessman noted for social engagement and philanthropy.
In 1828 Vidocq saved one worker by lifting a heavy cart on his shoulders. This incident mirrors Valjean rescuing a sailor on the Orion ship. Hugo's description draws almost word for word from Baron La Roncière's letter describing such an event.
Hugo used Bienvenu de Miollis as the model for Bishop Myriel. Miollis served as Bishop of Digne between 1753 and 1843 during the time Valjean encounters him. Hugo also drew inspiration from Eugène Sue's Les Mystères de Paris which enjoyed great success when published during 1842 and 1843.
Victor Hugo forbade publishers from summarizing his story before release. He refused to authorize excerpts in advance of publication. A massive advertising campaign preceded the release of the first two volumes in Brussels on 30 or the 31st of March 1862. The remaining volumes appeared on the 15th of May 1862 in Paris.
Critical reactions were wide ranging and often negative. L. Gauthier wrote in Le Monde on the 17th of August 1862 that one could not read without unconquerable disgust all details regarding successful planning of riots. The Goncourt brothers judged the novel artificial and disappointing while Flaubert found neither truth nor greatness in it.
Despite criticism the work proved a commercial success across Europe and abroad. It was translated into Italian Greek and Portuguese the same year it appeared. Charles E. Wilbour released the first English translation through Carleton Publishing Company in June 1862 with the first volume available for purchase beginning the 7th of June 1862.
Susanne Alleyn argues that les misérables translates better as the dispossessed or even as the outsiders. This phrase describes every major character in the novel in one way or another rather than simply the miserable ones. Several alternatives have been used including The Miserables The Wretched The Poor Ones and The Victims.
Charles E. Wilbour published the first English translation in New York during June 1862. Lascelles Wraxall produced the first British translation in London by October 1862. An editor identified only as A.F. published an edition in Richmond Virginia in 1863 claiming to correct errors in Wilbour's version.
Isabel Florence Hapgood published her translation in 1887 which remains available at Project Gutenberg today. Norman Denny released a modern British translation in 1976 while Lee Fahnestock and Norman McAfee issued an unabridged edition on the 3rd of March 1987. Julie Rose published a new translation of the full work on the 3rd of July 2008 through Vintage Classics.
The 1934 film adaptation ran four and a half hours and was directed by Raymond Bernard. Harry Baur starred alongside Charles Vanel Florelle Josseline Gaël and Jean Servais in this French version. Richard Boleslawski directed the 1935 film starring Fredric March and Charles Laughton which received nominations for Best Picture and Best Film Editing at the 8th Academy Awards.
Orson Welles created a radio adaptation in 1937 that appeared in The New York Times schedule for the 25th of July 1937. Lewis Milestone directed the 1952 film with Michael Rennie and Robert Newton while Jean-Paul Le Chanois helmed the 1958 version featuring Jean Gabin Bernard Blier and Bourvil.
Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg created a musical in 1980 that has since become iconic. Hugh Jackman Russell Crowe Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried starred in the 2012 film adaptation of the musical. A British TV series by Andrew Davies aired in 2018 starring Dominic West David Oyelowo and Lily Collins.
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Common questions
When was the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo published?
The first two volumes of Les Misérables were released in Brussels on the 30th or the 31st of March 1862. The remaining volumes appeared in Paris on the 15th of May 1862.
What real events inspired the character Jean Valjean in Les Misérables?
Jean Valjean draws loosely from Eugène François Vidocq who saved a worker by lifting a heavy cart on his shoulders in 1828. This incident mirrors Valjean rescuing a sailor on the Orion ship and Hugo used Baron La Roncière's letter for the description.
How many words are in the original French version of Les Misérables?
The novel contains 655,478 words in its original French version. It is divided into five volumes each containing several books and subdivided into chapters with 48 books and 365 chapters in total.
Who served as the model for Bishop Myriel in Les Misérables?
Hugo used Bienvenu de Miollis as the model for Bishop Myriel. Miollis served as Bishop of Digne between 1753 and 1843 during the time Valjean encounters him.
When was the first English translation of Les Misérables published?
Charles E. Wilbour released the first English translation through Carleton Publishing Company in June 1862. The first volume became available for purchase beginning the 7th of June 1862.