[Pocket Edition] World Classics Library - Les Misérables (Volume 1, 2, 3)

Author: (French) Victor Hugo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: Les Misérables is a novel written by the great French literary figure Victor Hugo over a hundred years ago. To this day, it has been translated into languages worldwide and enjoys a vast readership across all social strata. Why can Les Misérables universally win the love of readers? As soon as readers take a look at its content, they will naturally understand. As long as the social oppression caused by laws and customs persists, as long as in the era of prosperity, humanity is artificially turned into a hell and the innate blessings of humans suffer inevitable misfortunes; as long as the three problems of this century—poverty that drives men to ruin, hunger that leads women to depravity, and darkness that weakens children—remain unsolved; as long as social poison can still occur in certain regions, in other words, from a broader perspective, as long as ignorance and hardship still exist in the world, then works of the same nature as this book will be of no use. Les Misérables is the grand epic that Victor Hugo created after The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. It is the only novel that can fully represent Hugo’s thoughts and artistic style. With its outstanding artistic charm, the novel presents a magnificent panorama of modern French social and political life from the French Revolution of 1793 to the Paris Uprising of 1832, fully embodying Hugo’s extraordinary talent in storytelling. It is a model of the combination of realism and romanticism in literary history. The novel reflects Hugo’s humanitarian ideals, filled with his concern for human suffering and his unwavering belief in the future, possessing a powerful artistic appeal that moves the soul. In 1985, Life magazine in the United States selected it as one of the best books of all time. In 1986, L magazine in France recommended it as an ideal personal collection.