Les Misérables

Author: (French) Victor Hugo, illustrated by Du Tu Shi Dai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Les Misérables is one of the representative works of Victor Hugo, the most important romantic poet, playwright, and novelist in the history of 19th-century French literature. The novel tells the tragic life story of Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean was arrested merely for stealing a loaf of bread and later repeatedly escaped from prison, resulting in additional sentences that totaled 19 years of hard labor. After his release, he was moved by Bishop Myriel of Digne and resolved to turn over a new leaf. He arrived in the coastal town of Montreuil-sur-Mer, changed his name to Madeleine, and engaged in jewelry manufacturing. After becoming extremely wealthy, he became a philanthropist and was appointed mayor. He helped the factory worker Fantine and the orphan Cosette. The gendarme Javert, who had been chasing him, was deeply troubled by Jean Valjean's character and tormented by guilt, ultimately taking his own life by drowning. Cosette fell in love with the Republican Marius, and after their marriage, she distanced herself from Jean Valjean due to misunderstandings about him. However, when Jean Valjean was on his deathbed, his virtue moved the couple, and they came to visit him. Seeing them, Jean Valjean was able to pass away peacefully. Les Misérables is a world-renowned, quintessential romantic novel that expands on the themes of unconditional love and humanitarianism that frequently appear in Hugo's works. It stands as a masterpiece of unique social and political critique of the moral and legal aspects of capitalist society.