‘Les Misérables’ and Victor Hugo’s literary world is an epic work encompassing themes of love, justice, salvation, and revolution. This masterpiece of 19th-century French literature embodies Victor Hugo’s life and philosophy.
Victor Hugo: A Journey Through Life and Literature
Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, in Besançon. Following his father, a general under Napoleon, he moved frequently during his childhood to various cities in France, Italy, and Spain. Later, while studying law at university as his father wished, Victor immersed himself in poetry, nurturing his literary dreams. The greatest influence on him was the French Romantic poet Chateaubriand. In his diary at age 14, he wrote, “Je veux être Chateaubriand” (“I want to be Chateaubriand”).
Victor Hugo married his childhood friend Adèle Foucher in 1822. That same year, he published his first collection of poems, ‘Odes’, which brought him attention. He then published plays and further poetry collections, becoming the darling of the literary world before the age of 30 and a leading figure of French Romanticism. He solidified his reputation as a writer with the 1831 novel Notre-Dame de Paris.
If one event in Victor Hugo’s life had the greatest impact on him, it was the drowning accident in the Seine in the autumn of 1843, which claimed the life of his beloved daughter Léopoldine Hugo and her husband Charles Vacquerie. His creative tendencies changed before and after this event. Specifically, the afterlife and the soul became his primary concerns. Two years after his daughter’s death, in 1845, he began writing ‘Les Misérables’. He subsequently entered politics, continued his prolific creative work, and persistently published writings critical of the French government. As a result, he was exiled to Belgium and then, with his entire family, sought asylum on Guernsey Island in the English Channel.
This exile could be seen not as suffering but as a blessing. Despite Louis Napoleon’s 1859 pardon, he remained in exile, publishing masterpieces including the poetry collections ‘Les Contemplations’ (1856), ‘La Légende des siècles’ (1859), and ‘L’Homme qui rit’ (1869), along with novels. ‘Les Misérables’ was also published in 1862 during his exile, seventeen years after he first began writing it.
When the Second Empire of Louis Napoleon collapsed in 1870 due to the war with Prussia, Victor Hugo arrived in Paris by train on the night of September 5th and received a grand welcome. He was elected to the National Assembly but, disillusioned with reality, soon resigned his seat.
Victor Hugo was elected to the Senate in 1876, but suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 1878, ultimately retiring from politics. On February 26, 1881, Victor Hugo’s 80th birthday was declared a public holiday, and crowds gathered at his home to applaud him. Victor Hugo had already written his “Last Will and Testament” in 1881, four years before his death.
God, soul, and responsibility. These three ideas are enough. At least, they have been enough for me. This is true religion. I have lived within it, and I shall die within it. Truth, light, justice, and conscience—these are God. I leave 40,000 francs to the poor. I hope it will be used to purchase materials for making coffins for the destitute. (…) My physical eyes will close, but the eyes of my soul will remain open forever.
On May 18, 1885, Victor Hugo took to his bed with pneumonia. He died in Paris on the 22nd. That night, a violent storm with thunder and hail swept through Paris. On June 1, his funeral was held as a state ceremony, and his remains were laid to rest in the Panthéon, followed by a crowd of two million people.
‘Les Misérables’ Brief Synopsis and Short Commentary
Victor Hugo’s most famous work, ‘Les Misérables’, tells the story of Jean Valjean and the people who influenced his life.
Jean Valjean is sentenced to 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving sister and her children. While in prison, he yearns for freedom, but upon his release after 19 years, he is shunned by society due to the yellow passport marking him as a convict. As people shun and despise him, he develops a deep hatred for society. However, through the kindness and profound love of Monsieur Bienvenu, Jean Valjean is touched and his conscience awakens.
Thereafter, despite numerous trials, Jean Valjean succeeds while guarding his conscience and concealing his past, securing a brilliant future. Yet entangled in his dark past, which he can never erase from his life, he stands at a crossroads in an inescapable reality, compelled to make a new decision and choice between falsehood and truth. Rather than a bright future built upon falsehood and happiness, he chooses genuine misery, abandoning his stable life for a desperate future of instability and solitude. Through a human being’s sacred choice of conscience and truth, this work reveals the true place of happiness that a person should truly embrace in life.
This work, which realistically depicts various characters and events, is based on actual people. Monsieur Bienvenu is Monsieur Myriel, who served as Bishop of Digne from 1806. He was renowned for his noble character and benevolent actions, and was the man who helped criminals like Jean Valjean. Furthermore, the model for Jean Valjean was a convict named Pierre Morin, who was caught stealing bread from a bakery and imprisoned. However, while Jean Valjean attempted escape and served a 19-year sentence, Morin served only five years. The character of Baron Pontmercy was modeled after the author’s father, General Victor Hugo. The young idealist Marius and his suitor Cosette reflect the author’s own youth and Adèle Foucher, who later became Victor Hugo’s wife, respectively.
When ‘Les Misérables’ was published, it sparked an explosive reaction. It received high praise for its vivid, masterful prose depicting the Battle of Waterloo, the July Revolution in France, and Jean Valjean’s escape through the deep sewer tunnels of Paris. It became the most popular book not only among French readers but also among soldiers fighting in the American Civil War. Furthermore, it was translated into ten languages, generating widespread attention.
‘Les Misérables’ means ‘the wretched and the miserable’ in French. However, within this novel, author Victor Hugo portrays not just the limited meaning of ‘the wretched,’ but also those marginalized by society, the lower classes, and those resisting the social systems that alienate humanity.
The protagonist Jean Valjean, who spent 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread for his starving nieces; Fantine, who sold her body to support her young daughter and died; the young Cosette, abused by her cruel foster parents; even the ruthless Inspector Javert and the swindling Thénardier couple—all live miserable lives, yet never succumb to despair. They overcome their difficult lives with love and hope. Jean Valjean becomes a new man through Monsieur Bienvenu’s forgiveness, and Cosette finds a new life through Jean Valjean’s devoted love. Even the cold-hearted Inspector Javert is transformed by the power of Jean Valjean’s endless love. Meanwhile, what sustains Cosette’s lover Marius is his intense hope for a better society. What sustains the aged Jean Valjean is also the romantic hope for Cosette and Marius’s happy future.
From its publication in 1862 to the present day, over 160 years later, this book continues to be read steadily. It conveys the truths of life through the ordinary human characters found in any era and any place, which is why it is still celebrated as an immortal masterpiece. Victor Hugo delivers the true lessons of life in a thrilling way through his novel ‘Les Misérables’.
