At the beginning of the twentieth century, polls rated hugo as the greatest nineteenthcentury french poet, but his gifts as a storyteller in his plays and novels were fully acknowledged on an international scale only when les miserables was produced as the first full length feature film in france in 1909. Les miserables cliffsnotes study guides book summaries. More than any other book, les miserables changed that. Les miserables can be translated from the french into the miserable ones, the wretched, the poor ones. There is an interesting story to why the show runs just under 3 hours.
Welcome the episcopal palace of d adjoins the hospital. Playbill gives the run time as 2 hours and 55 minutes, including 1 intermission. Les miserables etext contains the full text of les miserables. Its also insightful social commentary, among the best and most interesting of writing genres, if you ask me. Les miserables, by victor hugo, is an epic historical novel that, though titled les miserables, which translates to the miserable people, is also a story about undying love set largely against the backdrop of the june rebellion, also known as the paris uprising of 1832. With hugh jackman, russell crowe, anne hathaway, amanda seyfried.
Les miserables is a novel of great enough length that there are several different plot lines happening throughout the story following different characters. That the prolixity is sometimes appropriate to the speakeras. Les miserables penguin classics paperback april 29, 1982. Les miserables the book by victor hugo is incredibly long, but. You can also read the full text online using our ereader. In the 90s, when excitement about les mis on broadway was at its peak, everyone had that gray paperback version of the book. Les miserables, victor hugo les miserables is a french historical novel by victor hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. Marius is a seventeenyearold who lives with his grandfather, m. While the fictional aspects may seem to be an afterthought, hugos craft is. He is seventyfive years old and lives only with a sister baptistine, ten years younger than he, and an old servant, madame magloire, the same age as his sister.
Les miserables is one of the longest novels in european literature. Behr quotes this passage at length in behr, complete book, 3236. In a nearby town, georges pontmercy, marius father, a hero of the napoleonic wars, lives in retirement. You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or online at. But length is not just a question of pages, its also a question of. The unabridged sometimes went deeper into history and side tales than i expected but always came back to add depth to the story. The convict jean valjean is released from a french prison after serving nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread and for subsequent attempts to escape from prison.
The copy i have in hand where it is already doing wonders for. Like perhaps no other book, les miserables has moved me. Even in his sometimes long tangents, hugo weaves an emotionally compelling narrative that brings a unique richness and. In practice, the show will run a little longer or a little earlier depending mostly on the conductor, but the show runs just under 3 hours. Along the way, the exconvict joins a revolution, adopts a daughter, and beats people up. A hardened criminal upon his release, he eventually reforms, becoming a successful industrialist and town mayor. Les miserables by victor hugo paste paste magazine.
Collecting les miserables by hugo, victor first edition. The book begins in 1815, following napoleons defeat by the. Les miserables is a french historical novel by victor hugo, first published in 1862, that is. Gone with the wind, which i read when i was a sophomore in high school, is probably a close runner up in length, but les mis is a good 300 pages longer. If a writer wrote merely for his time, i would have to break my pen and throw it away, the largerthanlife victor hugo once confessed. The novel is divided into five volumes, each volume divided into several books, and subdivided into chapters, for a total of 48 books and 365 chapters.
The new version of les miserables has now reopened in the newly renamed sondheim theatre you can reserve your tickets here to les miserables which is booking to 4th april 2020. Everything you need to know official london theatre. Each chapter is relatively short, commonly no longer than a few pages. Great book spent 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, for almost two months listening to all 5 volumes of les miserables. Reading length provides a calculation for the word count of this book, find out how long it will take you to read. The edition of les miserables that i read actually cut some of the irrelevant material out, and put it in an appendix at the end. Notable for its many subplots and digressions from the main storyline, the novels stated aim is a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, which. The second home by christina clancy a surefooted ode to. The episcopal palace was a huge and beautiful house, built of stone at the beginning of the last century by m. What a great book, but some of the history lessons were a little too long. Notable for its many subplots and digressions from the main storyline, the novels stated aim is a progress from evil to good, from.
This book is available for free download in a number of formats including epub, pdf, azw, mobi and more. Everyday low prices on a huge range of new releases and classic fiction. In the englishspeaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original french title. I dont usually agree with doing things like that, but in this instance, thankyou penguin, because by the time i got to page 1060 and he started going off on one about parisian sewers, i almost lost the will to live. In the book les miserables by victor hugo, the fictional character jean who is initially portrayed as being a decent and simple person has the misfortune of being wrongfully imprisoned.
Gillenormand, by threatening to disinherit marius, has forced georges. Im pretty sure its the longest book ive ever read, with the exception of the bible. Set in the parisian underworld and plotted like a detective story, les miserables follows jean valjean, originally an honest peasant, who has been imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sisters starving family. Considered to be french novelist victor hugos masterpiece, les miserables, which was published in 1862, is a sprawling historical and philosophical epic that covers from 1815 through the paris uprising in 1832. In 19thcentury france, jean valjean, who for decades has been hunted by the ruthless policeman javert after breaking parole, agrees to care for a factory workers daughter. Based on the novel by victor hugo, les miserables travels with prisoneronparole, 24601, jean valjean, as he runs from the ruthless inspector javert on a journey beyond the barricades, at. Nice to know about waterloo, french revolution, french slang words, the. With its gargantuan length and exaggerated coincidences, les miserables is not read for its subtlety or the cleverness of the plot. When valjean arrives at the town of digne, no one is willing to give him shelter because he is an exconvict. When hes done with that, he gives a long discussion of paris as though the city were a sort of person with a specific personality. All in all, it took me about 2 months of off and on reading. Victor hugos les miserables debuted 150 years ago in 1862 and now has become the.
Traditionally, artamene ou le grand cyrus, has been considered the longest novel, but has lately been surpassed by at least one novel, or two depending on the criterion used to determine length. Les miserables, five volumes, complete by victor hugo. The epic novel is divided in five volumes, each of which is divided into several books and subdivided into chapters, totaling 48 books and 365 chapters. An exconvict breaks parole and starts a new life as a righteous man, but is pursued by a police inspector. Its great because its an imaginative, beautifully crafted and uplifting story. Utf8 start of this project gutenberg ebook les miserables produced by judith boss and david widger. The book, first published in 1862, is set in 19th century. Les miserables the book by victor hugo is incredibly long. Movie i am proud of my naming abilities, and ill be examining books and. The narrator for this book has a fascinating range and magically creates many clear voices.
Hugo now turns to another leading character, marius. If youre really up to it and like a good long book, the unabridged is about 4500 pages, but its divided into 5 volumes and then the books in each. The story of jean valjean, a poor french boy who is arrested at the age of 19 for stealing a loaf of bread for his family, and who is sentenced to the quarries for seven years. Les miserables achieves its immense length partly for this reason and partly because the bits of dialogue are in fact large lumps. Buy les miserables classics by hugo, victor, denny, norman, denny, norman, denny, norman from amazons fiction books store. Victor hugo tells his classic story of redemption and struggle, now a major motion picture, of a tormenting police officer and a former convict. Hugos wrenching story centers on jean valjean, an honest peasant sentenced to five years hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread, then nineteen more for trying to. Les miserables is a perfectly fine, if not good, cop thriller with a social urgency bubbling under the surface to provide added depth, but its no portrait of a lady on fire, which was sumptuous.
1035 390 1135 127 1539 254 1555 620 1020 1008 1005 579 746 132 791 1340 440 550 747 101 686 196 1455 591 465 1309 576 580 387 585 1240 578 967 757 216 480 321 257 14 387 1199 1069 18 1192 680