Towards the end of 2009 I started reading the classic novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I got the unabridged version of 1,222 pages translated into English by Charles E. Wilbour. The edition I got from the Cal State L.A. Library was published by Modern Library, New York and does not have a publication date. It also doesn’t have illustrations such as the famous one of Cosette that was used as the poster for the musical (more on this later). There is one illustration just inside the cover page of a man standing knee-deep in water stooping over with a lantern and a walking stick. The book is separated into five volumes: Fantine, Cosette, Marius, St. Denis, and Jean Valjean each between 120-300 pages long. Each volume is separated into 8-15 books that are between 10-70 pages and each of these books is further separated into chapters of 2-10 pages. All these segments allow the reader to feel like they are making incremental progress.
I first heard of the musical Les Miserables in the late 80’s or early 90’s when my dad bought the soundtrack on cassette. The songs are very emotional and passionate. When I was a freshman in college I saw a professional production of Les Mis in Portland, Oregon. They used a revolving stage and there were more scenes than those featured on the soundtrack. In late 2009 I decided to try reading the book. The Cal State L.A. Library let me check out books for an entire quarter and renew them for two more quarters as long as no one else put them on hold. My wife had read the unabridged version on Les Mis many years ago and enjoyed it. She doesn’t read books very often, instead preferring to read magazine articles and web articles. I thought the book might flesh out the story and explain some things not completely explained in the musical such as Jean Valjean’s past. Within its great length, the book does this and much more.
The first volume, Fantine, is 253 pages long and separated into 8 books. The reader learns almost immediately that Hugo likes to digress. The first 50 pages (ie. the rule of 50) don’t mention any of the main characters. Rather, they’re all about the Bishop of D_____ who plays a small but very important role in the main story. I learned all about his background, religious life, and how good a man he was. Hugo blanks out a few names of towns such as D_____ and M_____ Sur M_______ where Fantine comes from and where Monsieur Madeleine builds his factory. Other town names are given such as Arras where the trial takes place and Montfermeil where the Thenardiers live in their inn.
The narrator (Hugo?) sounds as if he’s telling someone a story and sometimes refers to himself in the first person saying things like “I forget the place.” Many digressions discuss the political and economic situation in France and Europe in the early 19th century. After going through Jean Valjean’s past life and what led him to prison in the first place, Hugo writes, “English statistics show that in London starvation is the immediate cause of four thefts out of five.” (Hugo, p. 74) Hugo uses some words that had different meaning back in 1862 when the book was published. Diligences were horse-drawn coaches that brought people from one town to another. People didn’t have cars to get around. So far I found only 1-2 typos, pretty good for a book of this length printed before modern word processors. On page 197 Monsieur Madeleine “rsumed (his) monotonous dismal walk.”
Despite the writing style and digressing, the book does a good job of fleshing out the story that the musical only highlighted. In fact, Hugo is very thorough. Not only did I learn that “Valjean” is possibly a contraction of “Voila Jean” and changed from Vlajean to Valjean but that his mother’s maiden name is Mathieu. Speaking of names, Cosette’s real name was actually Euphrasie, but her mother, Fantine, made Cosette out of it as mothers tend to “change Josepha into Pepita and Francoise into Siltette.” (Hugo p. 127) I also learned why Jean Valjean faces life imprisonment after being released from prison. Not long after, he inadvertently robs a young boy from Savoy, Petit Gervais. At that time in France, those convicted of a second offence were sentenced to hard labor for life. Two strikes and you’re out, I guess.
After Fantine is dismissed from the factory she not only sells her hair (golden blond in the book) but also her two front teeth for two Napoleans or forty francs. Earlier Fantine is described as having gold on her head (her hair) and pearls in her mouth (her teeth). Before she becomes a “Lovely Lady” (or a “woman of the town” as Hugo writes), she tries to make a living sewing coarse shirts for soldiers of the garrison for twelve sous per day. This helps her get by until “a prison contractor, who was working prisoners at a loss, suddenly cut down the price, and this reduced the day’s wages of free labors to nine sous.” (Hugo, p. 157)
One aspect of the story that’s very fleshed out is Cosette’s full parentage. Her father is Felix Tholomyes, a rich young idler of 30 and a student possibly equivalent to the privileged “career students” of currents. He dates Fantine and three of his friends date three of Fantine’s friends. The men dress extravagantly and smile with “effeminate foppery.” The eight of them walk the public gardens of Paris, go to fancy restaurants, and eat apple puffs. Tholomyes is very witty, stating that there is good sense and art even in apple puffs. At one point he sings a Spanish love song in the gallega dialect. At another he describes how the ladies eat too much sugar and sugar is desiccating like salt causing diabetes (p. 116). Fantine and Felix are together for two years and not for just “a summer” as described in the song “I Dreamed a Dream”.
There is much consistency between the musical and the novel and some differences. I believe the poster for the musical came from an illustration that’s not in this edition of the passage that reads, “It was a harrowing sight to see in winter time the poor child, not yet six years old, shivering under the tatters of what was once a calico dress, sweeping the street before daylight with an enormous broom in her brittle red hands and tears in her large eyes.” (p. 132) Just as he sings in the song “Confrontation” in the musical, Javert was born in a prison. (p. 143) Also just as Jean Valjean sings in that song, he asks Javert to “Give me three days” to retrieve Cosette and return her to Fantine. Valjean does agonize over whether to reveal his identity in the chapter called “A Tempest in the Brain” (p. 184-199) of book VI (called “Javert) but he never explicitly asks himself “Who am I?” At the trial he does declare “I am Jean Valjean” but does not say “2-4-6-0-1”.
Another difference is Fantine’s dismissal from the factory. Her coworkers do spread incorrect and malicious gossip about her that gets her dismissed. What happened was “the overseer of the workshop handed her, on behalf of the mayor (and factory owner Monsieur Madeleine), fifty francs, saying that she was no longer wanted in the shop, and enjoining her, on behalf of the mayor, to leave the city.” (p. 150) I guess this isn’t really better than what happens in the musical. Also unlike the musical, the overseer is not a man but an “old spinster.” The directive actually came from her and not from the mayor.
The long digressions can make reading Les Miserables go very slowly and tedious but when Hugo gets to the main story, the reading becomes riveting and the book is hard to put down. Just getting to the trial is a struggle for Monsieur Madeleine as he faces one obstacle after another. I began to wonder if he would even make it on time and he’s not even sure he wants to go. Then there’s the altercation between Fantine and the idle gentleman who throws snow at her back. This leads to her arrest, her meeting Monsieur Madeleine in person, but also to her final downfall. She doesn’t survive the volume that bears her name. Though she didn’t start out as one, she is arguable the most miserable of the Miserables.
I first heard of the musical Les Miserables in the late 80’s or early 90’s when my dad bought the soundtrack on cassette. The songs are very emotional and passionate. When I was a freshman in college I saw a professional production of Les Mis in Portland, Oregon. They used a revolving stage and there were more scenes than those featured on the soundtrack. In late 2009 I decided to try reading the book. The Cal State L.A. Library let me check out books for an entire quarter and renew them for two more quarters as long as no one else put them on hold. My wife had read the unabridged version on Les Mis many years ago and enjoyed it. She doesn’t read books very often, instead preferring to read magazine articles and web articles. I thought the book might flesh out the story and explain some things not completely explained in the musical such as Jean Valjean’s past. Within its great length, the book does this and much more.
The first volume, Fantine, is 253 pages long and separated into 8 books. The reader learns almost immediately that Hugo likes to digress. The first 50 pages (ie. the rule of 50) don’t mention any of the main characters. Rather, they’re all about the Bishop of D_____ who plays a small but very important role in the main story. I learned all about his background, religious life, and how good a man he was. Hugo blanks out a few names of towns such as D_____ and M_____ Sur M_______ where Fantine comes from and where Monsieur Madeleine builds his factory. Other town names are given such as Arras where the trial takes place and Montfermeil where the Thenardiers live in their inn.
The narrator (Hugo?) sounds as if he’s telling someone a story and sometimes refers to himself in the first person saying things like “I forget the place.” Many digressions discuss the political and economic situation in France and Europe in the early 19th century. After going through Jean Valjean’s past life and what led him to prison in the first place, Hugo writes, “English statistics show that in London starvation is the immediate cause of four thefts out of five.” (Hugo, p. 74) Hugo uses some words that had different meaning back in 1862 when the book was published. Diligences were horse-drawn coaches that brought people from one town to another. People didn’t have cars to get around. So far I found only 1-2 typos, pretty good for a book of this length printed before modern word processors. On page 197 Monsieur Madeleine “rsumed (his) monotonous dismal walk.”
Despite the writing style and digressing, the book does a good job of fleshing out the story that the musical only highlighted. In fact, Hugo is very thorough. Not only did I learn that “Valjean” is possibly a contraction of “Voila Jean” and changed from Vlajean to Valjean but that his mother’s maiden name is Mathieu. Speaking of names, Cosette’s real name was actually Euphrasie, but her mother, Fantine, made Cosette out of it as mothers tend to “change Josepha into Pepita and Francoise into Siltette.” (Hugo p. 127) I also learned why Jean Valjean faces life imprisonment after being released from prison. Not long after, he inadvertently robs a young boy from Savoy, Petit Gervais. At that time in France, those convicted of a second offence were sentenced to hard labor for life. Two strikes and you’re out, I guess.
After Fantine is dismissed from the factory she not only sells her hair (golden blond in the book) but also her two front teeth for two Napoleans or forty francs. Earlier Fantine is described as having gold on her head (her hair) and pearls in her mouth (her teeth). Before she becomes a “Lovely Lady” (or a “woman of the town” as Hugo writes), she tries to make a living sewing coarse shirts for soldiers of the garrison for twelve sous per day. This helps her get by until “a prison contractor, who was working prisoners at a loss, suddenly cut down the price, and this reduced the day’s wages of free labors to nine sous.” (Hugo, p. 157)
One aspect of the story that’s very fleshed out is Cosette’s full parentage. Her father is Felix Tholomyes, a rich young idler of 30 and a student possibly equivalent to the privileged “career students” of currents. He dates Fantine and three of his friends date three of Fantine’s friends. The men dress extravagantly and smile with “effeminate foppery.” The eight of them walk the public gardens of Paris, go to fancy restaurants, and eat apple puffs. Tholomyes is very witty, stating that there is good sense and art even in apple puffs. At one point he sings a Spanish love song in the gallega dialect. At another he describes how the ladies eat too much sugar and sugar is desiccating like salt causing diabetes (p. 116). Fantine and Felix are together for two years and not for just “a summer” as described in the song “I Dreamed a Dream”.
There is much consistency between the musical and the novel and some differences. I believe the poster for the musical came from an illustration that’s not in this edition of the passage that reads, “It was a harrowing sight to see in winter time the poor child, not yet six years old, shivering under the tatters of what was once a calico dress, sweeping the street before daylight with an enormous broom in her brittle red hands and tears in her large eyes.” (p. 132) Just as he sings in the song “Confrontation” in the musical, Javert was born in a prison. (p. 143) Also just as Jean Valjean sings in that song, he asks Javert to “Give me three days” to retrieve Cosette and return her to Fantine. Valjean does agonize over whether to reveal his identity in the chapter called “A Tempest in the Brain” (p. 184-199) of book VI (called “Javert) but he never explicitly asks himself “Who am I?” At the trial he does declare “I am Jean Valjean” but does not say “2-4-6-0-1”.
Another difference is Fantine’s dismissal from the factory. Her coworkers do spread incorrect and malicious gossip about her that gets her dismissed. What happened was “the overseer of the workshop handed her, on behalf of the mayor (and factory owner Monsieur Madeleine), fifty francs, saying that she was no longer wanted in the shop, and enjoining her, on behalf of the mayor, to leave the city.” (p. 150) I guess this isn’t really better than what happens in the musical. Also unlike the musical, the overseer is not a man but an “old spinster.” The directive actually came from her and not from the mayor.
The long digressions can make reading Les Miserables go very slowly and tedious but when Hugo gets to the main story, the reading becomes riveting and the book is hard to put down. Just getting to the trial is a struggle for Monsieur Madeleine as he faces one obstacle after another. I began to wonder if he would even make it on time and he’s not even sure he wants to go. Then there’s the altercation between Fantine and the idle gentleman who throws snow at her back. This leads to her arrest, her meeting Monsieur Madeleine in person, but also to her final downfall. She doesn’t survive the volume that bears her name. Though she didn’t start out as one, she is arguable the most miserable of the Miserables.
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