Welcome to my post about beloved literature. A friend of mine asked me the other day, what my favorite book is. I asked what genre, time period, etc. But despite my efforts to narrow down that insanely broad question they continued to firmly insist that I have to have a favorite book. And I don’t agree that conjecture is possible or likely. However, I could easily be wrong.
Well anyways, they told me, “I doth protest too much.” And I smartly replied without protesting with a simple, “indeed.” You can tell I’m proud of this moment of growth. My friend finally asked a less inconceivable question, “what author wrote books that you can’t get enough of?” And I immediately knew the answer to that question. “It’s hands down, Victor Hugo.” I asked if they wanted a more modern time period or specific genre but they assured me that I had already prolonged the conversation beyond the parameters they had intended. So I digress, this fun conversation inspired me weeks later to write about Hugo.
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My favorite work of his is a classic called Les Misérables (1863). As a French author Hugo spends a lot of his time writing about a few major themes, while centering on the importance of humanity. I’ll get into that more, in vague ways. It’s been a long time since I’ve read the book, it’s incredibly lengthy. But don’t get me wrong, it is a masterpiece. I wish I knew how to read French, but thankfully a friend of mine had an English copy my freshman year of high-school and I read it then in 2012. I also read it a second time in college around 2017.
Many wonderful essays, reflections, and works of art have been inspired by Hugo’s story. Perhaps this is because he was France’s most well known and renowned poet, playwright, and essayist. But his legacy is still very much vibrant in literature, musical, and poetry circles today.
I won’t go into all the details about how he became famous. About how Hugo managed to be both a devout Christian idealist, and went on to be rebuked by the Vatican. This drama started with another one of his famous works, Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is certainly just as good as Les Misérables. Both of these books have been made into musicals and plays, and they have cultivated countless other various works.
But his works are very much inspired by his traveling with his mother across Europe. He saw war in Spain, they were at war with Napoleon at the time. Whom Hugo’s father was fighting for as an officer. His job was to quell nationalists who were opposing Napoleon’s occupation. Hugo actually recounts some pretty horrific things he saw in his childhood there, traveling with his mother.
In an incredibly dark irony I can’t believe, Hugo’s mother was actually a royalist and his father obviously a revolutionary. Though his parents tried to make their marriage work after Victor’s birth, it never really did. He watched their unstable relations growing up. His dad became a general and he was rapidly losing his mental stability. Watching all of this as a child on top of war right in front of him obviously traumatized him.
His mom eventually had an affair, since there was no love between her and her husband. He was off at war, and when he was home my understanding is that things were horrible. The affair was with a loyalist. An old family friend, and when Hugo’s dad found out, he was put to death.
Unfortunately, Hugo had grown very close to the man over the years of the affair, and he was a major father figure in his life. Which we can understand, because his real dad was never there for him or his mom. Unsurprisingly, he sided with his mother and mourned the loss of the man he’d long considered his true father. Then his dad sued for divorce. A true nightmare was unfolding before Victor’s young eyes.
Those cicumstances led to what I believe made him so incredibly relatable to so many, he had a very human, albeit, tragic childhood.
Speaking of tragic, the masterpiece Les Misérables is historical fiction. It highlights the French revolution, but it has many story arcs underlying this event. All of the characters are fictional, however, they represent real types of people in this time period. On top of that, they represent deep ideologies, differing types of trauma, war torn citizens, estranged members of society, idealists, crusaders, and so much more.
Maybe I’ll do a more in depth analysis of the characters and plot archetypes in the future. But for now my few readers get just a sneak peek. My reccomendation is that you go read the book, listen to the musical, watch the movie musical, and watch the miniseries starring Domnic West (this version is closest to the book).
The reason that this work has been done and redone, time and time again, is because it is breathtaking. And not for the typical entertainment reasons. There is something about a good story that transcends the normalcy of shallow everyday life. That something, I think, is found in a piece of literature like this that is able to pierce the human heart. You’d be unsuprised to hear that you will encounter misery. An abundance of misery. It begins and ends the same, the world seems to flip upside down, but as history proves over and over, nothing really changes in the end.
It feels miserable to think about that. And right about now in my reflection people might find themselves turned off by this. But I think that the story of misery is not to be pushed aside, but embraced. Because in it, there is an abundance of good and evil. There is love and death, there are tears and blood, there are poems and songs, there are people starving and children playing, there are idealists and outcasts, there are criminals and crusaders. There is religion and corruption, mercy and hatred, justice and inhumanity.
It is a fiction that portrays life in a manner I have never seen. It’s almost as if Hugo really just gets it. He upholds essential truths about humanity and points out the scope of our condition.
In light of that, each character in this story can be hated by some and loved by others. There are so many things about them to empathize with, and yes even the criminals and the baddies. Each one of them has moments of displaying redemption or “downward” trajectory, perhaps moral decay. But the constant in each one of their lives is that they have all been met with the miserable war, they have faced injustice, and dealt with their own individual traumas. I mean, even the rich young boys who rebelled against their royal parents to fund the revolution, and in some cases they fought…They even they have relatable qualities and moments!
That’s a good story, and it’s relevance also doesn’t fade with time. There will always be humanity. And there will be inhumanity to meet it, for a long long time at least. Hugo portrays the fact that there is no person who is worthy enough to consider themselves righteous, and illustrates plainly that these are the most dangerous sort. And perhaps that they are their own worst enemy. And on the other end of society there are those born to slavery, poverty, and forced to try and get by.
There are prostitutes and abused children, there are criminals and people of color, and there are beggars and cripples. All of these representing societies’ fears, in both this time and all the way back to the beginning, and of course it will go on as such in ever changing forms. He goes much deeper than the “we fear what we don’t know” troupe, and highlights the ignorance of labeling humans as anything but human. Meaning they are both good and bad, but never purely just one thing. They have capability of many things, they have multitudes of motivations and difficult backgrounds. But all are united by human experience.
The main character was a poor man who stole bread to feed someone, as they were in a horrendous state of remarkable destitution. And he served many many years (19 if I recall correctly) as a slave for it. He gets by and does his time, he is shown mercy by a priest afterward with shelter and food. He proceeds to immediately betray him and steals from him. But in a twist of fate, he is met with mercy yet again. For the second time in the story he wasn’t dealt with in a cruel fashion, but a loving embrace. The priest told the guards that he gave him the items he stole and he was allowed to go free. Still, these many years as a slave had hardened his heart. A young beggar asked him for help and he turned him aside.
It really reminds me of the stories Jesus told. He had become that very thing, and he did it harshly. So, as the boy walked away he realized what he’d become. Why he’d stole the bread all those years ago. His intentions at least, were what made him who he really was. And so he vowed to be a man of God, to be a righteous man. He went on to adopt an orphan and that’s where the whole climax of the story really kicks off. I don’t want to spoil it all. But there’s this incredible journey that he and all the characters go on.
And it’s tragic stuff. But there are happy moments of love, at the same time as horrible deaths and heartbreak. Inconceivable events, and hard hearted men, as well as powerful and insightful women. Mercy is one of the many themes that plays into the central theme of humanity. And it is shown inconsistently by many of the characters. At crucial moments there are failures to recognize other’s humanity, and penance that comes too late.
I think one of the very telling things about this is that those who know they need mercy the most, tend to come around in the end for those they love. And even those they hate. But those who never choose to see others as dignified creatures, essentially destroy themselves. But they are ALL unique, and yet all the same. Fascinating.
Hugo manages to weave several arcs together to form a chorus, a climatic battle of individuals, and a collective for differing causes.
Musicals have rightly done their best to capture the raw emotions of tragedy and triumph throughout this impeccable story. Even if you don’t enjoy musicals, you must admit that song can convey what words simply cannot. Stories that require these works to come after them that compel the audience to connect with its themes, are often riveting.
Hugo is an insightful human being who was full of love, and as you may guess from his works, also full of hurt. But he was compelled by beauty, and Les Misérables demonstrates beauty in an intrinsically profound way. Because just as the book began and ended with misery, it also did the same with joy. With beauty, light, and love.
And now that I’ve written this very sketchy piece about one of the best classics ever written, I am a bit disappointed with how little I actually covered. It’s hard to really highlight all of it’s depth because the story is a deep deep well. Every character could be talked about for hours. Every plot line could be expounded upon for weeks. And every theme could be discussed until the end of time. Maybe I should make a podcast. But the point is, Victor Hugo is one of the illustrious gems of our lot; and perhaps the most perspicacious human being to have ever lived.