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Les Misérables
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Read Les Misérables

Les Misérables (1862) (edit title/settings)

by Victor Hugo (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

An ex-convict struggles for redemption in the punishing world of post-Napoleonic France. Described as the bible of the poor, downtrodden, heartbroken, convicted, and oppressed.

Characters edit see section history

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “You look at a star for two reasons, because it is luminous and because it is impenetrable”
  • “An unworthy thought can no more spring up in it than a nettle on a glacier”
  • “The soul helps the body, and at certain moments uplifts it. It is the only bird which sustains its cage.”
  • “To owe life to a malefactor . . . to be, in spite of himself, on a level with a fugitive from justice . . . to betray society in order to be true to his own conscience; that all these absurdities . . . should accumulate on himself—this is what prostrated him.”
  • “She worked to live; then, also to live, for the heart too has its hunger, she loved.”
  • “There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, this is the interior of the soul.”
  • “Diamonds are found only in the dark places of the earth; truths are found only in the depths of thought.”
  • “Children at once accept joy and happiness with quick familiarity, being themselves naturally all happiness and joy.”
  • “Laughter is sunshine; it chases winter from the human face.”
  • “The delight we inspire in others has this enchanting peculiarity that, far from being diminished like every other reflection, it returns to us more radiant than ever.”
  • “I declare I am confused!”
    Cosette
  • ““Here, I am going to write something to show you.”. . . S he wrote on a sheet of blank paper . . . “The cops are here.””
    This snippet describes Eponine’s excitement in Book Eight of “Marius” as she tries to impress Marius at the Gorbeau House.
  • “<Valjean> had fallen back, the light from the candlesticks fell across him; his white face looked up toward heaven, he let Cosette and Marius cover his hands with kisses; he was dead.”
    This passage, from Book Nine of “Jean Valjean” brings Valjean’s personal journey full circle and compares him to his inspiration, Myriel, the bishop of Digne.
  • “T he poor little despairing thing could not help crying: “Oh my God! Oh God!”At that moment she suddenly felt that the weight of the bucket was gone. A hand, which seemed enormous to her, had just caught the handle, and was carrying it easily. . . .. . . The child was not afraid.”
    This passage occurs in Book Three of “Cosette,” after Mme. Thénardier orders Cosette to fetch a pail of water from the forest. Hugo uses especially melodramatic language and imagery to underscore the nightmarish quality of Cosette’s life with the Thénardiers and the almost divine appearance of Valjean.
  • “<Valjean> strained his eyes in the distance and called out . . . “Petit Gervais! . . .” His cries died away into the mist, without even awaking an echo. . . . <H>is knees suddenly bent under him, as if an invisible power suddenly overwhelmed him with the weight of his bad conscience; he fell exhausted . . . and cried out, “I’m such a miserable man!””
    Valjean’s encounter with Petit Gervais in Book Two of “Fantine” is the first interaction Valjean has after he leaves Myriel’s house in Digne.
  • “So long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.”
    Victor Hugo
  • “Books are cold but sure friends.”
    Victor Hugo
  • “The goodness of the mother is written in the gaiety of the child”
  • “The delight we inspire in others has this enchanting peculiarity that, far from being diminished like every other reflection, it returns to us more radiant that ever.”
  • “There is a way of meeting error while on the road of truth.”
  • “Old men need affection as they do sunshine.”
  • “The pupil dilates in the night, and at last finds day in it, even as the soul dilates in misfortune, and at last finds God in it.”
  • “Moreover, what is called much too harshly, in certain cases, the ingratitude of children, is not always as blameworthy a thing as is supposed. It is the ingratitude of nature.”
  • “Because things are unpleasant, that is no reason for being unjust towards God.”
  • “Waterloo is not a battle; it is a change of front on the part of the Universe.”
  • “(About Javert) Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand: their majesty, the majesty peculiar to the human conscience, clings to them in the midst of horror; they are virtues which have one vice,--error.”
Show all 26 quotes from this book

Setting & Locations edit see section history

First Sentence edit see section history

In 1815 Monsieur Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of Digne.

Table of Contents edit see section history

PART ONE: FANTINE
Book 1: An Upright Man
Book 2: The Fall
Book 3: the Year 1817
Book 4: To Trust is Sometimes to Surrender
Book 5: The Descent
Book 6: Javert
Book 7: The Champmathieu Affair
Book 8: Counter-Stroke

PART TWO: COSETTE
Book 1: Waterloo
Book 2: The Ship Orion
Book 3: Fulfillment of the Promise made to the Departed
Book 4: The Old Gorbeau House
Book 5: A Dark Chase Requires a Silent Hound
Book 6: Petit-Picpus
Book 7: A Parenthesis
Book 8: Cemeteries Take What is Given Them

PART THREE: MARIUS
Book 1: Paris Atomized
Book 2: The Grand Bourgeois
Book 3: The Grandfather and Grandson
Book 4: The Friends of the ABC
Book 5: The Excellence of Misfortune
Book 6: The Conjunction of Two Stars
Book 7: Patron-Minette
Book 8: The Noxious Poor

PART FOUR: SAINT-DENIS
Book 1: A Few Pages of History
Book 2: Eponine
Book 3: The House of the Rue Plumet
Book 4: Aid From Below or From Above
Book 5: An End Unlike the Beginning
Book 6: Little Gavroche
Book 7: Argot
Book 8: Enchantments and Desolations
Book 9: Where Are They Going?
Book 10: June 5, 1832
Book 11: The Atom Fraternizes with the Hurricane
Book 12: Corinth
Book 13: Marius Enters the Shadow
Book 14: The Grandeur of Despair
Book 15: The Rue de l' Homme-Arme'

PART FIVE: JEAN VALJEAN
Book 1: War Between Four Walls
Book 2: The Intestine of Leviathan
Book 3: Mire, but Soul
Book 4: Javert Off the Track
Book 5: Grandson and Grandfather
Book 6: The White Night
Book 7: The Last Drop in the Chalice
Book 8: The Twilight Wane
Book 9: Supreme Shadow, Supreme Dawn

Glossary edit see section history

  • Sinite parvulos: Suffer the little children
  • Parbleu: a more polite exclamation than "Par Dieu!" meaning "dear god!"
  • Argot: A secret language used mostly by criminals and thieves. Hugo goes into much detail about it.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 100 of 95 in Telegraph Top 100 Books, 2008. (authoritative list)
This is book 114 of 200 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)
This is book 90 of 91 in The Novel 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels of All Time, 2004. (authoritative list)
This is book 873 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This book is in Big Fat Books. (community list)
This book is in 100 Fantabulous Book Challenge. (community list)
This book is in Penguin's Top 100 Classics. (authoritative list)
This book is in Modern Library Classics. (publisher edition list)
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This book is in Hopeless Romantic. (community list)
This book is in Les Miserables Related Recordings. (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Victor Hugo (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: French
Publisher: Pagnerre
Country: France
Publication Date: 1862
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 959

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

While there is very limited coarse language, the sheer bulk and topics covered would only be recommended for 13+. Unrequited love, the rebellions in France, the thieving and French underworld... all very well covered topics, but quite dense.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  • Sam
  • Lysistrata
  • Fire of the Covenant
  • Cousin Bette
  • The Count of Monte Cristo
  • My robin,
  • The Harvester
  • The Face of Battle
  • The Merchant of Venice

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history

   
  • Cosette: The Sequel To Les Miserables
  • Cosette, or, the Time of Illusions
  • Les Miserables (Piano Solos Olo Series)
  • Les Misérables: A Play in Two Acts
  • The Wisdom of Les Miserables: Lessons From the Heart of Jean Valjean

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history

   
  • Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

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