Introduction To LES MISERABLES

The introduction to Les Miserables begins with an account of the popularity of “France’s Epic Romance”. The passage describes Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables as “a grand romance, a history lesson, a sociopolitical treatise, and a touching human drama”. The passage then gives a small summary of both the setting of the novel and the story of the main character, Jean Valjean. The introduction then gives a short description of the novels influence on the world. It then goes to describe the “Life and Work of Victor Hugo”. This section begins with his social and educational background. It then lists his major works (starting with his “first book of poetry, Miscellaneous Odes and Verses“) as well as state his view  on how art should be portrayed. He believed it was needed “to show not just the beautiful in art but the grotesques as well.” The introduction continues on to describe Hugo’s life in politics and literature before explaining the influence of the time period on the setting and the effects of the Romantic Movement, Byronic heroes, nationalism, and Romantic melodrama on Les Miserables. The introduction then lists a brief chronology of Victor Hugo’s life.

What I most connect to in this introduction is Hugo’s insistence to show “not just the beautiful in art  but the grotesque” as shown in his Hunchback of Notre Dame. In this novel, Hugo shows the part of the world people do not want to see.He shows a monster who is gentle, a convict who is innocent, and a priest who is evil. It is his determination to face reality that is admirable. And facing reality is not the same as accepting it. Hugo made this clear by changing it.

One thing I would like to is: how much Hugo’s personal tragedies and dramas affected his writing.