Les miserables is a novel of great enough length that there are several different plot lines happening throughout the story following different characters. 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. Buy les miserables classics by hugo, victor, denny, norman, denny, norman, denny, norman from amazons fiction books store. 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. Each chapter is relatively short, commonly no longer than a few pages. Les miserables achieves its immense length partly for this reason and partly because the bits of dialogue are in fact large lumps. 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. 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. There is an interesting story to why the show runs just under 3 hours. Les miserables the book by victor hugo is incredibly long. What a great book, but some of the history lessons were a little too long. 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. Movie i am proud of my naming abilities, and ill be examining books and.
Les miserables etext contains the full text of les miserables. 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. Victor hugos les miserables debuted 150 years ago in 1862 and now has become the literal definition of the big book. Its great because its an imaginative, beautifully crafted and uplifting story. Collecting les miserables by hugo, victor first edition. Behr quotes this passage at length in behr, complete book, 3236. This book is available for free download in a number of formats including epub, pdf, azw, mobi and more. Les miserables is a french historical novel by victor hugo, first published in 1862, that is. A hardened criminal upon his release, he eventually reforms, becoming a successful industrialist and town mayor. When valjean arrives at the town of digne, no one is willing to give him shelter because he is an exconvict.
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. Everything you need to know official london theatre. Gillenormand, by threatening to disinherit marius, has forced georges. 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. The book begins in 1815, following napoleons defeat by the. Welcome the episcopal palace of d adjoins the hospital. Hugo now turns to another leading character, marius. The book, first published in 1862, is set in 19th century. The unabridged sometimes went deeper into history and side tales than i expected but always came back to add depth to the story. Im pretty sure its the longest book ive ever read, with the exception of the bible. Victor hugos les miserables debuted 150 years ago in 1862 and now has become the.
Playbill gives the run time as 2 hours and 55 minutes, including 1 intermission. Nice to know about waterloo, french revolution, french slang words, the. New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars. 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. Even in his sometimes long tangents, hugo weaves an emotionally compelling narrative that brings a unique richness and. More than any other book, les miserables changed that. Its also insightful social commentary, among the best and most interesting of writing genres, if you ask me. The copy i have in hand where it is already doing wonders for. In the 90s, when excitement about les mis on broadway was at its peak, everyone had that gray paperback version of the book. Marius is a seventeenyearold who lives with his grandfather, m. Les miserables can be translated from the french into the miserable ones, the wretched, the poor ones. The narrator for this book has a fascinating range and magically creates many clear voices. With its gargantuan length and exaggerated coincidences, les miserables is not read for its subtlety or the cleverness of the plot.
Along the way, the exconvict joins a revolution, adopts a daughter, and beats people up. Les miserables is one of the longest novels in european literature. Les miserables the book by victor hugo is incredibly long, but. Like perhaps no other book, les miserables has moved me. Les miserables penguin classics paperback april 29, 1982. 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. 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. In a nearby town, georges pontmercy, marius father, a hero of the napoleonic wars, lives in retirement. Utf8 start of this project gutenberg ebook les miserables produced by judith boss and david widger. The second home by christina clancy a surefooted ode to. 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. In the englishspeaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original french title. Everyday low prices on a huge range of new releases and classic fiction.
You can also read the full text online using our ereader. 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. All in all, it took me about 2 months of off and on reading. That the prolixity is sometimes appropriate to the speakeras. Reading length provides a calculation for the word count of this book, find out how long it will take you to read. 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. 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.
With hugh jackman, russell crowe, anne hathaway, amanda seyfried. Les miserables cliffsnotes study guides book summaries. 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. 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.
An exconvict breaks parole and starts a new life as a righteous man, but is pursued by a police inspector. 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. Great book spent 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, for almost two months listening to all 5 volumes of les miserables. 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. But length is not just a question of pages, its also a question of. 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. 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 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 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 episcopal palace was a huge and beautiful house, built of stone at the beginning of the last century by m. While the fictional aspects may seem to be an afterthought, hugos craft is. 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. Notable for its many subplots and digressions from the main storyline, the novels stated aim is a progress from evil to good, from. Les miserables by victor hugo paste paste magazine.
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. Victor hugo tells his classic story of redemption and struggle, now a major motion picture, of a tormenting police officer and a former convict. Les miserables, five volumes, complete by victor hugo. 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.
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