From social conscience to Les Misérables: Victor Hugo's life

Victor Hugo's life and the making of Les Misérables concern a French Romantic author's life and the creation of his 1862 novel. The lessons answer how his concern for social injustice shaped the work, and help readers understand the path from social conscience to literary creation.

2 articles, 1 book · about 48 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   Victor Hugo's life and the making of Les Misérables · Wikipedia · 46 min read

   Victor Hugo published Claude Gueux, a documentary short story about a real-life murderer who had been executed in France, in 1834. Hugo later considered it a precursor to his great work on social injustice, Les Misérables. Victor Hugo settled with his family at Hauteville House in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, where he lived in self-imposed exile from October 1855 until 1870. During his Guernsey exile, he composed or published some of his best work, including Les Misérables. Victor Hugo believed himself to have been conceived on 24 June 1801, which is the origin of Jean Valjean's prisoner number 24601 in Les Misérables.

2. Read
   3 avril 1862 - Publication des Misérables - Herodote.net · herodote.net · 2 min read

   Victor Hugo devoted himself to poetry after 1830 and rose to the highest levels of glory, while remaining concerned with the plight of the humblest and social injustice. With Les Misérables, his glory would reach a planetary scale previously unknown in literature.

3. Book
   

   Les Misérables · Bookshop.org

   Les Misérables by Victor Hugo follows Jean Valjean's promise to protect Fantine's baby daughter, driven to prostitution by poverty; these characters and circumstances show how the tale connects injustice, heroism and love.

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