It has often been claimed that Hugo’s works are fantastic and that they fail to achieve the psychological or descriptive truth characteristic of the novel. Rchard B. Grant, writing about Hugo’s early books, argues that romnn should be translated as ‘‘romance,’’ not ‘‘novel.’’ While the novel tries to represent ‘‘real people’’ through the analysis, description, and evolution of character, the romance deals in archetypes and tends toward myth. Hugo sought to represent a general, archetypal reality, more similar to myth than to modern novels.
Desire and Disgust in Hugo’s Prose Hugo’s deviation from French dramatic and literary tradition challenged critics and readers alike. His predilection for violent, gritty language, often considered a form of ‘‘bestiality,’’ as noted by a reviewer for the Edinburgh Review in 1865, confronted conventional literary standards and morality.
Responses to Literature
1. In his outline of Romanticism, Hugo stated that the ‘‘grotesque’’ must be treated alongside the beautiful. Look up grotesque in a dictionary. Using the definition, write a paragraph exploring what you think he meant by that statement.
2. With your classmates, discuss characterization: When you read a book or watch a movie, are you interested in realistic characters who seem true to life, or do you prefer archetypes—that is, characters who symbolize a particular type of person, such as the Hero, the Misunderstood Genius, and so forth? How do you view the characters in Hugo’s Les miserables?
3. Hugo’s novel Les miserables was adapted to the musical Les Miserables in the 1980s. It has been hugely successful, being translated into twenty-one languages and playing almost continuously since then. Using resources at your library or on the Internet, research the musical. Create a poster or electronic presentation that describes the popularity of this adaptation. Why do you think it has struck such a chord with the public?
4. Some musicians and celebrities, like U2’s Bono, Wyclef Jean, and Angelina Jolie, are publicly involved in social issues. Does their opinion on issues influence you? Does it depend on who the celebrity is? Write a short essay outlining your views, giving specific reasons for your opinions.
5. Victor Hugo was strongly opposed to the death penalty. The U. S. Supreme Court made a landmark decision about the death penalty in the case Baze v. Rees in April 2008. Using sources from your library or the Internet, research their decision and write a report that presents the case. At the end of the report, include a paragraph in which you offer your personal opinions about the Court’s decision.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Baudelaire, Charles P. ‘‘Victor Hugo.’’ In Baudelaire, as a Literary Critic. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1964.
Bloom, Harold. ‘‘The Breaking of Form.’’ In
Deconstruction and Criticism. New York: Seabury,
1979. Brombert, V. H. Victor Hugo and the Visionary Novel.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984. Brooks, Peter. The Melodramatic Imagination: Balzac,
Henry James, Melodrama, and the Mode of Excess.
New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1976. Grant, Richard B. The Perilous Quest: Image, Myth, and
Prophecy in the Narratives of Victor Hugo. Durham,
N. C.: Duke University Press, 1968. Josephson, Matthew. Victor Hugo: A Realistic Biography
Of the Great Romantic. New York: Doubleday, 1942. Nash, Suzanne. ‘‘Les Contemplations’’ of Victor Hugo: An Allegory of the Creative Process. Princeton, N. J.:
Princeton University Press, 1976.
Periodicals
Brombert, Victor. ‘‘Victor Hugo’s Condemned Man: Laughter of Revolution.’’ Romanic Review 70 (1979): 119–32.
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Victor Hugo
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