The political timing of the publication was auspicious.Isolated by exile from the empire of Napoleon Ill, whose authoritarianism was relaxing as his effectiveness and popularity were waning, Hugo found a ready audience for his progressive fervor. Despite his long list of works in poetry, fiction, and drama, Hugo had been most widely known before this novel as a public figure, defender of the national conscience. And now, homesick for France but unwilling to accept the amnesty offered by the emperor he despised, he was eager for the chance to remind France at large of his presence.

Introducing one of the most famous eharaeters in literature, Jean Valiean--the noble peasant imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread--Les Miserales (1862) ranks among the greatest novels of all time. In it Victor Hngo takes readers deep into the Parisian underworld, immerses hem in a battle between good and evil, and carries them onto the barricades during the uprising of 1832 with a breathtaking realism that is unsurpassed in modern prose. Within his dramatic story are themes that capture the intellect and the emotions: crime and punishment, the relentless persecution of Valiean by Inspector Javert, the desperation of the prostitute Fantine, the amorality of the rogue Thenardier and the universal desire to escape the prisons of our own minds.Les Misdrables gave Victor I lugo a canvas upon which he portrayed his criticism of the French political and judicial systems, but the portrait which resulted is larger than life, epic in scope--an extrawigant spectacle that dazzles the senses even as it touches the heart. This Signet Classic edition is a new version translated by Lee Fahnestock and Norman Macgee, based on the classic nineteenth-century Charles E. Wilbour translation.It is the ONLY completely unabridged paperback edition available today.

FANTINE

BOOK

One AN UPRIGHT MAN

Two THE FALL

Three THE YEAR 1817

Four To TRUST IS SOMETIMES

TO SURRENDER

Five THE DESCENT

Six JAVERT

Seven THE CHAMPMATHIEU AFFAIR

Eight COUNTER-STROKE

COSETTE

One WATERLOO

Two THE SHIP ORION

Three FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE MADE

TO THE DEPARTED

Four THE OLD GORBEAU HOUSE

Five A DARK CHASE REQUIRES A SILENT

HOUND

Six PETIT-PICPUS

Seven A PARENTHESIS

Eight CEMETERIES TAKE WHAT Is

GIVEN THEM

MARIUS

One PARIS ATOMIZED

Two THE GRAND BOURGEOIS

Three THE GRANDFATHER AND

THE GRANDSON

Four THE FRIENDS OF THE ABC

Five THE EXCELLENCE OF MISFORTUNE

Six THE CONJUNCTION OF TWO STARS

Seven PATRON-MINETTE

Eight THE NOXIOUS POOR

SAINT-DENIS

One A FEW PAGES OF HISTORY

Two EPONINE

Three THE HOUSE ON THE RUE PLUMET

Four AID FROM BELOW OR FROM ABOVE

Five AN END UNLIKE THE BEGINNING

Six LITTLE GAVROCHE

Seven ARGOT

Eight ENCHANTMENTS AND DESOLATIONS

Nine WHERE ARE THEY GOING?

Ten JUNE 5, 1832

Eleven THE ATOM FRATERNIZES WITH

THE HURRICANE

Twelve CORINTH

Thirteen MARIUS ENTERS THE SHADOW

Fourteen THE GRANDEUR OF DESPAIR

Fifteen THE RUE DE L'HOMME-ARME

JEAN VALJEAN

One WAR BETWEEN FOUR WALLS

Two THE INTESTINE OF LEVIATHAN

Three MIRE, BUT SOUL

Four JAVERT OFF THE TRACK

Five GRANDSON AND GRANDFATHER

Six THE WHITE NIGHT

Seven THE LAST DROP IN THE CHALICE

Eight THE TWILIGHT WANE

Nine SUPREME SHADOW, SUPREME DAWN