Relive Hugo's masterpiece

Films based on classic masterpieces tend to be more popular. Not long ago, the film "Les Misérables" directed by British director Tom Hopper won three awards at the 85th Academy Awards, which can't help but remind people of the famous French writer Victor Hugo and his masterpiece "Les Misérables".

Hugo was a French national poet, playwright, novelist, political commentator and literary theorist, the leader of the French Romantic literary movement, whose creative activities lasted for more than 60 years and had a great influence on French literature throughout the 19th century. In the words of the famous French philosopher Sartre, Hugo was "one of the very few writers who were truly popular with the people, and probably the only one" in France.

Les Misérables is Hugo's most important masterpiece, published in 1862 by the Parisian bookseller Parnell and the Belgian publisher Lacroix. The protagonist of the work, Jean Valjean, was imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a piece of bread, and after his release from prison, he was reformed under the influence of the magnanimous Bishop Bian Furu and changed his name to Madeiran. He became philanthropic, became mayor, and saved Fantine, a female worker who had become a prostitute. At this time, the police concluded that a thief was Jean Valjean. In order not to bother others, Madeleine stepped forward and was arrested after confessing his true identity, and Fantine was frightened to death. Later, Jean Valjean took advantage of the opportunity to rescue a seafarer and pretended to fall into the sea to die, and after countless hardships, he finally raised Fantine's illegitimate daughter, Cosette.

In Les Misérables, Hugo protests against the darkness of society and the injustice of justice through a true depiction of the suffering of the poor, and promotes the idea that mercy and fraternity can put an end to evil and save humanity.

Les Misérables is a tome that Hugo conceived and created over 30 years based on a real event, some of which can be written on its own, as well as historical scenes such as the Battle of Waterloo and the Republican Uprising of 1832, all of which serve to promote Hugo's humanitarian ideas and artistic concepts.

On January 9, 1841, in the midst of a bitter winter, just two days after Hugo was elected a member of the Académie française, he saw a scoundrel on the street stuffing a large ball of snow into the vest of a thinly dressed girl. Seeing this scene, Hugo, despite the danger of being implicated and giving the enemy a voice, resolutely stepped forward and testified and signed, so that the unknown girl was freed. The girl was touched and said again how kind this gentleman was, because Hugo and she did not know each other. Of course, he didn't know her name either, but later used her image as the prototype for Fantine, a female worker in Les Misérables, and presided over justice for thousands of suffering people.

In order to describe the battlefield of Waterloo, Hugo went to investigate 4 times. On June 30, 1861, in a small hotel on Mount St. John's facing the Battlefield of Waterloo, he finished writing Les Misérables, and this month was the month of the Battle of Waterloo, a coincidence that made the work even more monumental.

The novel caused a sensation in Paris after its publication, with people rushing to buy and read it, and the workers showed great enthusiasm in particular, and in their eyes it was the first masterpiece dedicated to the suffering of the poor and with deep sympathy for them. On May 11, 1862, Hugo's wife, Adele, wrote in a letter to Hugo: "When the workers each put together 20 sue (about one franc), and when they have 12 francs in their pockets, they draw lots to buy Les Misérables, and the people who are drawn will have the book when everyone has finished reading it... It has produced unprecedented emotions in all classes. The book is circulated in the hands of everyone, and the characters in it have become typical of people who are quoted at any time in conversation. The figures are displayed in the windows of all printmakers. Huge billboards for Les Misérables are erected in all corners of the street. Victor Hugo's work and name are the rockets that stirred and upended Paris".

Baudelaire, the famous French modernist poet of the 19th century, said, "This book is a book on charity, that is, a book written to arouse and arouse the spirit of charity; it is a book of questions, which raises complex social questions... As for the form of the book, it is not so much a novel as a poem "... Hugo holds the lofty ideal of saving the world and observing the world with the eyes of a poet, full of romantic passion for declaring war on injustice. With rich imagination and strong emotions, he vividly depicted the tragic experiences of poor people such as Jean Valjean in "Les Misérables", vigorously protested against the dark social reality, and preached the humanitarian spirit of relying on benevolence and fraternity to put an end to evil and save mankind, thus giving the novel a shocking artistic power.

Les Misérables constitutes a magnificent historical picture, a model of the combination of realism and romanticism. Its enormous influence made Hugo's name almost synonymous with humanitarianism. As Victor Hugo points out in his preface: "Books of this kind are not all solved as long as there is ignorance and poverty in this century— men morally corrupted by poverty, women depraved by hunger, and children frail because of darkness."

More than 100 years have passed, the situation in Hugo's pen has not been fundamentally changed, in today's world, tens of millions of people are still fighting for the most basic human rights such as the right to subsistence and the right to development, and the humanitarian spirit advocated by Hugo all his life still has progressive practical significance and is still worth carrying forward.

(Text/ Wu Yuetian, Ma Xiushan, excerpt from People's Daily, April 7, 2013, page 7)

Link: CCTV "Theatre of Nostalgia" French film "Les Misérables" (based on Hugo's novel of the same name) lines

"As long as there is poverty and ignorance in the world, then the story of this book is not useless" (film opening narration). The law is cruel to the poor. These criminals are desperate because of poverty and go from despair to crime. If you turn down my invitation, you're looking down on me, and you know I have a lot of self-esteem. Then please, we are walking together and not on the same path. Society is divided into two parts, one is the rule man, who has money; the other part has nothing; the first part is law-abiding, and the second part is against everything. My job is to maintain the first part of the people. What is more vast than the sea is the blue sky, and what is more vast than the blue sky is the human heart. Just because I didn't get married and had children, I was kicked out by the factory, I sold my furniture, my hair was sold, my teeth were sold, and people said you sold this last thing! None of us have fulfilled our responsibilities to these unfortunate people. You remember he made a lot of money making necklaces out of lacquer and branches, and it was with his invention (making black onyx jewelry) that I changed Montilly (a small seaside town). France is freedom! Do we want to be free or to die? You can go, Sheriff Ran Wei. I don't understand why you let me go? When did you ever understand! Isn't it sad to be alone here? The torrent of life continues. Jean Valjean, why did you let me go this morning? You still don't understand? I don't understand. Then I'm sorry. Sheriff Ran Wei, who "enforces the law impartially," cannot have his own thoughts and feelings. Inspired by Jean Valjean, he, the lackey of the banker and capitalist rich man, became a living man. I thought that when she had love, he (himself) would disappear. I'm going to England tomorrow. England again, it always wants to separate us (father and daughter). I hate Britain. How long do you go there? Always there. You'll be lonely, it's always raining there. The aquifers of Paris are like a labyrinth. Are you in the sewers? Yes, sometimes gentlemen have to succumb. A person who loses a loved one cannot survive. Jean Valjean saves a man from misery by virtue of the virtue of revenge, and when she enters a happy life, he disappears. It's like the day has passed and the night has come. Jean Valjean went to sleep happily, and he saw his grown-up child, Cosette, and his happiness.

The french movie "Les Misérables" broke the line of the rich man's daughter: Ah, mirror, you have a mirror in this room. College students, don't you know me? You rent our house and I'm next door to you. You're so pretty, your hands are so beautiful. You shouldn't live in a place like this. (pointing to the bread on the table), can I (eat)? Ah, thank you! A bit hard, but can practice teeth. I'm full today, this is rich, give it to you. Ah, five francs, we have something to eat here. It's delicious, and there's red wine. Miss, your new clothes have arrived. Do you like it? To you, we are both in the same shape. Ah, thank you so much! Rich people are generally not so generous, begging them for half a day before giving some old clothes. College students, do you see me wearing new clothes? It was your lady who gave it to me. I went to their house today. Why are you facing the soldier's gun chamber? Because the soldier is aiming at you and shooting. College student, this is the letter that the lady left for you, and I'll give it back to you. I said that if I told you the address of the lady, you would kiss me. Now, don't let go of me! Kiss me.