Les Miserables, one of the great literary works of the nineteenth century, was written by novelist, poet, statesman, and overall man of affairs, Victor Hugo, in 1862. It’s a tale of romance and revolution, freedom and imprisonment, city and country, and the dialectical ferment of a society desperate to be reborn. Although widely thought to depict the French Revolution (1789-1792), it was actually written about the lesser known Paris Uprising of 1832, which Hugo lived through as a young man.
In this first episode of our two-part series on Les Miserables, we discuss the life and times of Victor Hugo, the composition and transformation of French class society, and how come we both kept falling for the same predictable plot twists involving some of Western literature’s most iconic characters.
**NOTE: This episode was recorded in spring 2021, so there are references that are about a year out-of-date. Also, we ran into some regrettable audio issues partway through the episode.
The Unseen Book Club: https://twitter.com/unseenbookclub
Music by ex-official: https://exofficialexo.bandcamp.com/
Art by Eli Liebman: https://elimack.weebly.com/