I’m going to be spending some time on the sadder themes of Les Miserables, but I want to note this novel is immensely popular, and the storytelling balances the harrowing with the triumphant, so it isn’t all misery. Here are some quotes to give you a feel for the beauty of Victor Hugo’s prose.
”I will weep for the children of kings with you, if you will weep with me for the little ones of the people.”
”Be it true or false, what is said about men often has as much influence upon their lives, and especially upon their destinies, as what they do.”
”The bishop’s palace at D—was contiguous to the hospital. The palace was a spacious and beautiful edifice, built of stone near the beginning of the last century by Monseigneur Henri Pujet, a doctor of theology of the Faculty of Paris, abbé of Simore, who was bishop of D— in 1712. The palace was in truth a lordly dwelling: there was an air of grandeur about everything, the apartments of the bishop, the saloons, the chambers, court of honour, which was very large, with arched walks after the antique Florentine style, and a garden planted with magnificent trees.”
”Madame Magloire usually called him Your Greatness. One day he rose from his armchair, and went to his library for a book. It was upon one of the upper shelves, and as the bishop was rather short, he could not reach it. ‘Madame Magloire,’ said he, ‘bring me a chair. My greatness does not extend to this shelf.’”
”Liberation is not deliverance. A convict may leave the galleys behind, but not his condemnation.”
QOTD: What do you think of the prose of Victor Hugo?
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