The tribute to Victor Hugo goes on today. He with his writings tried to show us the evil of indifference. The urgently necessity of the people become more aware about their rights and the importance of justice to everyone, not only for those directly involved. This post is a summary of three articles. The first was published at https://academic.oup.com/fs/article/63/1/66/538448. The second was published at https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1572&context=honors. The third was published at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/326583/les-miserables-by-victor-hugo/9781598876994/readers-guide/
Navigating the sheer magnitude of a phenomenon whose name adorns a street in every corner of France is a daunting prospect for any scholar. Claude Millet articulated concerns that Hugo's name had been repeatedly exploited at both ends of the political spectrum. Millet argued that Hugo's own oscillations back and forth between conservatism and liberalism had woven him into the very fabric of modern France's unstable political evolution. Hugo's moral resilience quickly became an emblem of a lost political integrity. On both left and right, Hugo could serve as a figure of reassurance, compensating for the perceived erosion of republican values. Unlike other literary luminaries such as Johann von Goethe or Voltaire whose place in history is more consensual, Hugo stood as both the state's greatest advocate and its most formidable opponent. Such ambivalence at a time of deep political anxiety greatly sharpened the focus on the myths and fervours surrounding Hugo, diverting attention away from his actual work. What has emerged with Hugo is a complicated sense of self that anticipates modernism's multiplicity. A figure of contrasts as opposed to simple contradictions. Hugo's solution to poverty was simple: education. He stressed the importance of education in Les Miserables by listing wet nurses and school teachers, the two professions most directly involved in educating the youth of France. Education not only alleviated poverty, but in Hugo's estimation, eradicated crime. Once again, Hugo's calls for education were timely. In 1851 only 51% of children in France between 5 and 14 attended school. By 1886 that number had increased to 68%, but still fell far short of Hugo's standards. He predicted that the need for "universal education" would soon be considered an absolute truth. An educated public was a prerequisite for the republican society. The effects of Les Miserables were soon felt within the government. The new awareness of the social issues depicted within Les Miserables caused the 1862 session of parliament to place prison reform, orphan care, education, and care for exploited women on the agenda. Due to the influence of his writings in exile, Victor Hugo became the symbolic leader of French republicanism. Hugo's passionate pleas for bourgeois compassion on social issues had also taken root among this "new middle class." Historian Katherine Auspitz argues that the republicans who founded the Third Republic believed that the regime would only be successful if, "peasants, workers, and women, as well as bourgeois men believed themselves to be heirs of 1789. Hugo's self-image as the embodiment of French Republicanism was accurate. From the time of his exile in 1851 to his return in 1870 he tirelessly championed the cause of republicanism in his writings. Twenty years in the conception and execution, Les Miserables was first published in france and Belgium in 1862. True to Hugo's political stance, he had written a book about the people that was for the people, a book that demanded a change in society's judgement of its citizens. The Revolution and Republic of France had failed to redress the social conditions in which many French citizens languished. Les Miserables became an expression of and an inspiration for that attempt. The poor and the disenfranchised understood Hugo's message, accepted the affirmation he gave them. and worshipped him as their spokesman. The struggling people of France had found an articulate illustration of the unjust forces arrayed against them. Hugo's gift to the people affirms that every citizen is important to the health of the nation and emphasizes how that fact gives each individual responsibility for the conditions we all share. He illustrate a system of injustice, but in that same sphere, a single gesture of kindness redeems the world. He shows us a civilization based on self-interest and profit, but in one generous act the possibilities of a better world become manifest. Les Miserables is one of history's greatest manifest of hope for humankind. The immense popularity of this story has not diminished over time. Why does this story continue to charm and inspire audiences and readers? In our time, as there was in Hugo's, greed and violence undermine true progress; human life is rendered meaningless through materialism and nihilism; children the world over suffer neglect and ignorance. Hugo illustrate how the most profound revolution takes place in our individual consciences. Les Miserables incites us to make the best fight of our lives, the fight to become authentically good people and gives us hope that our efforts will not be in vain. Time can not change the necessity or urgency of that message, only people can.
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