Friday, January 25, 2013
Victor Hugo and the Problem of Guilt in Les Miserables
Victor Hugo was on the side of reaction during the days of revolution of 1848. He witnessed the barricades, the mass shootings of revolutionaries and the manhunts and remained silent at the time. Yet he moved in a more radical direction during the course of the rest of his life, and you're not meant to do that.
Les Miserables is an expiation for the remorse Hugo felt about the crushing of 1848. Just as Jean Valjean is hunted down over decades by the policeman Javert, so is Hugo haunted for many years by the guilt he experienced when he remembered the blood on the cobbles.
Les Miserables is an expiation for the remorse Hugo felt about the crushing of 1848. Just as Jean Valjean is hunted down over decades by the policeman Javert, so is Hugo haunted for many years by the guilt he experienced when he remembered the blood on the cobbles.
Labels: 1848, Les miserables, Victor Hugo
