Approaches to Teaching Hugo’s Les Miserables

The greatest work of one of France’s greatest writers, Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables seemed stylistically and even politically out of date when it was published in 1862. But its indictment of injustice, concern for those suffering in misery, unapologetic embrace of the ideals of the French Revolution, and memorable characters have proved irresistible to readers for a century and a half. The novel’s length, multiple narratives, and encyclopedic digressiveness make it a pleasure to read but a challenge to teach, and this volume is designed to address the needs of instructors in a variety of courses that include the novel in excerpts or as a whole.

Part 1 of the volume,
Materials,
provides guidance on editions in French and in English translation, biographies, criticism, and maps. Part 2,
Approaches,
contains essays that discuss the novel’s conceptions of misere, sexuality, and the politics of the time and that demonstrate techniques for teaching the context of its literary market, adaptations, place in popular culture, and relation to other novels of its time.