Les Misérables (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Victor Hugo
- First Published: 1862
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: c. 1815-1835
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: Justice, Revolutionaries, France or French people, Suicide, Police, Nineteenth century, Mistaken or secret identity, Obsession, Illegitimacy, Theft, Orphans or orphanages, Atonement
- Locales: Paris, France
Places Discussed
*Paris. Capital of France in whose mean—and mainly unknown—neighborhoods most of the novel is set. In setting most of his action in these neighborhoods, Hugo emphasizes how a great majority of honest and hard-working people (“les misérables”) live in overcrowded and dilapidated conditions. His criticism does not originate in class warfare but rather out of a desire to help improve their unbearable situation. Many streets mentioned in the novel were destroyed or absorbed in other wider arteries during various urban renewals, especially under the Second...
[The entire page is 1218 words long]
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