Sep 5, 2008

Les Miserables | Critical Overview

Publishers bid against each other for the right to publish Les Miserables, no doubt sensing that the novel would be a great success. It had been awaited for years. The author's exile to Guernsey only increased his international reputation and the suspense of waiting for his next major work. Hugo received an unheard-of 300,000 francs as advance payment for the novel. But the publishers regained their investment and more when the book came out.

Les Miserables appeared in 1862, published by LaCroix of Brussels and Paris. It appeared simultaneously in Paris,...