Les Misérables (For Further Study)

For Further Study

• Elliot Grant, The Career of Victor Hugo, Harvard University Press, 1945.

  A very basic and useful study of Hugo's main novels and poetry.

• Richard B. Grant, The Perilous Quest: Image, Myth, and Prophecy in the Narration of Victor Hugo, Duke University Press, 1968.

  Hugo described himself as a "prophef' among men, as a translator of myths. This book analyzes this theme by examining Hugo's major novels.

• Kathryn M. Grossman, Les Misérables: Conversion, Revolution, Redemption, Twayne, 1996.

  Aimed specifically toward students, this work praises the novel as a book that "enables us to escape into the adventures of others: it brings us back to ourselves."

• John Porter Houston, Victor Hugo, Twayne, 1988.

  A good introduction to Hugo's life and works.

• Patricia Ward, The Medievalism of Victor Hugo, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975.

  Hugo was fascinated by the mysteries and secrets of medieval times. Although Les Misérables cannot really be called a Gothic novel, some of its episodes, like those in the sewers, belong to the genre.