Ex-convict Jean Valjean seeks redemption while the relentless Inspector Javert pursues him across decades of French upheaval. A sweeping epic of justice, mercy, and revolution.
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes: “We do not think of Don Quixote but of Leonidas.”
La Jeune Malade by André Chénier: “This is the ending of the elegy of the 'Jeune Malade' by André Chénier”
Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène by Emmanuel de Las Cases: “He read the Moniteur, he read all the histories of the Republic and the Empire, the Memorial de Sainte-Helene, all the memoirs, all the newspapers, the bulletins, the proclamations; he devoured everything.”
Les Marguerites de la Marguerite by Marguerite de Navarre: “…were of the greatest rarity, among others, Les Quadrins Historiques de la Bible, edition of 1560; La Concordance des Bibles, by Pierre de Besse; Les Marguerites de la Marguerite, of Jean de La Haye, with a dedication to the Queen of Navarre; the book de la Charge et Dignite de l'Ambassadeur,…”
Gil Blas by Alain-René Lesage: “at the head of his edition of Gil Blas”
Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost: “Aspasia was a creature in whom two extremes of womanhood met; she was the goddess prostitute; Socrates plus Manon Lescaut.”
Claude Gueux by Victor Hugo: “It is in a little work entitled Claude Gueux that this word made its appearance.”
The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green: “Vous regardez une etoile pour deux motifs, parce qu’elle est lumineuse et parce qu’elle est impenetrable. … la femme.” Les Miserables.”
Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland: “Her eyes were worn out with copying out at night ... Les Misérables of Hugo.”
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño: “or The Magic Mountain ... or for that matter, Les Misérables or War and Peace.”
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón: “From that gold nib, we were informed, had sprung the manuscript of Les Miserables”
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut: “A comic book aboard the ship, given as "The Miserable Ones" (a literal translation of the French title), "about a man who stole some gold candlesticks from a priest who had been nice to him" — unmistakably Jean Valjean and the Bishop.”
Grant by Ron Chernow: “When he grew bored with playing cards on the boat, Julia inquired if he had ever read Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.”
Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis: “to regard “Les Miserables” as superior because the bishop was a kind man”
The Comedians by Graham Greene: “"There were Les Misérables in three volumes, Les Mystères de Paris with the last volume missing..." — described on Brown's family library shelves.”
The Art of Fiction by Ayn Rand: “The theme of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables is: the injustice done to the lower classes of society.”