Les Miserables -- Plot summary and the real people who inspired it. Episode 9 (3 of 8).

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This episode covers 5 real historical figures that helped inspire the novel, and a whirlwind plot summary of the original Victor Hugo novel.

Errata:  For some reason I kept referring to the character Marius as "Marcus" -- please just skip that.  

Here's a link to the image of the Bishop's plaque, identifying that character in the novel is based on the actual Bishop of Deign.

Introduction

Against the odds, an early draft of Les Miserables made it out of Paris, with it’s author – Victor Hugo – in hiding for 9 days and with a price on his head.  The hero who saved the book is his mistress, who was also his copyist.  She smuggled a trunk with the manuscript to Brussels and then the island of Jersey, where she maintained a residence a stone’s throw from where Hugo was living with his wife and family.

When the book is finally published almost a decade later, Les Miserables instantly becomes the most commercially successful novel to that point in history.  Embedded within it are at least 3 different numerological references, what gamers today would call easter eggs.  These numbers are so obscure even the most crazed Les Mis fans would miss their significance.  What were they, and what did they mean?

And Les Mis is a work of fiction, but it very much is a commentary on its time. That time is one where who’s in charge of France shifts dramatically, and violently, about every 10 years.  Hugo writes the book in exile and has to recall the city of Paris from memory.  As he’s doing that, were his characters based on actual historical figures?  Was there an actual Cosette, or Fantine, or even Jean Valjean?

And, as always, what was this book about what was it’s message that has resonated with the audience?

We’ll figure this out and walk through the plot of this 1,500 page masterpiece, which takes as many twists, turns, and side trips as a barricaded French alley.  Let’s do it!  In this episode of Theater History and Mysteries.

Footnotes available in Episode 7 

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