Thanks almost entirely to his mistress, Victor Hugo escaped France with his life and an early manuscript of Les Miserables. While living in exile and on an island close to the coast but under British control, he finishes the book 10 years later. It’s an immediate international smash hit, with an appeal so broad that even soldiers on BOTH sides of the US civil war love it.
From there it’s a roller coaster…hugely popular between 1860 and 1900 it falls out of favor as France turns conservative between 1900 and 1940. Its popularity re-energizes starting with the second world war, and then by 1980 it becomes one of the first big musicals in France, then takes over the London stage, and finally explodes on Broadway to become what many would call the most successful musical of all time.
So what has made this story so powerful? Is it the love story, the redemption of the main character, or the call to a revolution? Is it the intricate plot or the famous digressions, on topics from raw sewage to criminal slang, that run on for hundreds of pages? We’ll consider all of these possibilities in this episode of THM.
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