Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, Isabel Florence Hapgood — Bibliomancer edition cover
Read free online

Free to read online. No account needed.

Fiction · 1862

Les Misérables

Victor Hugo · translated by Isabel Florence Hapgood

Reading time
about 40.5 h
Length
560,667 words · 1438 pages
Structure
365 chapters · 3 front-matter sections
Language
English (translated from French)
Era
Victorian

Jean Valjean serves nineteen years in the galleys for stealing a loaf of bread, is handed a bishop’s silver instead of being denounced, and spends the rest of his life trying to become an honest man while Inspector Javert follows him. Around that pursuit Victor Hugo assembles a whole society: Fantine, her daughter Cosette, the Thénardiers, the student Marius, the street child Gavroche, and the barricades of June 1832.

Hugo worked at the book for the better part of twenty years, much of it in exile on Guernsey, and published it in five parts in 1862. It is a novel, a moral argument and a history of Paris at once — Waterloo, the convent, the sewers, the language of thieves — and it stops for all of them.

This edition uses the English translation by Isabel Florence Hapgood, published in 1887. Because of its length the complete text is issued in three matching volumes.

Contents

  1. Preface
  2. Volume I — Fantine
  3. Book First — A Just Man
  4. Chapter I — M. Myriel
  5. Chapter II — M. Myriel Becomes M. Welcome
  6. Chapter III — A Hard Bishopric for a Good Bishop
  7. Chapter IV — Works Corresponding to Words
  8. Chapter V — Monseigneur Bienvenu Made His Cassocks Last Too Long
  9. Chapter VI — Who Guarded His House for Him
  10. Chapter VII — Cravatte
  11. Chapter VIII — Philosophy After Drinking
  12. Chapter IX — The Brother as Depicted by the Sister
  13. Chapter X — The Bishop in the Presence of an Unknown Light
  14. Chapter XI — A Restriction
  15. Chapter XII — The Solitude of Monseigneur Welcome
  16. Chapter XIII — What He Believed
  17. Chapter XIV — What He Thought
  18. Book Second — The Fall
  19. Chapter I — The Evening of a Day of Walking
  20. Chapter II — Prudence Counselled to Wisdom
  21. Chapter III — The Heroism of Passive Obedience
  22. Chapter IV — Details Concerning the Cheese-Dairies of Pontarlier
  23. Chapter V — Tranquillity
  24. Chapter VI — Jean Valjean
  25. Chapter VII — The Interior of Despair
  26. Chapter VIII — Billows and Shadows
  27. Chapter IX — New Troubles
  28. Chapter X — The Man Aroused
  29. Chapter XI — What He Does
  30. Chapter XII — The Bishop Works
  31. Chapter XIII — Little Gervais
  32. Book Third — In the Year 1817
  33. Chapter I — The Year 1817
  34. Chapter II — A Double Quartette
  35. Chapter III — Four and Four
  36. Chapter IV — Tholomyès Is So Merry That He Sings a Spanish Ditty
  37. Chapter V — At Bombarda’s
  38. Chapter VI — A Chapter in Which They Adore Each Other
  39. Chapter VII — The Wisdom of Tholomyès
  40. Chapter VIII — The Death of a Horse
  41. Chapter IX — A Merry End to Mirth
  42. Book Fourth — To Confide Is Sometimes to Deliver Into a Person’s Power
  43. Chapter I — One Mother Meets Another Mother
  44. Chapter II — First Sketch of Two Unprepossessing Figures
  45. Chapter III — The Lark
  46. Book Fifth — The Descent
  47. Chapter I — The History of a Progress in Black Glass Trinkets
  48. Chapter II — Madeleine
  49. Chapter III — Sums Deposited with Laffitte
  50. Chapter IV — M. Madeleine in Mourning
  51. Chapter V — Vague Flashes on the Horizon
  52. Chapter VI — Father Fauchelevent
  53. Chapter VII — Fauchelevent Becomes a Gardener in Paris
  54. Chapter VIII — Madame Victurnien Expends Thirty Francs on Morality
  55. Chapter IX — Madame Victurnien’s Success
  56. Chapter X — Result of the Success
  57. Chapter XI — Christus Nos Liberavit
  58. Chapter XII — M. Bamatabois’s Inactivity
  59. Chapter XIII — The Solution of Some Questions Connected with the Municipal Police
  60. Book Sixth — Javert
  61. Chapter I — The Beginning of Repose
  62. Chapter II — How Jean May Become Champ
  63. Book Seventh — The Champmathieu Affair
  64. Chapter I — Sister Simplice
  65. Chapter II — The Perspicacity of Master Scaufflaire
  66. Chapter III — A Tempest in a Skull
  67. Chapter IV — Forms Assumed by Suffering During Sleep
  68. Chapter V — Hindrances
  69. Chapter VI — Sister Simplice Put to the Proof
  70. Chapter VII — The Traveller on His Arrival Takes Precautions for Departure
  71. Chapter VIII — An Entrance by Favor
  72. Chapter IX — A Place Where Convictions Are in Process of Formation
  73. Chapter X — The System of Denials
  74. Chapter XI — Champmathieu More and More Astonished
  75. Book Eighth — A Counter-Blow
  76. Chapter I — In What Mirror M. Madeleine Contemplates His Hair
  77. Chapter II — Fantine Happy
  78. Chapter III — Javert Satisfied
  79. Chapter IV — Authority Reasserts Its Rights
  80. Chapter V — A Suitable Tomb
  81. Volume II — Cosette
  82. Book First — Waterloo
  83. Chapter I — What Is Met with on the Way from Nivelles
  84. Chapter II — Hougomont
  85. Chapter III — The Eighteenth of June, 1815
  86. Chapter IV — A
  87. Chapter V — The Quid Obscurum of Battles
  88. Chapter VI — Four O’clock in the Afternoon
  89. Chapter VII — Napoleon in a Good Humor
  90. Chapter VIII — The Emperor Puts a Question to the Guide Lacoste
  91. Chapter IX — The Unexpected
  92. Chapter X — The Plateau of Mont-Saint-Jean
  93. Chapter XI — A Bad Guide to Napoleon; A Good Guide to Bülow
  94. Chapter XII — The Guard
  95. Chapter XIII — The Catastrophe
  96. Chapter XIV — The Last Square
  97. Chapter XV — Cambronne
  98. Chapter XVI — Quot Libras in Duce?
  99. Chapter XVII — Is Waterloo to Be Considered Good?
  100. Chapter XVIII — A Recrudescence of Divine Right
  101. Chapter XIX — The Battle-Field at Night
  102. Book Second — The Ship Orion
  103. Chapter I — Number 24,601 Becomes Number 9,430
  104. Chapter II — In Which the Reader Will Peruse Two Verses, Which Are of the Devil’s Composition, Possibly
  105. Chapter III — The Ankle-Chain Must Have Undergone a Certain Preparatory Manipulation to Be Thus Broken with a Blow from a Hammer
  106. Book Third — Accomplishment of the Promise Made to the Dead Woman
  107. Chapter I — The Water Question at Montfermeil
  108. Chapter II — Two Complete Portraits
  109. Chapter III — Men Must Have Wine, and Horses Must Have Water
  110. Chapter IV — Entrance on the Scene of a Doll
  111. Chapter V — The Little One All Alone
  112. Chapter VI — Which Possibly Proves Boulatruelle’s Intelligence
  113. Chapter VII — Cosette Side by Side with the Stranger in the Dark
  114. Chapter VIII — The Unpleasantness of Receiving Into One’s House a Poor Man Who May Be a Rich Man
  115. Chapter IX — Thénardier and His Manœuvres
  116. Chapter X — He Who Seeks to Better Himself May Render His Situation Worse
  117. Chapter XI — Number 9,430 Reappears, and Cosette Wins It in the Lottery
  118. Book Fourth — The Gorbeau Hovel
  119. Chapter I — Master Gorbeau
  120. Chapter II — A Nest for Owl and a Warbler
  121. Chapter III — Two Misfortunes Make One Piece of Good Fortune
  122. Chapter IV — The Remarks of the Principal Tenant
  123. Chapter V — A Five-Franc Piece Falls on the Ground and Produces a Tumult
  124. Book Fifth — For a Black Hunt, a Mute Pack
  125. Chapter I — The Zigzags of Strategy
  126. Chapter II — It Is Lucky That the Pont D’austerlitz Bears Carriages
  127. Chapter III — To Wit, the Plan of Paris in 1727
  128. Chapter IV — The Gropings of Flight
  129. Chapter V — Which Would Be Impossible with Gas Lanterns
  130. Chapter VI — The Beginning of an Enigma
  131. Chapter VII — Continuation of the Enigma
  132. Chapter VIII — The Enigma Becomes Doubly Mysterious
  133. Chapter IX — The Man with the Bell
  134. Chapter X — Which Explains How Javert Got on the Scent
  135. Book Sixth — Le Petit-Picpus
  136. Chapter I — Number 62 Rue Petit-Picpus
  137. Chapter II — The Obedience of Martin Verga
  138. Chapter III — Austerities
  139. Chapter IV — Gayeties
  140. Chapter V — Distractions
  141. Chapter VI — The Little Convent
  142. Chapter VII — Some Silhouettes of This Darkness
  143. Chapter VIII — Post Corda Lapides
  144. Chapter IX — A Century Under a Guimpe
  145. Chapter X — Origin of the Perpetual Adoration
  146. Chapter XI — End of the Petit-Picpus
  147. Book Seventh — Parenthesis
  148. Chapter I — The Convent as an Abstract Idea
  149. Chapter II — The Convent as an Historical Fact
  150. Chapter III — On What Conditions One Can Respect the Past
  151. Chapter IV — The Convent from the Point of View of Principles
  152. Chapter V — Prayer
  153. Chapter VI — The Absolute Goodness of Prayer
  154. Chapter VII — Precautions to Be Observed in Blame
  155. Chapter VIII — Faith, Law
  156. Book Eighth — Cemeteries Take That Which Is Committed Them
  157. Chapter I — Which Treats of the Manner of Entering a Convent
  158. Chapter II — Fauchelevent in the Presence of a Difficulty
  159. Chapter III — Mother Innocente
  160. Chapter IV — In Which Jean Valjean Has Quite the Air of Having Read Austin Castillejo
  161. Chapter V — It Is Not Necessary to Be Drunk in Order to Be Immortal
  162. Chapter VI — Between Four Planks
  163. Chapter VII — In Which Will Be Found the Origin of the Saying: Don’t Lose the Card
  164. Chapter VIII — A Successful Interrogatory
  165. Chapter IX — Cloistered
  166. Volume III — Marius
  167. Book First — Paris Studied in Its Atom
  168. Chapter I — Parvulus
  169. Chapter II — Some of His Particular Characteristics
  170. Chapter III — He Is Agreeable
  171. Chapter IV — He May Be of Use
  172. Chapter V — His Frontiers
  173. Chapter VI — A Bit of History
  174. Chapter VII — The Gamin Should Have His Place in the Classifications of India
  175. Chapter VIII — In Which the Reader Will Find a Charming Saying of the Last King
  176. Chapter IX — The Old Soul of Gaul
  177. Chapter X — Ecce Paris, Ecce Homo
  178. Chapter XI — To Scoff, to Reign
  179. Chapter XII — The Future Latent in the People
  180. Chapter XIII — Little Gavroche
  181. Book Second — The Great Bourgeois
  182. Chapter I — Ninety Years and Thirty-Two Teeth
  183. Chapter II — Like Master, Like House
  184. Chapter III — Luc-Esprit
  185. Chapter IV — A Centenarian Aspirant
  186. Chapter V — Basque and Nicolette
  187. Chapter VI — In Which Magnon and Her Two Children Are Seen
  188. Chapter VII — Rule: Receive No One Except in the Evening
  189. Chapter VIII — Two Do Not Make a Pair
  190. Book Third — The Grandfather and the Grandson
  191. Chapter I — An Ancient Salon
  192. Chapter II — One of the Red Spectres of That Epoch
  193. Chapter III — Requiescant
  194. The conclusion of Marius’ classical studies coincided with M
  195. Chapter V — The Utility of Going to Mass, in Order to Become a Revolutionist
  196. Chapter VI — The Consequences of Having Met a Warden
  197. Chapter VII — Some Petticoat
  198. Chapter VIII — Marble Against Granite
  199. Book Fourth — The Friends of the a B C
  200. Chapter I — A Group Which Barely Missed Becoming Historic
  201. Chapter II — Blondeau’s Funeral Oration by Bossuet
  202. Chapter III — Marius’ Astonishments
  203. Chapter IV — The Back Room of the Café Musain
  204. Chapter V — Enlargement of Horizon
  205. Chapter VI — Res Angusta
  206. Book Fifth — The Excellence of Misfortune
  207. Chapter I — Marius Indigent
  208. Chapter II — Marius Poor
  209. Chapter III — Marius Grown Up
  210. Chapter IV — M. Mabeuf
  211. Chapter V — Poverty a Good Neighbor for Misery
  212. Chapter VI — The Substitute
  213. Book Sixth — The Conjunction of Two Stars
  214. Chapter I — The Sobriquet: Mode of Formation of Family Names
  215. Chapter II — Lux Facta Est
  216. Chapter III — Effect of the Spring
  217. Chapter IV — Beginning of a Great Malady
  218. Chapter V — Divers Claps of Thunder Fall on Ma’am Bougon
  219. Chapter VI — Taken Prisoner
  220. Chapter VII — Adventures of the Letter U Delivered Over to Conjectures
  221. Chapter VIII — The Veterans Themselves Can Be Happy
  222. Chapter IX — Eclipse
  223. Book Seventh — Patron Minette
  224. Chapter I — Mines and Miners
  225. Chapter II — The Lowest Depths
  226. Chapter III — Babet, Gueulemer, Claquesous, and Montparnasse
  227. Chapter IV — Composition of the Troupe
  228. Book Eighth — The Wicked Poor Man
  229. Chapter I — Marius, While Seeking a Girl in a Bonnet, Encounters a Man in a Cap
  230. Chapter II — Treasure Trove
  231. Chapter III — Quadrifrons
  232. Chapter IV — A Rose in Misery
  233. Chapter V — A Providential Peep-Hole
  234. Chapter VI — The Wild Man in His Lair
  235. Chapter VII — Strategy and Tactics
  236. Chapter VIII — The Ray of Light in the Hovel
  237. Chapter IX — Jondrette Comes Near Weeping
  238. Chapter X — Tariff of Licensed Cabs: Two Francs an Hour
  239. Chapter XI — Offers of Service from Misery to Wretchedness
  240. Chapter XII — The Use Made of M. Leblanc’s Five-Franc Piece
  241. Chapter XIII — Solus Cum Solo, in Loco Remoto, Non Cogitabuntur Orare Pater Noster
  242. Chapter XIV — In Which a Police Agent Bestows Two Fistfuls on a Lawyer
  243. Chapter XV — Jondrette Makes His Purchases
  244. Chapter XVI — In Which Will Be Found the Words to an English Air Which Was in Fashion in 1832
  245. Chapter XVII — The Use Made of Marius’ Five-Franc Piece
  246. Chapter XVIII — Marius’ Two Chairs Form a Vis-a-Vis
  247. Chapter XIX — Occupying One’s Self with Obscure Depths
  248. Chapter XX — The Trap
  249. Chapter XXI — One Should Always Begin by Arresting the Victims
  250. Chapter XXII — The Little One Who Was Crying in Volume Two
  251. Volume IV — Saint-Denis
  252. Book First — A Few Pages of History
  253. Chapter I — Well Cut
  254. Chapter II — Badly Sewed
  255. Chapter III — Louis Philippe
  256. Chapter IV — Cracks Beneath the Foundation
  257. Chapter V — Facts Whence History Springs and Which History Ignores
  258. Chapter VI — Enjolras and His Lieutenants
  259. Book Second — Éponine
  260. Chapter I — The Lark’s Meadow
  261. Chapter II — Embryonic Formation of Crimes in the Incubation of Prisons
  262. Chapter III — Apparition to Father Mabeuf
  263. Chapter IV — An Apparition to Marius
  264. Book Third — The House in the Rue Plumet
  265. Chapter I — The House with a Secret
  266. Chapter II — Jean Valjean as a National Guard
  267. Chapter III — Foliis Ac Frondibus
  268. Chapter IV — Change of Gate
  269. Chapter V — The Rose Perceives That It Is an Engine of War
  270. Chapter VI — The Battle Begun
  271. Chapter VII — To One Sadness Oppose a Sadness and a Half
  272. Chapter VIII — The Chain-Gang
  273. Book Fourth — Succor from Below May Turn Out to Be Succor from on High
  274. Chapter I — A Wound Without, Healing Within
  275. Chapter II — Mother Plutarque Finds No Difficulty in Explaining a Phenomenon
  276. Book Fifth — The End of Which Does Not Resemble the Beginning
  277. Chapter I — Solitude and the Barracks Combined
  278. Chapter II — Cosette’s Apprehensions
  279. Chapter III — Enriched with Commentaries by Toussaint
  280. Chapter IV — A Heart Beneath a Stone
  281. Chapter V — Cosette After the Letter
  282. Chapter VI — Old People Are Made to Go Out Opportunely
  283. Book Sixth — Little Gavroche
  284. Chapter I — The Malicious Playfulness of the Wind
  285. Chapter II — In Which Little Gavroche Extracts Profit from Napoleon the Great
  286. Chapter III — The Vicissitudes of Flight
  287. Book Seventh — Slang
  288. Chapter I — Origin
  289. Chapter II — Roots
  290. Chapter III — Slang Which Weeps and Slang Which Laughs
  291. Chapter IV — The Two Duties: To Watch and to Hope
  292. Book Eighth — Enchantments and Desolations
  293. Chapter I — Full Light
  294. Chapter II — The Bewilderment of Perfect Happiness
  295. Chapter III — The Beginning of Shadow
  296. Chapter IV — A Cab Runs in English and Barks in Slang
  297. Chapter V — Things of the Night
  298. Chapter VI — Marius Becomes Practical Once More to the Extent of Giving Cosette His Address
  299. Chapter VII — The Old Heart and the Young Heart in the Presence of Each Other
  300. Book Ninth — Whither Are They Going?
  301. Chapter I — Jean Valjean
  302. Chapter II — Marius
  303. Chapter III — M. Mabeuf
  304. Book Tenth — The 5th of June, 1832
  305. Chapter I — The Surface of the Question
  306. Chapter II — The Root of the Matter
  307. Chapter III — A Burial; An Occasion to Be Born Again
  308. Chapter IV — The Ebullitions of Former Days
  309. Chapter V — Originality of Paris
  310. Book Eleventh — The Atom Fraternizes with the Hurricane
  311. Chapter I — Some Explanations with Regard to the Origin of Gavroche’s Poetry. The Influence of an Academician on This Poetry
  312. Chapter II — Gavroche on the March
  313. Chapter III — Just Indignation of a Hair-Dresser
  314. Chapter IV — The Child Is Amazed at the Old Man
  315. Chapter V — The Old Man
  316. Chapter VI — Recruits
  317. Book Twelfth — Corinthe
  318. Chapter I — History of Corinthe from Its Foundation
  319. Chapter II — Preliminary Gayeties
  320. Chapter III — Night Begins to Descend Upon Grantaire
  321. Chapter IV — An Attempt to Console the Widow Hucheloup
  322. Chapter V — Preparations
  323. Chapter VI — Waiting
  324. Chapter VII — The Man Recruited in the Rue Des Billettes
  325. Chapter VIII — Many Interrogation Points with Regard to a Certain Le Cabuc Whose Name May Not Have Been Le Cabuc
  326. Book Thirteenth — Marius Enters the Shadow
  327. Chapter I — From the Rue Plumet to the Quartier Saint-Denis
  328. Chapter II — An Owl’s View of Paris
  329. Chapter III — The Extreme Edge
  330. Book Fourteenth — The Grandeurs of Despair
  331. Chapter I — The Flag: Act First
  332. Chapter II — The Flag: Act Second
  333. Chapter III — Gavroche Would Have Done Better to Accept Enjolras’ Carbine
  334. Chapter IV — The Barrel of Powder
  335. Chapter V — End of the Verses of Jean Prouvaire
  336. Chapter VI — The Agony of Death After the Agony of Life
  337. Chapter VII — Gavroche as a Profound Calculator of Distances
  338. Book Fifteenth — The Rue de L’homme Armé
  339. Chapter I — A Drinker Is a Babbler
  340. Chapter II — The Street Urchin an Enemy of Light
  341. Chapter III — While Cosette and Toussaint Are Asleep
  342. Chapter IV — Gavroche’s Excess of Zeal
  343. Volume V — Jean Valjean
  344. Book First — The War Between Four Walls
  345. Chapter I — The Charybdis of the Faubourg Saint Antoine and the Scylla of the Faubourg du Temple
  346. Chapter II — What Is to Be Done in the Abyss If One Does Not Converse
  347. Chapter III — Light and Shadow
  348. Chapter IV — Minus Five, Plus One
  349. Chapter V — The Horizon Which One Beholds from the Summit of a Barricade
  350. Chapter VI — Marius Haggard, Javert Laconic
  351. Chapter VII — The Situation Becomes Aggravated
  352. Chapter VIII — The Artillery-Men Compel People to Take Them Seriously
  353. Chapter IX — Employment of the Old Talents of a Poacher and That Infallible Marksmanship Which Influenced the Condemnation of 1796
  354. Chapter X — Dawn
  355. Chapter XI — The Shot Which Misses Nothing and Kills No One
  356. Chapter XII — Disorder a Partisan of Order
  357. Chapter XIII — Passing Gleams
  358. Chapter XIV — Wherein Will Appear the Name of Enjolras’ Mistress
  359. Chapter XV — Gavroche Outside
  360. Chapter XVI — How from a Brother One Becomes a Father
  361. Chapter XVII — Mortuus Pater Filium Moriturum Expectat
  362. Chapter XVIII — The Vulture Become Prey
  363. Chapter XIX — Jean Valjean Takes His Revenge
  364. Chapter XX — The Dead Are in the Right and the Living Are Not in the Wrong
  365. Chapter XXI — The Heroes
  366. Chapter XXII — Foot to Foot
  367. Chapter XXIII — Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk
  368. Chapter XXIV — Prisoner
  369. Book Second — The Intestine of the Leviathan
  370. Chapter I — The Land Impoverished by the Sea
  371. Chapter II — Ancient History of the Sewer
  372. Chapter III — Bruneseau
  373. Chapter IV
  374. Chapter V — Present Progress
  375. Chapter VI — Future Progress
  376. Book Third — Mud but the Soul
  377. Chapter I — The Sewer and Its Surprises
  378. Chapter II — Explanation
  379. Chapter III — The “Spun” Man
  380. Chapter IV — He Also Bears His Cross
  381. Chapter V — In the Case of Sand as in That of Woman, There Is a Fineness Which Is Treacherous
  382. Chapter VI — The Fontis
  383. Chapter VII — One Sometimes Runs Aground When One Fancies That One Is Disembarking
  384. Chapter VIII — The Torn Coat-Tail
  385. Chapter IX — Marius Produces on Some One Who Is a Judge of the Matter, the Effect of Being Dead
  386. Chapter X — Return of the Son Who Was Prodigal of His Life
  387. Chapter XI — Concussion in the Absolute
  388. Chapter XII — The Grandfather
  389. Book Fourth — Javert Derailed
  390. Chapter I
  391. Book Fifth — Grandson and Grandfather
  392. Chapter I — In Which the Tree with the Zinc Plaster Appears Again
  393. Chapter II — Marius, Emerging from Civil War, Makes Ready for Domestic War
  394. Chapter III — Marius Attacked
  395. Chapter IV — Mademoiselle Gillenormand Ends by No Longer Thinking It a Bad Thing That M. Fauchelevent Should Have Entered with Something Under His Arm
  396. Chapter V — Deposit Your Money in a Forest Rather Than with a Notary
  397. Chapter VI — The Two Old Men Do Everything, Each One After His Own Fashion, to Render Cosette Happy
  398. Chapter VII — The Effects of Dreams Mingled with Happiness
  399. Chapter VIII — Two Men Impossible to Find
  400. Book Sixth — The Sleepless Night
  401. Chapter I — The 16th of February, 1833
  402. Chapter II — Jean Valjean Still Wears His Arm in a Sling
  403. Chapter III — The Inseparable
  404. Chapter IV — The Immortal Liver 68
  405. Book Seventh — The Last Draught from the Cup
  406. Chapter I — The Seventh Circle and the Eighth Heaven
  407. Chapter II — The Obscurities Which a Revelation Can Contain
  408. Book Eighth — Fading Away of the Twilight
  409. Chapter I — The Lower Chamber
  410. Chapter II — Another Step Backwards
  411. Chapter III — They Recall the Garden of the Rue Plumet
  412. Chapter IV — Attraction and Extinction
  413. Book Ninth — Supreme Shadow, Supreme Dawn
  414. Chapter I — Pity for the Unhappy, but Indulgence for the Happy
  415. Chapter II — Last Flickerings of a Lamp Without Oil
  416. Chapter III — A Pen Is Heavy to the Man Who Lifted the Fauchelevent’s Cart
  417. Chapter IV — A Bottle of Ink Which Only Succeeded in Whitening
  418. Chapter V — A Night Behind Which There Is Day
  419. Chapter VI — The Grass Covers and the Rain Effaces
  420. Letter to M. Daelli
  421. Footnotes

New editions

Never lose your place.

This book is free to read in full, and stays that way. Leave an address: one click confirms it and opens a free account, so your progress and bookmarks sync across every device. You'll also hear when the next restored edition enters the archive. Terminate at any time.

Confirming opens a free account under the terms and privacy policy.

About this edition

The text is free of copyright. This edition was prepared from an authoritative digitisation, processed by Bibliomancer under its own review protocol; every automated correction is recorded in its transformation log. Rights assessed for CA, EU, GB, US.

Part of The French Novel.

Source mind

About the author

Victor Hugo

1802–1885 · Victorian

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) was born at Besançon and was famous as a poet and dramatist before he was thirty; Notre-Dame de Paris appeared in 1831. A peer of France who turned republican, he went into exile after Louis-Napoleon’s coup of 1851 and spent nineteen years in Jersey and Guernsey, where he wrote Les Misérables (1862). He returned to Paris in 1870, was given a state funeral in 1885 and is buried in the Panthéon.

Adjacent records

If you enjoy Les Misérables

Open the archive