Wilbour was hired by the Carleton Publishing Company to translate Hugo's grand masterpiece, and he did so very quickly, allowing the first American edition to be published within months of its French release. It anticipates Balzac in its realism, but in its flights of imagination and lyricism, its theme of redemption, and its melding of myth and history, it is uniquely Hugo” (Dolbow, 149, 214). Despite its length, complexity, and occasionally unbelievable plot and characterization, it remains a masterpiece of popular literature. Victor Hugo’s “great novel has been hailed as a masterpiece of popular literature, an epic poem in prose about God, humanity, and Hugo… Hugo hoped that Les Misérables would be one of if not the ‘principal summits’ of his body of works. Publisher’s matching cloth with gilt spine titles. Fantine (171 pages plus four-page publisher’s advertisement), Cosette (164 pages plus four-page publisher’s advertisement), Marius (150 pages plus two-page publisher’s advertisement), Saint Denis (184 pages), and Jean Valjean (165 pages plus two-page publisher’s advertisement). First American edition and first edition in English of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |