In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original French title. Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France , the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy , antimonarchism , justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age—the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of women by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night—are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.
Towards the end of the novel, Hugo explains the work's overarching structure: [ 8 ]. The book which the reader has before him at this moment is, from one end to the other, in its entirety and details The starting point: matter, destination: the soul. The hydra at the beginning, the angel at the end. The novel contains various subplots, but the main thread is the story of ex-convict Jean Valjean , who becomes a force for good in the world but cannot escape his criminal past.
The novel is divided into 5 volumes, each divided into several books and subdivided into chapters, for a total of 48 books and chapters. Each chapter is relatively short, commonly no longer than a few pages. The novel as a whole is one of the longest ever written, [ 9 ] with , words in the original French.
Hugo explained his ambitions for the novel to his Italian publisher: [ 10 ]. I don't know whether it will be read by everyone, but it is meant for everyone. It addresses England as well as Spain, Italy as well as France, Germany as well as Ireland, the republics that harbour slaves as well as empires that have serfs. Social problems go beyond frontiers.
Humankind's wounds, those huge sores that litter the world, do not stop at the blue and red lines drawn on maps. More than a quarter of the novel—by one count of 2, pages—is devoted to essays that argue a moral point or display Hugo's encyclopedic knowledge but do not advance the plot, nor even a subplot, a method Hugo used in such other works as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Toilers of the Sea.
