KDS’ FAVOURITE WESTERN BOOKS: LES MISERABLES

西方文化必读书籍之《悲惨世界》

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT?

内容概览

What doesn’t happen in the plot of Les Miserables? In this 365-chapter, 1,000+ page novel, French literary great Victor Hugo describes the misery, love and ultimately redemption of ex-convict Jean Valjean. Valjean represents the best of humanity, a man who serves 19 hard years in prison for a theft driven by economic hardship yet continues to give back to the society that wronged him. As the narrative follows Valjean from embittered social outcast to honorable man, many other characters are introduced at varying levels of complexity, highlighting the consequences of social injustice and illustrating a range of human feelings including love, loneliness, and honor.

还有什么比《悲惨世界》更惨的？这本365章节、1000多页的鸿篇巨著中，伟大的法国文豪维克多·雨果，用笔杆描写了前科犯冉阿让的故事——悲惨、爱和最后得到的救赎。主人公冉阿让代表了人性至善的一面，穷困潦倒而偷东西，进而因盗窃罪入狱19年。即使社会对他并不公正，他却始终回报着社会。故事讲述了冉阿让从心怀怨恨的社会流浪者，成为受人尊敬的先生，过程中引入了许多其他人物，不同人物展现了人性的复杂。小说强调社会的不公正待遇，同时描绘了一系列人类最纯真的感情，包括爱、孤独和荣誉。

WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND IT?

小说背后的故事

Hugo wrote Les Miserables amid the injustices of nineteenth-century France, and unlike much of the literature of his time, Les Miserables was not written exclusively for the literate elite but instead describes the plights and possibilities for working-class society. Jean Valjean’s specific crime is based on a similar incident Hugo witnessed on the streets of Paris, when an impoverished man was arrested for stealing bread. Even as Hugo provides a critique upon the society that subjects his characters to such misery and injustice, he also shows how they are able to transcend their societal constraints with the help of love and compassion.

雨果写《悲惨世界》的时候正值法国19世纪的黑暗时期，同时期的其他作品是为受过教育的精英阶层写的，相反，《悲惨世界》描述的是工薪阶层的困境和机遇。冉阿让的所犯罪行的原型，是雨果在巴黎街头亲眼所见的一件小事——一个穷人偷了面包而被捕。雨果赋予了人物很多的悲惨经历和不公平待遇，虽然批评了整个社会，但是另一方面，也想展示人们如何在爱和同情的帮助下，冲破社会不公正的枷锁。

WHAT’S SO AWESOME ABOUT IT?

此书妙在何处？

Les Mis has too many characters for readers not to love at least one, and for me this character is Eponine, the daughter of criminals who reaches adolescence in rags after a pampered childhood. Although Eponine comes from a morally bereft family, she ends up making tremendous personal sacrifices to do the right thing, and her tragic story of unrequited love invites compassion despite her shady background. Such complex characters make this novel memorable and give it a real human element, making their miserable circumstances that much more compelling.

《悲惨世界》塑造了太多生动的人物，让人不得不爱。我最爱的人物是艾潘妮，她是罪犯德纳第夫妇的女儿，从小倍受溺爱，青年时期却十分悲惨。尽管艾潘妮来自道德缺失的家庭，最后她依然为践行正道不惜牺牲个人利益。虽然她名声不好，但她富有悲剧色彩的暗恋，还是博得了读者的同情。小说令人难忘的，正是这些复杂的人物形象，同时，这些人物也赋予此书真实的人性元素，使得人物角色的悲惨经历更打动人心。

THIS IS GREAT TO READ WHEN…

最佳阅读时机

This is a great book for when you have a lot of time, as you will need a lot of reading hours to get into this work of classic literature – it was certainly not written for a generation accustomed to 6-second Vines and 140-character Tweets – and a lot more time once you’ve found yourself emotionally invested in the characters to read their full fates. It’s probably also best to read alone for when you start to tear up, which will likely happen a few times during this 1,500-page rollercoaster of emotions. I personally read this while I was studying in France – it kept me entertained every night at an otherwise-isolated university, and really helped me appreciate my surroundings.

如果你时间充沛，那么这本书是绝佳的选择。因为你需要很多时间去阅读，去融入这本经典文学作品中，显然不是写给习惯于看Vines搞笑六秒合集以及发140词微博的一代。一旦你发现自己被其中的人物深深吸引，以至于迫不及待地想读完他们整个命运时，你会不自觉花去大量的时间。这本书同样适合独自一人的时候慢慢品味，因为你可能会在1500页的小说中，经历情感的大起大落，潸然泪下几次也是常有的事。我本人在法国留学期间邂逅了此书，大学与世隔绝，这部小说陪伴我度过了一个又一个漫长的夜晚，让我重新看待周边的人与事。

IF YOU LIKED THIS, THEN YOU SHOULD TRY…

进一步推荐阅读

For starters, you should definitely try the recent film adaptation starring Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe (if you haven’t already), or the musical that the script was based on. For more literary enjoyment, check out The Hunchback of Notre Dame, another Hugo bestseller with similarly complex characters. The hunchback, like Eponine, is not a physically attractive character, and as in Les Mis there are no clear heroes and villains but rather those who succumb to their dire circumstances and those who are able to rise above those challenges. And if you enjoy the long French novel, be sure to check out The Count of Monte Cristo by fellow French literary great Alexandre Dumas – it is also well over 1,000 pages although probably still a couple hundred pages short of Les Mis.

如果你还没看，那么作为入门，你应该先看看最近由休·杰克曼和罗素·克洛领衔主演的电影改编本，或者手稿改编的相关音乐剧。如果想要读更多的文学作品，《巴黎圣母院》是不错的选择，这是雨果的另一本巨作，同样拥有复杂的人物。故事的主人公是驼背的钟楼怪人，就像艾潘妮，并不是一个外貌看起来很吸引人的角色，并且就像在《悲惨世界》中一样，没有明确的英雄和恶人，只有那些屈服于悲惨境遇的懦夫，和能够在挑战中崛起的勇者。如果你喜欢法国长篇小说，一定要看看另一位法国伟大文学家大仲马写的《基督山伯爵》，也是一本超过1000页的小说，可能比《悲惨世界》稍微短一点儿吧。