Les Misérables and Its Afterlives: Between Page, Stage, and Screen

by Kathryn M. Grossman, Bradley Stephens

Overview

Exploring the enduring popularity of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, this collection offers analysis of both the novel itself and its adaptations. In spite of a mixed response from critics, Les Misérables instantly became a global bestseller. Since its successful publication over 150 years ago, it has traveled across different countries, cultures, and media, giving rise to more than 60 international film and television variations, numerous radio dramatizations, animated versions, comics, and stage plays. Most famously, it has inspired the world's longest running musical, which itself has generated a wealth of fan-made and online content. Whatever its form, Hugo’s tale of social injustice and personal redemption continues to permeate the popular imagination. This volume draws together essays from across a variety of fields, combining readings of Les Misérables with reflections on some of its multimedia afterlives, including musical theater and film from the silent period to today's digital platforms. The contributors offer new insights into the development and reception of Hugo's celebrated classic, deepening our understanding of the novel as a work that unites social commentary with artistic vision and raising important questions about the cultural practice of adaptation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317105695
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/09/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	262
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Kathryn M. Grossman is Professor of French at Pennsylvania State University, USA, and Bradley Stephens is Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Bristol, UK.

Table of Contents

List of Plates vii

Notes on Contributors ix

Acknowledgments xiii

Notes and Abbreviations xiv

Introduction: Les Misérables: A Prodigious Legacy Bradley Stephens Kathryn M. Grossman 1

Part 1 Readings of Les Misérables

1 On (the Usefulness of Hunger and) Beauty Isabel K. Roche 19

2 "Foliis ac frondibus": Les Misérables and the Ecogarden Karen F. Quandt 33

3 The Grotesque and Beyond in Les Misérables: Material Privation and Spiritual Transfiguration Laurence M. Porter 49

4 "Eh bien, je suis une femme": When La Misérable Acts Briana Lewis 65

5 The Dark Side of Les Misérables: Hunger, Desire, and Crime Philippe Moisan 81

Part 2 Receptions and Adaptations

6 Homeric Variations: From Les Misérables to the nouveau roman Fiona Cox 97

7 The Making of a Classic: Les Misérables Takes the States, 1860-1922 Kathryn M. Grossman 113

8 Adapting Les Misérables for the Screen: Transatlantic Debates and Rivalries Delphine Gleizes 129

9 The Many Faces of Javert in Anglophone Adaptation Andrea Beaghton 143

10 Éponine on Screen Danièle Gasiglia-Laster 159

11 A New Creation: Histoire de Gavroche in Words and Song Arnaud Laster 175

12 Les Misérables and the Twenty-First Century Bradley Stephens 191

Works Cited 205

Index 223