Why doesn't Yea Forums talk about him more? He's arguably the greatest writer in the French language

>His magnum opus (Les Mis)
I thought it was The Toilers of the Sea.

Did anyone here have read The Man Who Laughs? How is it?

I read Les Miserables so long ago that I don't really remember anything about it beyond a vague recollection of finding the prose and/or the pacing somewhat irritating at the time, but at the same time being interested in the story and/or the characters. So I'm not actually even sure whether I finished it, which is well enough, because at this point I might as well not have read it at all.

This actually touches on another point I wanted to address:
Outside of heavily butchered adaptations, Hugo is actually really underrated in general. The musical removes all the metaphysical, philosophical and political discussions (something which Hugo clarifies in the Appendixes is the real meat of the novel). The Disney adaptation of Hunchback also removes a lot of the politically charged content. His book weren’t even too popular during his time as Hunchback was banned by the Catholic Church and Les Mis was torn apart by critics like Flaubert for it’s sentimentality.

Reading Les Mis is one of the best reading experiences I’ve ever had— It’s comparable to War and Peace, Karamazov and Moby Dick. I can’t think of any reason Yea Forums doesn’t discuss it apart from the popularity of the musical and it’s advocation of socialism.

No I get that, was just wondering what parts they cut out. If it was just his essays then maybe I could live with not reading the unabridged version. Googled it though and they seem to make up 1/4 of it. I guess you need to read the unabridged version, I just hate that I'd have to do it in English.

>The Disney adaptation of Hunchback also removes a lot of the politically charged content

It removed a lot of content period. Also made it more kid friendly. There are several good film adaptations, but they're invariably truncated and simplified. It's a really long book.

I simply don't like political/'social commentary' novels of any kind. I like Hugo's poetry a lot though.

He's basically a commie leftist that needs to be shot on sight

What novels do you like?

I'm reading Le Mis right now, and I'm having a bit of a hard time bridging the romantic and more realistic aspects of the characters, especially Valjean. At times he's this very "real" character whose thoughts we get to follow at length and in great detail. He struggles and feels human. But at other times he is almost cartoonishly good, he just happens to walk by burning churches with children who needs saving, he kind of just stumbles into becoming a milllionare, his hair turns white overnight. At these times he seems more like a symbol than a person. Did anyone else feel this way?

I'm enjoying it a lot though. The part about Waterloo is legit the best part so far. The way he writes about it is so grand.

I think he's intended to be a symbol. Most of the characters are. Valjean is a statement against the way the criminal justice system works, Javert is the Monarchist system itself, Fantine illustrates the suffering of women under the system etc.
Think of these characters as ideas more than anything else, as the book is intended to be read as a political and theological thesis.

I actually think the weakest link in the story is Cosette. She largely exists to give depth to Valjean and her pure maiden personality makes her less interesting than the other girls in the story.

I'm currently reading "The Man Who Laughs". While the introduction is a bit lengthy and the story takes a while to get going, I've been enjoying it quite a lot.

>I think he's intended to be a symbol
>Think of these characters as ideas more than anything else
You’re probably right, but it’s difficult at those times when Hugo makes them feel so human. Maybe it’ll make more sense as I get further into it.