西方文化必讀書籍之《悲慘世界》

KDS’ FAVOURITE WESTERN BOOKS: LES MISERABLES

西方文化必讀書籍之《悲慘世界》

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT?

內容概覽

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.

還有什麼比《悲慘世界》更慘的？這本365章節、1000多頁的鴻篇鉅著中，偉大的法國文豪維克多·雨果，用筆桿描寫了前科犯冉阿讓的故事——悲慘、愛和最後得到的救贖。主人公冉阿讓代表了人性至善的一面，窮困潦倒而偷東西，進而因盜竊罪入獄19年。即使社會對他並不公正，他卻始終回報着社會。故事講述了冉阿讓從心懷怨恨的社會流浪者，成爲受人尊敬的先生，過程中引入了許多其他人物，不同人物展現了人性的複雜。小說強調社會的不公正待遇，同時描繪了一系列人類最純真的感情，包括愛、孤獨和榮譽。

WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND IT?

小說背後的故事

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.

雨果寫《悲慘世界》的時候正值法國19世紀的黑暗時期，同時期的其他作品是爲受過教育的精英階層寫的，相反，《悲慘世界》描述的是工薪階層的困境和機遇。冉阿讓的所犯罪行的原型，是雨果在巴黎街頭親眼所見的一件小事——一個窮人偷了麪包而被捕。雨果賦予了人物很多的悲慘經歷和不公平待遇，雖然批評了整個社會，但是另一方面，也想展示人們如何在愛和同情的幫助下，衝破社會不公正的枷鎖。

WHAT’S SO AWESOME ABOUT IT?

此書妙在何處？

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.

《悲慘世界》塑造了太多生動的人物，讓人不得不愛。我最愛的人物是艾潘妮，她是罪犯德納第夫婦的女兒，從小倍受溺愛，青年時期卻十分悲慘。儘管艾潘妮來自道德缺失的家庭，最後她依然爲踐行正道不惜犧牲個人利益。雖然她名聲不好，但她富有悲劇色彩的暗戀，還是博得了讀者的同情。小說令人難忘的，正是這些複雜的人物形象，同時，這些人物也賦予此書真實的人性元素，使得人物角色的悲慘經歷更打動人心。

THIS IS GREAT TO READ WHEN…

最佳閱讀時機

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.

如果你時間充沛，那麼這本書是絕佳的選擇。因爲你需要很多時間去閱讀，去融入這本經典文學作品中，顯然不是寫給習慣於看Vines搞笑六秒合集以及發140詞微博的一代。一旦你發現自己被其中的人物深深吸引，以至於迫不及待地想讀完他們整個命運時，你會不自覺花去大量的時間。這本書同樣適合獨自一人的時候慢慢品味，因爲你可能會在1500頁的小說中，經歷情感的大起大落，潸然淚下幾次也是常有的事。我本人在法國留學期間邂逅了此書，大學與世隔絕，這部小說陪伴我度過了一個又一個漫長的夜晚，讓我重新看待周邊的人與事。

IF YOU LIKED THIS, THEN YOU SHOULD TRY…

進一步推薦閱讀

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.

如果你還沒看，那麼作爲入門，你應該先看看最近由休·傑克曼和羅素·克洛領銜主演的電影改編本，或者手稿改編的相關音樂劇。如果想要讀更多的文學作品，《巴黎聖母院》是不錯的選擇，這是雨果的另一本鉅作，同樣擁有複雜的人物。故事的主人公是駝背的鐘樓怪人，就像艾潘妮，並不是一個外貌看起來很吸引人的角色，並且就像在《悲慘世界》中一樣，沒有明確的英雄和惡人，只有那些屈服於悲慘境遇的懦夫，和能夠在挑戰中崛起的勇者。如果你喜歡法國長篇小說，一定要看看另一位法國偉大文學家大仲馬寫的《基督山伯爵》，也是一本超過1000頁的小說，可能比《悲慘世界》稍微短一點兒吧。