Les Misérables
by Victor Hugo
Table of Contents
Key Facts
Title: Les Misérables
Author: Victor Hugo
Type of work: Novel
Genre: Historical novel
Original Language: French
Written in: Paris and the Channel Islands, between 1845 and 1862
First published: 1862
Set in: Various cities in France, between the years 1789 and 1832
Narrator: An unnamed, omniscient narrator
Point of view: Third-person, omniscient. The narrator is anonymous, but often addresses the reader directly.
Protagonist: Jean Valjean
Tense: Past
Climax: Valjean goes to the barricade to rescue Marius and then pretends to execute Javert, but really sets him free.
Falling action: Javert commits suicide. Marius and Cosette marry. Valjean confesses his criminal past to Marius, becomes ill, reunites with Cosette, and then dies.
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