A Tangent on Tangents

After the past few weeks of dredging through Austen's Pride and Prejudice, it was high time for a momentary pause and a turn towards a more entertaining, yet excessively drawn out work, Hugo's Les Miserables. It's no secret that this particular novel is a long time favorite, and any time there is an opportunity to delve back into the pages, I will do so with nothing short of endless excitement.

While Pride and Prejudice is much shorter than Hugo's twenty year endeavor, affectionately called the Brick, it is much more blase, with one main idea surrounding one main story line, while Hugo's novel consists of several main ideas surrounding numerous story lines. True, the unabridged version of Les Miserables fills over 1000 pages, there are never filler pages or a dull moment. It is blatantly apparent that Hugo took every single detail into account, almost in excess. It is so full of minor tidbits or descriptive thoughts and imagery that the near thirty to fifty pages of protagonist Jean Valjean simply walking through French country side without definite purpose has an abundance more of thoughts and rising action than the majority of the first half of Austen's own masterpiece novel. 

Hugo ensured that his work was filled to the brim with every aspect imaginable to create an impressive representation of France during the turbulent early 1800s. While this detail creates a work that is rarely repetitive or dull, Victor Hugo also has a tendency to veer off into tangents that are rather irrelevant to the plot. This is a primary factor as to why the abridged version of the Brick exists, as not many find the idea of 150 pages dedicated to one fraction of a detail particularly pleasing. To me, however, these tangents are almost comical and provide an insight to the mind and writing process of one of the most renown French novelists of his time.

Each tangent is essentially an entire essay or thesis on a topic that is rather irrelevant to Jean Valjean's journey towards redemption. One of the most prominent examples is the over 100 page side note about the Battle of Waterloo, with a well rounded, extraordinarily well thought out analysis on the French tactic compared to that of the British, Belgian, and German alliance, along with what makes a victor and what makes a loser. All of this leads up to a single line at the conclusion, depicting how one minor character happened to be present for a brief moment near the battle field. The fact that Hugo took the time an effort to write over 10 chapters on something so minuscule reflects the dedication with which he approached penning this work. The man left nothing out, not even the slightest detail, and he becomes so wrapped up in each point that he creates these extra sections of irrelevance that could be formed into their own separate pamphlets. 

Waterloo is only one example of Hugo's notorious tendencies to become sidetracked. The book is home to another hundred pages dedicated to an elaborate description of Paris sewer systems, as well as a history of specific church denominations and their practices. In these hundreds of pages, there are few lines that are actually relevant to the plot overall. Les Miserables is so full of different bits of information that it is hardly a wonder that so many fear to take the plunge or have difficulty in completing or understanding the work. Despite all this, it is entertaining to see the process of Hugo's writing during the twenty years he worked on it. His eagerness to show the significance of different topics, however unrelated they may be, shows his determination to describe a well rounded picture of his country in all respects. His dedication paid off in the form of a read that is as unique as it is comical for the literary enthusiasts, or as excruciating as it is depressing for those who are not as literature based.