Victor Hugo: then and now

EVEN 115 years after his death, the work of Victor Hugo, the most prolific French writer of the last century, remains live and vibrant, adapting successfully to the changing times.

Through the month of September, a leading French television channel screened Victor Hugo's classic "Les Miserables", in four episodes to rave reviews and record audiences.

All of last year, "Notre Dame de Paris" the musical extravaganza based on another Hugo epic known to English readers under the title of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, created the excitement of a rock concert and set records all over French-speaking Europe. Its modern dance choreography and romantic melodies transformed it into a musical sensation.

And as if this was not enough honour conferred on Hugo, a major exhibition opened in Paris last month devoted to the graphic work of Hugo. For readers unfamiliar with the other facets of Hugo's genius, this 19th Century giant left behind more than 4,000 drawings, engravings and paintings that greatly inspired 20th Century artists, notably the Surrealists.

Les Miserables

Known first and foremost as a poet and writer of popular masterpieces, Hugo's melodrama Les Miserables has always fascinated cinema producers and any number of versions exist of this work, including a runaway Broadway production. This most recent version, co-produced with an American company and meant for a large international audience, roped in a well known script writer, a top director and leading cinema stars - Gerard Depardieu from France and John Malkovich from America. Success was thus guaranteed.

As it happens, for the last few years, TF 1, a private channel, has embarked on a policy to co-produce, with European and American partners as far as possible, classics of French literature. Made with budgets that increase with each successful production, the series started with an immensely popular "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas. Next was Balzac and then Hugo's "Les Miserables."

The previous films had been made in French and then sub-titled or dubbed for other audiences. But the novelty of this version is its simultaneous production not merely in French but in English as well.

Getting an American producer is a matter of great pride for French companies as they find that there is little interest in France and things French on the other side of the Atlantic.

The title Les Miserables literally means "the wretched", but English translations of this voluminous book have generally carried the French title itself, for want of a suitable substitute. Written by Victor Hugo 140 years ago, during his period of exile, the whole story centres around Jean Valjean, a man who is imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread. After 19 long years in prison, Jean Valjean has been transformed into a hardened criminal, unforgiving and cynical. Soon after his release, an encounter with a Bishop who refuses to blame him for the theft of his candlesticks, has a profound influence on him and Valjean slowly turns over a new leaf.Jean Valjean soon becomes a successful businessman, benefactor and the mayor of a small town. But he will not be left in peace. The police inspector Jabert recognises him, stalks him continuously, intent on taking Valjean back to prison for a minor misdeed. Jabert, obsessive but straight, is convinced that Valjean can never be reformed and his life should be spent in penal servitude. But Valjean manages to keep ahead of Jabert, fleeing from town to town with Cosette, a poor illegitimate girl he has adopted and whose welfare remains his sole mission in life.

A victim of society, Valjean's story embodies the tragedy and comedy of life. Many characters of the novel have been immortalised since. It is the strength of Hugo's narration that has made even his minor characters stand the test of time and survive on their own. One such ever popular character being the street urchin, Gavroche. Not long after the book was published, the universal appeal of the character was such that the name Ga Gavroche became a common name and remains so to this day. It is not uncommon to find pamphlets seeking donations for an orphanage or children in distress describing the plight of the "little gavroches". The name has come to symbolise the child with a golden heart who has matured in the street and who has learnt to look after his own needs.

"Notre Dame de Paris"

The story of the musical spectacular, "Notre Dame de Paris" is nothing short of "spectacular". This moving story of the gypsy girl Esmeralda and the deformed bell ringer Quasimodo, set in 15th Century Paris is known to all French readers from their school days itself. The response of the public to this musical with some extremely talented Quebecois singers was therefore enthusiastic and immediate. The universality of the French- Canadian singers has been established since Celine Dion became a household name a few years ago. Quasimodo, played by the tall Blues singer Garou with an exceptionally deep gravely voice, conquered France to start with then Belgium and Switzerland to cross the Atlantic into North America. The memorable song "Belle", an ode to Esmeralda and a prayer for a chance to run their fingers through her hair, sung by Quasimodo and two others remains an all time favourite. The producers of this musical decided to cash in on the success and produced an English adaptation, this time led by the Australian recording star Tina Arena that opened in Britain last May.

"My drawings are a bit wild"

As far as Hugo's graphic work is concerned, opinions differ, notably Hugo's opinion of his own work compared with the opinion others had of his drawings. If, on the one hand, Gauthier declared "If he weren't a poet, Hugo would be a first rate painter", Hugo himself wrote to Baudelaire about his drawings, describing them as "clumsily thrown on paper by a fellow who has plenty of other things to do". The sheer size of the graphic work done, as Hugo claimed, "between two stanzas, to have fun" is awesome.

"To paint a battle, powerful artists with chaos in their paintbrushes are needed". This quote from Les Miserables illustrates the presentation of Hugo's graphic work. But his drawings - abstract compositions, spiritualist drawings, cloth prints, collages - perhaps a bit wild at times, certainly displayed the modernity of an artist who produced with total freedom, combining the most modern techniques like photography and establishing a dialogue between writing, drawing and decoration.

In his later life Hugo became involved with politics, raising his voice against cultural tyranny. As he became more and more politically committed, he had to go into exile twice that, in the end, proved to be periods of great creativity. In later years, he was one of the writers who had the greatest power to shape public opinion in France. And one facet often quoted proudly by the French is his "visionary" testament, his European dream.

In his famous legacy, Victor Hugo wrote "I donate all my manuscripts, and all that will be found written or drawn by me to the National Library of Paris which will one day be the Library of the United States of Europe".

RAJESH SHARMA

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