Victor Hugo

The Toilers of the Sea: a Novel (1866) Victor Hugo

Brief Description: This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work. Publisher Marketing: The Toilers of the Sea ranks with The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Miserables as among Hugo's most important novels, yet is less well known, in part because the only English translation was inaccurate, stilted, and incomplete. Thus, James Hogarth's excellent new translation -- the first rendering of the complete novel -- is a noteworthy event; in it, the clarity and power of Hugo's voice is restored. The novel tells the story of Gilliat, a humble Guernsey fisherman, who falls in love with a shipowner's daughter and, to win her hand in marriage, must free a ship that has run dangerously aground. To do so, Gilliat employs great feats of engineering, endures the mighty powers of sea and wind, and does battle with a great sea monster. In its evocation of the elements in all their ferocity, The Toilers of the Sea is one of the greatest depictions of nature ever attempted. In its treatment of the lives of the working poor, it is a work of humane majesty. This edition includes comprehensive endnotes and Hugo's illustrations, which have never been reproduced in an edition of this monumental novel. Review Citations:

Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2002 pg. 1348 (EAN 9780375761324, Paperback)

PW Notes and Reprints 09/30/2002 pg. 52 (EAN 9780375761324, Paperback)

Contributor Bio:  Hugo, Victor The best-known of the French Romantic writers, Victor Hugo was a poet, novelist, dramatist, and political critic. Hugo was an avid supporter of French republicanism and advocate for social and political equality, themes that reflect most strongly in his works Les Mis?rables, Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame), and Le Dernier jour d'un condamn? (The Last Day of a Condemned Man). Hugo's literary works were successful from the outset, earning him a pension from Louis XVIII and membership in the prestigious Acad?mie fran?aise, and influencing the work of literary figures such as Albert Camus, Charles Dickens, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Elevated to the peerage by King Louis-Philippe, Hugo played an active role in French politics through the 1848 Revolution and into the Second and Third Republics. Hugo died in 1885, revered not only for his influence on French literature, but also for his role in shaping French democracy. He is buried in the Panth?on alongside Alexandre Dumas and ?mile Zola.