"93 year," Hugo: summary, main characters, analysis. The novel "Ninety-third year"

After the publication of the famous novel "Les Miserables" in 1862, Victor Hugo conceived the writing of another, no less extensive work. This book was created over a long ten years. Topical issues of his time affected in the novel "93 year" Hugo. The summary of the last work of the great French writer is set forth in this article.

History of creation

What did Hugo say in the 93-year-old novel? The summary of the work is presented below. However, before we proceed to it, we should say a few words about the history of writing the novel. It was based on important historical events of 1793. However, they were presented under the author's impression of what was happening in France in the second half of the nineteenth century, namely, the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune. Thus, in the artistic work "Ninety-third year" Victor Hugo expressed his views in part on the political situation that prevailed in his homeland in 1870-1871.

What happened during the period when the writer was finishing his last historical novel? After the conclusion of the peace treaty with Prussia, unrest began, which resulted in the revolution and led to the establishment of self-government. It lasted seventy-two days. As already mentioned, the thought of the novel "Ninety-third year" came to the writer's head ten years before the above events. Perhaps, it is because of the difficult situation in the country that the creation of the next creation was delayed for a long time. The idea of the novel, which at the initial stage did not have clear outlines, was finally formed after the social and political upheavals of 1870-1872.

A masterpiece of historical prose

When it comes to such a category as the books on the Great French Revolution, above all, not only the work of the patriarch of French Romanticism is mentioned. About these events once wrote Alexandre Dumas. Many foreign and Russian researchers devoted their works to them. However, a huge historical and literary value is the book "93 year" by Hugo. The summary of this work is, of course, not only the enumeration of important political events that served as the material for the creation of the plot. This is also a condensed story about the fate of the main characters. So, where does the novel "93 year" Hugo begin?

Summary: Sodrei Forest

The novel takes place in late May 1793. The Paris battalion, conducting reconnaissance in the Soudrei forest, was ready for any surprises. After all, these places gained a tragic glory. The author named Sodreysky forest the most terrible place in the world. Because exactly here, six months before the events described in the novel "Ninety-third year", the first atrocity of the civil war took place. Once upon a time in the Sodrei forest, peaceful hunting for birds was arranged. In connection with the political events in Paris, everything has changed. The novel "Ninety-third year" depicts the time when in these picturesque places a cruel hunt for people was conducted.

Soldiers and markitanka, accompanying them, heard a suspicious rustle in the bushes. They were already ready to shoot. However, it turned out that in the bushes hides a woman of peasant origin and her three young children. According to the wartime laws, the unfortunate person was questioned. It was necessary to find out what kind of political belief the single mother holds. Not all questions could be answered clearly by a stranger. The soldiers did find out that the husband Michelle Flechar - and that's the name of the woman - was killed. And the cabin where they lived, burned. As a result, the peasant woman was in distress. Since then, she has been walking through the forest where her eyes are looking, not realizing how great the danger that she exposes herself and her children.

Hearing the sad story of a peasant woman, a sergeant of a battalion named Raduba proposed to adopt Ren-Jean, Gro-Alain and Georgette.

Corvette Claymore

Writing the novel was preceded by a thorough study by the author of the history of the counter-revolutionary movement of the Shuans. The writer has studied a number of historical works. And the events that took place in Paris at the time when he created the historical work, influenced the plot and images of the main characters.

In the novel, Hugo's attitude to the revolutionary movement is seen. The writer genuinely sympathized with the defeated Communards, but at the same time he was critical of their methods of struggle. This contradictory attitude to the revolutionary movement shaped the attitude to the events reflected in the novel "Ninety-third year". Hugo's heroes are people of action. However, they are committed to ideals and sacrifice their lives for a high goal. Sometimes the price of such victims is too high.

On June 1, a frigate, disguised as a merchant ship, sails from the coast of England. In fact, there is a very important passenger on the "Claymore". The author describes it as follows: "a tall old man, clothed in a peasant garment, but possessing a prince's posture." The frigate dies in battle with the French squadron. Guilty to all the Gunners, who, on the orders of a man dressed in simple peasant clothes, are then shot. The majestic old man, saved by the royalists, is the future leader of the rebellious Vendee. However, one of the sailors - a young man named Galmalo - decides to take revenge on the old man for killing the Gunners. After all, he was his own brother. However, Galmalo in time refuses to commit this murder.

Marquis de Lantenac

This is the name of the mysterious old man, who miraculously escaped while traveling on a frigate. On land, he learns the news of the destroyed republican detachment. Lantenac orders all prisoners to be executed. However, he does not make an exception even for two women. The three children he is told about, he orders to take with him, without a clear plan for their future destiny. One of the women in the meantime is alive: she was just shot through the collarbone.

Revolutionary spirit

In Paris, there is an atmosphere of struggle. Hugo portrays the French capital as a city in which even children smile heroically. Here everything breathes a revolution. Among the preachers these days, the priest Simurden stands out. He is fierce and cold-blooded. After the revolution broke out, Simurden gave up his rank and devoted his life to the liberation movement. This man, judged by the merits of Robespierre, subsequently becomes the commissioner of the Convention in Vendée.

In the first days of July, a lonely traveler stops near the town of Share, in one of the inns. From the owner of the tavern this person, who later turns out to be none other than Simurden, learns about the battles taking place nearby. Fight Goven and the Marquis de Lantenac. And the battles might not be so bloody, if not for the act of the leader of the royalists. Lantenac allegedly ordered the execution of a woman, and her children are kept somewhere in the fortress. Simurden goes to the battlefield, where he almost dies from the sword, the blow of which is intended Goven. This young man is a descendant of a noble family. Simurden knows him from a young age.

Terror and mercy

Goven was once a pupil of Simurden. In addition, he is the only person to whom this elderly and cruel man is affectionate. Both Simurden and Goven dream about the triumph of the Republic. However, the former believes that it is possible to achieve the goal only by terror. The second prefers to be guided by charity. Goven, however, in relation to Lantenaku is very uncompromising. He is ready to destroy the marquis at all costs.

Children Michelle Fleshard

Lantenac is doomed to perdition. In order to save his life, he uses the children of peasant Fleshar as hostages. But the fact is that in the castle, where Lantenak is hiding, there is an underground exit. The royalists free their leader, and the latter, before leaving the shelter, arranges a fire, thereby condemning the children to certain death. However, at the last moment Lantenac, after hearing the cry of his mother, returns and saves his small prisoners.

Execution

Goven is a character personifying justice and mercy. So he releases Lantenac. The Republic, according to Goven, should not tarnish himself by killing a person who went to self-sacrifice. For the generous act of the young commander sentenced to execution. A cruel sentence is passed by none other than Simurden. But only Gauvin loses his head from the impact of the guillotine, the former priest commits suicide. Such a tragic outcome was completed by Hugo's "Ninety-third year".

Analysis

This historical work testifies to the author's contradictory attitude toward revolution in the broad sense of the word. The novel was written during the events of the Paris Commune and could not but become a response to the situation that developed in the French capital in 1871-1872. The writer sang the significance of the revolution, which swept not only over his homeland, but over the whole world. But at the same time the author remained true to his former idea, according to which, society can change for the better only because of the degeneration of the inner world of man. It is no coincidence that there is a contrast between such images as Simurden and Gauvin in the novel. Terror and mercy are such features of the revolutionary movement, according to Hugo.

"Ninety-third year": reviews

One of the literary critics called this creation a broad artistic canvas, which depicts the greatest events of the late nineteenth century. Undoubtedly, critics of the Soviet era saw in Hugo's novel what required censorship, namely: the struggle of the working people of Paris, the glorification of revolutionaries and angry attacks against the emigre nobility. In fact, the novel in question is not only the greatest creation of classical prose, but also the most controversial work of Hugo.

Creativity of the French writer was highly appreciated by the geniuses of Russian literature Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. The most famous work outside of France was the novel Les Miserables. However, the work devoted to the contradictory spirit of the revolution, too, did not remain without the attention of readers. This novel, according to fans of creativity of Victor Hugo, is the best work of historical prose of the nineteenth century.

Translation from French into Russian was first implemented in the late nineteenth century. At that time, the ideas of students and representatives of the intelligentsia occupied revolutionary ideas. However, this topic is always relevant. After more than a hundred years, interest in the novel has not died away. To date, the best translation from French to Russian, according to readers and critics, belongs to Nadezhda Zharkova.

The pernicious consequences of the revolution are an important part of Russian history. And therefore Victor Hugo's great novel is popular with readers in our country today.