Editing Les Misérables (section)

==Hugo's sources==
[[File:Achille Devéria - Vidocq.jpg|thumb|left|[[Eugène Vidocq]], whose career provided a model for the character of Jean Valjean]]
An incident Hugo witnessed in 1829 involved three strangers and a police officer. One of the strangers was a man who had stolen a loaf of bread, similar to [[Jean Valjean]], being taken to the coach by a police officer. Nearby, two onlookers, a mother and daughter, had stopped to watch the thief. They became the inspiration for [[Fantine]] and [[Cosette]]. Hugo imagined the life of the man in jail and the mother and daughter taken away from each other.<ref>{{cite web|title=Les Mis Study Guide – About the Novel|url=https://www.lesmis.com/media/files/pdf/les-mis-study-guide-pt1.pdf|website=lesmis.com|date=15 August 2014}}</ref>

Valjean's character is loosely based on the life of the ex-convict [[Eugène François Vidocq]]. Vidocq became the head of an undercover police unit and later founded France's first private detective agency. He was also a businessman and was widely noted for his social engagement and philanthropy. Vidocq also inspired Hugo's "[[Claude Gueux]]" and ''Le Dernier jour d'un condamné'' (''[[The Last Day of a Condemned Man]]'').<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foO8DQAAQBAJ&q=vidocq+Le+Dernier+jour+d%27un+condamn%C3%A9&pg=PA259|title=Abenteurer als Helden der Literatur|contribution=Un aventurier picaresque au XIXe siècle: Eugène-François Vidocq|language=fr|first=Loïc Pierre|last=Guyon|editor1-last=Glaser|editor1-first=Albert|editor2-last=Kleine-Roßbach|editor2-first=Sabine|publisher=Springer|year=2002|isbn=978-3-476-02877-8|doi=10.1007/978-3-476-02877-8}}</ref>

In 1828, Vidocq, already pardoned, saved one of the workers in his paper factory by lifting a heavy cart on his shoulders as Valjean does.<ref>{{cite book|last=Morton|first=James|title=The First Detective: The Life and Revolutionary Times of Vidocq, Criminal, Spy and Private Eye|year=2004|publisher=Overlook Press|location=New York|isbn=9781590208908|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N_pZvqQdbnsC&pg=PP132}}</ref> Hugo's description of Valjean rescuing a sailor on the ''Orion'' draws almost word for word on a Baron La Roncière's letter describing such an incident.<ref>Hugo, Victor, ''Les Misérables'' (Preface by A. Rosa), Laffont, 1985, {{ISBN|2-221-04689-7}}, p. IV.</ref> Hugo used [[Bienvenu de Miollis]] (1753–1843), the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Digne#List of bishops since 1802|Bishop of Digne]] during the time in which Valjean encounters Myriel, as the model for Myriel.<ref name="Behr">{{cite book|first=Edward|last=Behr|title=The Complete Book of Les Misérables|location=New York|publisher=Arcade|year=1993|page=29}}</ref>

Hugo had used the departure of prisoners from the [[Bagne of Toulon]] in one of his early stories, ''[[The Last Day of a Condemned Man|Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné]]''. He went to Toulon to visit the Bagne in 1839 and took extensive notes, though he did not start writing the book until 1845. On one of the pages of his notes about the prison, he wrote in large block letters a possible name for his hero: "JEAN TRÉJEAN". When the book was finally written, Tréjean became Valjean.<ref>''Le Bagne de Toulon (1748–1873)'', Académie du Var, Autres Temps Editions (2010), {{ISBN|978-2-84521-394-4}}</ref>

In 1841, Hugo saved a prostitute from arrest for assault. He used a short part of his dialogue with the police when recounting Valjean's rescue of Fantine in the novel.<ref>Victor Hugo, ''Things Seen'', vol. 1 (Glasgow and New York: George Routledge and Sons, 1887), 49–52. The chapter is title "1841. Origin of Fantine". Behr quotes this passage at length in {{harvnb|Behr|1993|loc=32–36}}.</ref> On 22 February 1846, when he had begun work on the novel, Hugo witnessed the arrest of a bread thief while a duchess and her child watched the scene pitilessly from their coach.<ref>Victor Hugo, ''Choses vues: nouvelle série'' (Paris: Calman Lévy, 1900), 129–130</ref>{{sfn|Behr|1993|loc=29–30}} He spent several vacations in [[Montreuil-sur-Mer]].{{sfn|Behr|1993|loc=32}}

During the 1832 revolt, Hugo walked the streets of Paris, saw the barricades blocking his way at points, and had to take shelter from gunfire.<ref name="Robb 1997">{{cite book|last=Robb|first=Graham|title=Victor Hugo: A Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/victorhugo00robb|url-access=registration|year=1997|publisher=W. W. Norton|location=New York|isbn=9780393045789}}</ref>{{rp|173–174}} He participated more directly in the [[French Revolution of 1848|1848 Paris insurrection]], helping to smash barricades and suppress both the popular revolt and its monarchist allies.<ref name="Robb 1997"/>{{rp|273–276}}

Victor Hugo drew his inspiration from everything he heard and saw, writing it down in his diary. In December 1846, he witnessed an altercation between an old woman scavenging through rubbish and a street urchin who might have been Gavroche.<ref>Rosa, Annette, Introduction to Les Misérables, Laffont, 1985, {{ISBN|2-221-04689-7}}</ref> He also informed himself by personal inspection of the Paris [[Conciergerie]] in 1846 and [[Waterloo, Belgium|Waterloo]] in 1861, by gathering information on some industries, and on working-class people's wages and living standards. He asked his mistresses, [[Léonie d'Aunet]] and [[Juliette Drouet]], to tell him about life in convents. He also slipped personal anecdotes into the plot. For instance, Marius and Cosette's wedding night (Part V, Book 6, Chapter 1) takes place on 16 February 1833, which is also the date when Hugo and his lifelong mistress Juliette Drouet made love for the first time.<ref>{{cite book|last=Robb|first=Graham|title=Victor Hugo: A Biography|publisher=W. W. Norton|year=1999|isbn=978-0393318999}}</ref>

Hugo also took inspiration from [[Eugène Sue]]'s ''[[The Mysteries of Paris|Les Mystères de Paris]]'' (''The Mysteries of Paris''), a serialized novel that enjoyed great success when it was published during 1842 and 1843. Both novels view contemporary Paris from the perspective of the most-downtrodden members of society, and ''Les Misérables'' even borrows some plot elements from ''Les Mystères de Paris''.<ref name="hoffheimer2013">{{cite journal |last1=Hoffheimer |first1=Michael H. |title=Copyright, Competition, and the First English-Language Translations of ''Les Misérables'' (1862) |journal=Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review |date=2013 |volume=17 |issue=2 |page=167 |url=https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1230&context=iplr |access-date=9 April 2025}}</ref>