The Hunchback of Notre-DameThe story and characters in Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame have resonated with succeeding generations since its publication in 1831. It has tempted filmmakers, and most recently animators, who have exploited its dramatic content to good effect but have inevitably lost some of the grays that make the original text so compelling. From Victor Hugo's flamboyant imagination came Quasimodo, the grotesque bell ringer; La Esmeralda, the sensuous gypsy dancer; and the haunted archdeacon Claude Frollo. Hugo set his epic tale in the Paris of 1482 under Louis XI and meticulously re-created the day-to-day life of its highest and lowest inhabitants. Written at a time of perennial political upheaval in France, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is the product of an emerging democratic sensibility and prefigures the teeming masterpiece Les Misérables, which Hugo would write thirty years later. He made the cathedral the centerpiece of the novel and called it Notre-Dame de Paris. (It received its popular English title at the time of its second translation in 1833.) Hugo wrote that his inspiration came from a carving of the word "fatality" in Greek that he had found in the cathedral. The inscription had been eradicated by the time the book was published, and Hugo feared that Notre-Dame's Gothic splendor might soon be lost to the contemporary fad for tearing down old buildings. Notre-Dame has survived as one of the great monuments of Paris, and Hugo's novel is a fitting celebration of it, a popular classic that is proving to be just as enduring. The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foun-dation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hard-bound editions of important works of liter-ature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inau-gurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices. Jacket paintings: (front) detail from Notre Dame by Paul Lecomte, courtesy of David David Gallery/SuperStock; (spine) Victor Hugo, 1833, by Louis Boulanger of Giraudon/Art Resource, N.Y. |
Contents
PIERRE GRINGOIRE | 17 |
MASTER JACQUES COPPENOLE | 34 |
LA ESMERALDA | 50 |
BESOS PARA GOLPES | 58 |
THE UNFORTUNATE CONSEQUENCES | 67 |
THE BROKEN | 74 |
A WEDDING NIGHT | 93 |
3 | 132 |
THE USEFULNESS OF WINDOWS LOOKING | 293 |
BOOK VIII | 303 |
CONCLUSION OF THE COIN TRANSFORMED | 318 |
THREE HUMAN HEARTS DIFFERENTLY | 339 |
BOOK IX | 357 |
ONEEYED HUNCHBACK AND LAME | 368 |
EARTHENWARE AND CRYSTAL | 375 |
THE KEY OF THE PORTE ROUGE | 386 |
GOOD SOULS | 137 |
UNPOPULAR | 161 |
THIS WILL KILL THAT | 173 |
BOOK VI | 189 |
THE RAT HOLE | 199 |
A TEAR FOR A DROP OF WATER | 224 |
BOOK VII | 235 |
A PRIEST AND A PHILOSOPHER ARE | 250 |
THE BELLS | 259 |
CONSEQUENCES OF SEVEN OATHS SWORN | 281 |
BOOK X | 393 |
BECOME A TRAMP | 404 |
A CLUMSY FRIEND | 414 |
THE RETREAT WHERE MONSIEUR LOUIS | 433 |
PETITE FLAMBE EN BAGUENAUD | 464 |
LA CREATURA BELLA BIANCO VESTITA | 503 |
THE MARRIAGE OF CAPTAIN PHOEBUS | 511 |
17 | 517 |
6228 | 534 |
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Common terms and phrases
Archdeacon architecture arms beautiful began bell ringer Bishop of Paris Bohemian brother Captain Captain Phoebus cathedral cell Charmolue child church Cité Claude Frollo Clopin Clopin Trouillefou Coictier Coppenole corner creature cried crowd dark deaf devil Djali door dressed Esmeralda exclaimed eyes face feet fire Fleur-de-Lis gallows girl goat Grève Gringoire gypsy hand hanged head heard heart Hôtel Hugo hunchback Jehan Jehan Frollo King King's knees La Esmeralda lady laugh light look Louis XI Mahiette Master Jacques Monsieur mother Nicolas Flamel night Notre-Dame Olivier Olivier le Daim Oudarde Palace Paris Parisis Parvis pavement Phoebus Pierre Pierre Gringoire pillory Place de Grève poor priest Provost Quasimodo recluse Reims replied Sack Woman seemed seen silence sire smile soul square stone streets suddenly thing thought tone tower Tramps Tristan turned uttered voice wall window witch word wretched young