JOURNALISTIC MESSAGES IN VICTOR HUGO’S EPIC NOVEL “LES MISERABLES”

Abstract

The article offers the epic novel “Les Miserables” overview by the French literature classic Victor Hugo in social and political journalism terms. It is emphasized that the writer had the opportunity to see the changes in society with his own eyes, participated in several revolutions, expressed his own views on government in the country, sometimes resorting to devastating criticism not only in speeches but also in works. At the same time, it is highlighted that the writer raised all the society flaws, shortcomings and problems, glorifying the people as one of its components and giving the latter extraordinary strength in the struggle for freedom. The social issues and historical background on which the novel events are formed were analyzed based on the narrative elements in “Les Miserables”. Journalistic narrative methods are clearly distinguished, in particular reporting and detailing descriptions. The writer’s objectivity and detachment from the events depicted in the work are emphasized. However, the emphasis is on the personal artist experience, against which the main trends in the work are formed. There are substantiated Victor Hugo’s attempts to not only reproduce historical events and the social background as accurately as possible, but also to convey the human-society relations’ “true nature”. It is proved that Victor Hugo used historical references, terminological dictionaries and maps to more constructively display locations and convey the real people’ “speech”. It is also noticeable that the writer adds to his account many uprisings events facts of 1832 in France, while directing the recipient's thoughts to spiritual issues. It is emphasized that by transforming being in a work according to the good laws, the writer calls for the real world transformation according to the same principles. From the journalism view point the epic novel research enable further investigations into it in order to prove its relevance against the background modern events, use it as a masses' basic awakening consciousness element and address the historical revolutions and uprisings issue. The main work ideas are based on such concepts as progress, justice, for which, to some extent, the battle continues today.