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Bug-Jargal
Bug-Jargal es una novela de Victor Hugo. Publicada por primera vez en 1826, la novela es una nueva versión de un cuento corto anterior del mismo nombre, publicado en la revista de los hermanos Hugo, Le Conservateur littéraire, en 1820. La novela sigue la amistad entre un príncipe esclavizado, cuyo nombre es el título que lleva la novela, y un oficial del ejército francés llamado Leopold D'Auverney, durante los tumultuosos años iniciales de la revolución haitiana. La historia comienza en la casa de Leopoldo, en Francia. Leopoldo es anfitrión de cuatro amigos. Ha sido una velada bohemia en donde todos han contado una historia personal, y ahora es el turno de Leopoldo. A los pies de Leopoldo, descansa Rask, un perro cojo. Leopoldo comienza su historia, comentando que Rask no solo es un perro, sino un símbolo de muchas cosas que comprenderán al escuchar su historia.
(Reseña de Jose Escobar)
La presente edición pertenece a la colección "Novela Bélica". Se desconoce el año exacto de su publicación, aunque lo más probable es que pertenezca a la década de los 2000.
(Reseña de Jose Escobar)
La presente edición pertenece a la colección "Novela Bélica". Se desconoce el año exacto de su publicación, aunque lo más probable es que pertenezca a la década de los 2000.
255 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1818
32 people are currently reading
579 people want to read
About the author
Victor Hugo
6,405 books13k followersAfter Napoleon III seized power in 1851, French writer Victor Marie Hugo went into exile and in 1870 returned to France; his novels include
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(1831) and
Les Misérables
(1862).
This poet, playwright, novelist, dramatist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, and perhaps the most influential, important exponent of the Romantic movement in France, campaigned for human rights. People in France regard him as one of greatest poets of that country and know him better abroad.
This poet, playwright, novelist, dramatist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, and perhaps the most influential, important exponent of the Romantic movement in France, campaigned for human rights. People in France regard him as one of greatest poets of that country and know him better abroad.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
April 8, 2018
Hugo was young and dumb and wrote some problematic and racist things about a place he had never visited but thought he could extend his european metropole views onto other europeans about the violent Haitian revolution. There's Bug-Jargal, described as the pure "noble savage" who also happens to be a hunky dude, and then there's the only love interest, Maria, who's also pure and virginal but basically some wacky metaphor of the virgin Mary??? Who rarely speaks and is just a hollow shell of a character????
To summarize: almost any colonial "literary" works written between 0 CE - 2018 CE by white people are full of imperialist capitalistic brainwashing nonsense.
Thank you for reading this dissertation.
To summarize: almost any colonial "literary" works written between 0 CE - 2018 CE by white people are full of imperialist capitalistic brainwashing nonsense.
Thank you for reading this dissertation.
November 20, 2017
When I saw that Victor Hugo's first novel written in 1818 was Bug-Jargal, I did not know it would be on my list of favorites. Last year I read Les Miserables which ended up on my ultimate favorites so I should not have been that surprised. The Haitian Revolution is the driving force of the story but in no means the main story which is of two men different in skin tone but with more in common than not. Slavery has been going on since time began but only recently over the last centuries has the inhumanity of this caused mankind to seek freedom for all, but sadly we still hear of this abominable evil still exist in this modern world. That being said I thought Victor Hugo was far ahead of his time in regards to showing man to be cruel, deceitful and evil but also honorable, kind, having camaraderie, good and lenient on both sides. Hugo gives examples of both sides with those tendencies and shows the inhumanity of brutal and cruel acts of slavery. He talks about the duplicity shown an African King by a ship's captain who promises so much but sells the whole family into slavery and separating them. This is a favorite of mine because the relationship between both main characters which despite their trials are true to each other. Right away you know that Leopold looks for death without the usual worry because all his family has been lost. He then tells the story of Bug Jargal and his dog Rask. What also for me was a driving force was the romance element. This story is gloomy but it has a kind of gentle happiness which makes it a favorite for me. I did not read this edition but a collection of his works, where my notes are placed.
November 6, 2015
بوگ ژارگال داستان شرافت انسانی است
مردمانی که در آشوب های براندازی نظام برده داری و نژادپرستی معرفتی خاص دارند.
پای حرف خود می مانند. بدون اینکه قولی بدهند یا کاغذی امضا کنند.
دو شخصیت اصلی شباهتهای زیادی دارند فقط رنگ پوستشان فرق میکند.
هر دو عاشق یک زن هستند و هر دو بردگی و خشونت را منفور می دانند و هر دو برای آزادی جانشان را می دهند و آزادگی را به نهایت می رسانند.
داستان حول همین دو نفر و ذهنیت آنها و البته شرایط پیرامونی که انقلاب ضد نژادپرستی و برده داری هست می گذرد
مردمانی که در آشوب های براندازی نظام برده داری و نژادپرستی معرفتی خاص دارند.
پای حرف خود می مانند. بدون اینکه قولی بدهند یا کاغذی امضا کنند.
دو شخصیت اصلی شباهتهای زیادی دارند فقط رنگ پوستشان فرق میکند.
هر دو عاشق یک زن هستند و هر دو بردگی و خشونت را منفور می دانند و هر دو برای آزادی جانشان را می دهند و آزادگی را به نهایت می رسانند.
داستان حول همین دو نفر و ذهنیت آنها و البته شرایط پیرامونی که انقلاب ضد نژادپرستی و برده داری هست می گذرد
January 11, 2019
Bug-Jargal est le 1er roman de Victor Hugo. Il l'a écrit en 15 jours, à l'âge de 16 ans, suite à un défi lancé par ses amis. Il sera remanié quelques années plus tard.
Avant de parler du livre et de donner mon avis, je tiens à préciser que mon utilisation des adjectifs "noir" et "blanc" n'a rien de péjoratif, et que je suis opposée à la classification des humains en races.
L'histoire se passe dans la colonie française de Saint-Domingue (actuelle Haïti), à la fin du 18ème siècle, durant le soulèvement des esclaves noirs contre les colons européens.
Durant une longue nuit de bivouac, à la veille d'une bataille, le capitaine Léopold d'Auverney, raconte à un groupe de militaires, son histoire riche en rebondissements et en émotions.
C'est une histoire d'amitié, sur fond d'insurrection, entre le capitaine Léopold d'Auverney et Pierrot (qui deviendra Bug-Jargal), un esclave fils d'un roi africain, une amitié qui s’élève au-dessus des différences raciales et sociales.
Dans ce roman, l'auteur pointe du doigt l’exploitation des esclaves, les maltraitances et autres humiliations que leur infligent les impitoyables colons ce qui m'a fait penser, à un moment, que Victor Hugo était antiesclavagiste. Mais par la suite, il a brossé un portrait négatif des noirs, les faisant passer pour des méchants tout en faisant passer les blancs pour des victimes. Donc je reste perplexe sur sa position vis-à-vis de l'esclavage.
Dans ce roman, l'auteur met en valeur des qualités telles que la loyauté, la fraternité, l'abnégation etc... et il dénonce la tyrannie coloniale, l'hypocrisie des dirigeants des deux camps (colons et esclaves insurgés) et leur division, l'utilisation de la religion à des fins politiques...
Le roman se lit facilement, on ne s'ennuie pas une seconde, car il y a du dépaysement, de l'action, des rebondissements... et il n'y a pas de trop longues descriptions (comme on en trouve souvent dans les classiques). Malgré cela, ça n'a pas été un coup de cœur, car je n'ai pas aimé l'image donnée des "noirs", l’excès de violence de certaines scènes, et l’exagération de certains traits de caractère des personnages principaux (ce qui les a rendus peu crédibles à mes yeux).
J'ai beaucoup aimé cette lecture, la plume de Victor Hugo est "savoureuse". Ecrire un tel roman à 16 ans présageait de la grandeur de l'éminent écrivain que deviendrait Victor Hugo.
Avant de parler du livre et de donner mon avis, je tiens à préciser que mon utilisation des adjectifs "noir" et "blanc" n'a rien de péjoratif, et que je suis opposée à la classification des humains en races.
L'histoire se passe dans la colonie française de Saint-Domingue (actuelle Haïti), à la fin du 18ème siècle, durant le soulèvement des esclaves noirs contre les colons européens.
Durant une longue nuit de bivouac, à la veille d'une bataille, le capitaine Léopold d'Auverney, raconte à un groupe de militaires, son histoire riche en rebondissements et en émotions.
C'est une histoire d'amitié, sur fond d'insurrection, entre le capitaine Léopold d'Auverney et Pierrot (qui deviendra Bug-Jargal), un esclave fils d'un roi africain, une amitié qui s’élève au-dessus des différences raciales et sociales.
Dans ce roman, l'auteur pointe du doigt l’exploitation des esclaves, les maltraitances et autres humiliations que leur infligent les impitoyables colons ce qui m'a fait penser, à un moment, que Victor Hugo était antiesclavagiste. Mais par la suite, il a brossé un portrait négatif des noirs, les faisant passer pour des méchants tout en faisant passer les blancs pour des victimes. Donc je reste perplexe sur sa position vis-à-vis de l'esclavage.
Dans ce roman, l'auteur met en valeur des qualités telles que la loyauté, la fraternité, l'abnégation etc... et il dénonce la tyrannie coloniale, l'hypocrisie des dirigeants des deux camps (colons et esclaves insurgés) et leur division, l'utilisation de la religion à des fins politiques...
Le roman se lit facilement, on ne s'ennuie pas une seconde, car il y a du dépaysement, de l'action, des rebondissements... et il n'y a pas de trop longues descriptions (comme on en trouve souvent dans les classiques). Malgré cela, ça n'a pas été un coup de cœur, car je n'ai pas aimé l'image donnée des "noirs", l’excès de violence de certaines scènes, et l’exagération de certains traits de caractère des personnages principaux (ce qui les a rendus peu crédibles à mes yeux).
J'ai beaucoup aimé cette lecture, la plume de Victor Hugo est "savoureuse". Ecrire un tel roman à 16 ans présageait de la grandeur de l'éminent écrivain que deviendrait Victor Hugo.
August 7, 2011
An unexpected Hugo's novel. One can tell this is one of his first works. Not because it is not well written or so. As in every Hugo's novel, the language is just exquisit, but he doesn't get as deep as he later got describing human emotions and feelings, as you can see, for instance, in "Notre Dame de Paris". Beside, the subject, the place, the characters, didn't seem to me what I would expect from Hugo. So different.. but yet so good! One thing: sometimes, during the reading, I couldn't tell whether Hugo was defending freedom and human rights (some of main Hugo's favorite themes), or he was on the side of the french masters. Nice novel, easy reading.
March 4, 2022
Esta nouvelle me parece más valiosa desde su perspectiva histórica-política que desde su habilidad literaria, más en el contexto de la progresión del pensamiento de su autor.
Creo que la combinación de indignación y compasión católicas son muy típicas de Hugo, y se manifiestan más inmaduras en una obra tan temprana. Si demonizados los esclavos rebeldes por sus acciones violentas, no se olvida la novela de justificar sus actos (me pareció particularmente interesante en lo que respecta al enano, que es presentado como poseedor de un alma irremediablemente cruel y vengativa, y descrito por el protagonista como monstruoso, horrible, maldito, pero de quien sin embargo leemos un monólogo que nos lleva a comprender las profundas humillaciones que se ha visto forzado a soportar). El personaje más detestable pienso que es el tío de nuestro narrador, pero Leopoldo se refiere a él casi siempre en términos elogiosos. Bug-Jargal, por el otro lado, es un ejemplo de virtudes: libertador pero no asesino, rebelde pero no violento, y poseedor de una autoridad incuestionable por su noble nacimiento ("hijo del rey del Congo").
La obra en su conjunto tiene una cierta ambiguedad, entonces. La violencia es condenada en su conjunto: como esclavitud, pero también como rebelión, tomada como venganza. En sí es comparable a los modernos movimientos cristianos de noviolencia. Es el ejemplo de Pierrot el que se sugiere- el alzamiento que busca evitar víctimas, la emancipación pacífica o al menos la batalla honrada. No sé que podría esperarse como resultado de la revolución haitiana de perseguirse ese ideal; parafraseando a Robespierre, ¿es posible una revolución sin revolución?
Esta perspectiva noviolenta también se repite en el desprecio hacia las figuras del 91, además de a los esclavos de Santo Domingo. La palabra ciudadano es prácticamente una parodia, esperable para el Hugo de la década del 20. El mismo final reivindica a nuestro narrador como aristócrata y héroe nacional frente al odio vengativo y absurdo de los portadores del gorro frigio.
En fin, interesante. Una obra que, con los sucesos de Haití bastante cercanos, busca enaltecer a un héroe negro, denunciando los horrores del sistema esclavista y los de la violencia revolucionaria de una misma vez.
Posdata, no puedo dejar de mencionar la relación casi homoerótica entre Leopoldo y Bug-Jargal. Supongo que debe ser entendida como puramente fraternal, tomando en cuenta el amor de ambos por María, pero María aparece más bien poco (encantador personaje, por cierto).
Creo que la combinación de indignación y compasión católicas son muy típicas de Hugo, y se manifiestan más inmaduras en una obra tan temprana. Si demonizados los esclavos rebeldes por sus acciones violentas, no se olvida la novela de justificar sus actos (me pareció particularmente interesante en lo que respecta al enano, que es presentado como poseedor de un alma irremediablemente cruel y vengativa, y descrito por el protagonista como monstruoso, horrible, maldito, pero de quien sin embargo leemos un monólogo que nos lleva a comprender las profundas humillaciones que se ha visto forzado a soportar). El personaje más detestable pienso que es el tío de nuestro narrador, pero Leopoldo se refiere a él casi siempre en términos elogiosos. Bug-Jargal, por el otro lado, es un ejemplo de virtudes: libertador pero no asesino, rebelde pero no violento, y poseedor de una autoridad incuestionable por su noble nacimiento ("hijo del rey del Congo").
La obra en su conjunto tiene una cierta ambiguedad, entonces. La violencia es condenada en su conjunto: como esclavitud, pero también como rebelión, tomada como venganza. En sí es comparable a los modernos movimientos cristianos de noviolencia. Es el ejemplo de Pierrot el que se sugiere- el alzamiento que busca evitar víctimas, la emancipación pacífica o al menos la batalla honrada. No sé que podría esperarse como resultado de la revolución haitiana de perseguirse ese ideal; parafraseando a Robespierre, ¿es posible una revolución sin revolución?
Esta perspectiva noviolenta también se repite en el desprecio hacia las figuras del 91, además de a los esclavos de Santo Domingo. La palabra ciudadano es prácticamente una parodia, esperable para el Hugo de la década del 20. El mismo final reivindica a nuestro narrador como aristócrata y héroe nacional frente al odio vengativo y absurdo de los portadores del gorro frigio.
En fin, interesante. Una obra que, con los sucesos de Haití bastante cercanos, busca enaltecer a un héroe negro, denunciando los horrores del sistema esclavista y los de la violencia revolucionaria de una misma vez.
Posdata, no puedo dejar de mencionar la relación casi homoerótica entre Leopoldo y Bug-Jargal. Supongo que debe ser entendida como puramente fraternal, tomando en cuenta el amor de ambos por María, pero María aparece más bien poco (encantador personaje, por cierto).
February 28, 2024
La scelta di un'ambientazione a Santo Domingo durante la rivolta degli schiavi del 1791 è decisamente politica e matura (il libro è infatti pubblicato sia con il titolo di"Bug-Jargal" che con il più specifico "La rivolta dei negri a San Domingo"). Tra i cinque personaggi principali, a spiccare e l'intrigante Leopoldo D'Auverney, nipote di un ricco piantatore di Haiti, in bilico tra la riprovazione delle dure condizioni di vita imposte agli schiavi e la condanna di una rivoluzione contraria ai suoi ideali di ordine e disciplina, in attrito con la lealtà della figura umile di Pierrot lo schiavo rivoltoso.
Un'opera di esplorazione visionaria in un clima di dominio: l'angoscia, l'avventura, l'orrore della morte, l'ispirazione dell'amore resistite alle due revisioni di 1825 e 1831 per arrivare sino a noi. Non uno dei migliori Hugo, ma fa comunque parte di una raccolta di opere minori interessanti.
Un'opera di esplorazione visionaria in un clima di dominio: l'angoscia, l'avventura, l'orrore della morte, l'ispirazione dell'amore resistite alle due revisioni di 1825 e 1831 per arrivare sino a noi. Non uno dei migliori Hugo, ma fa comunque parte di una raccolta di opere minori interessanti.
April 29, 2021
Las estrellas las tiene porque como obra de Víctor Hugo está muy bien escrita y porque retrata muy bien lo racista que era la sociedad de la época. Mención especial a los colonos de Santo Domingo, que la única forma de conseguir que trataran a una persona negra con un mínimo de respeto era que les salvase la vida siete veces y se postrase pidiendo que le maten si no es digno otras tantas. Supongo que Hugo planeaba conmover con la vida del colono protagonista y las penas que lo pasa, pero actualmente lees esto y es difícil empatizar con esclavistas... Sienta ver que la sociedad ha avanzado.
April 9, 2022
This book made me feel a bit uncomfortable and I think in this case it's a good thing. It is written from the POV of someone very much of his time and while he, at his time, might be seen as a good person and doesn't like the cruelty against slaves, he is still very flawed, seeing these people as less than him and only manages to respect one of them after extreme acts of kindness. Whenever the former slaves spoke, I saw how the author portrays their feelings and motives very sympatheticly, however since the narrator others and despises them, the racism shown will be just too much for some readers. The edition I read had been edited by the author later in life but he wrote it at 16, and I think some aspects would have been handled better by an older Victor Hugo, but I could still respect the intention and already very impressive writing of this debut.
With that out of the way, it was a really compelling story and I kind of like narratives told in flashback. It was a window into the past and I just enjoy the author's prose a lot.
With that out of the way, it was a really compelling story and I kind of like narratives told in flashback. It was a window into the past and I just enjoy the author's prose a lot.
July 11, 2019
Of all the love stories written in 1818 and set amidst the Haitian slave revolt...this is by far my favorite.
July 21, 2024
On n'est jamais déçu avec Victor Hugo...Ici, sous la forme du récit enchassé (comme le personnage raconte, on sait qu'il va pas mourir même exposé à un grave danger), nous suivons les aventures de Leopold d'Auverney, jeune officier français envoyé chez son oncle, planteur à Saint-Domingue. Son idylle avec sa fille Marie, qu'il doit épouser, est interrompue par la révolte des esclaves. Péripéties, revers, captivité, fraternisation, drame : l'intrigue est riche (trop peut-être) en rebondissements, avec des identités dissimulées comme Hugo les aime bien... mais l'essentiel me semble être cette idée, qu'on retrouve aussi chez Dumas dans les trilogie des "blancs et des bleus", que la bravoure, le courage, la noblesse de coeur, comme la lâcheté et la traîtrise, sont également distribués entre les deux camps. Ce roman flamboyant est aussi un plaidoyer de Victor Hugo contre l’esclavage, attesté également par de superbes textes (lettres) placées en annexes de cette édition.
June 17, 2025
Found a Haitian Revolution melodrama even worse than Madisson Smartt Bell's rediculos trilogy😒
January 6, 2012
Night and the day, when united,
Bring forth the light.
I am an addict.
Yet I do not scrounge for my fix, nor do I hope for it. But when I find it, I harken back to all the previous times when it satisfied me and shiver at the shock of its course. Then again, my drug fills everything and everytime. My needle and my pipe neither inject nor bellow smoke but rather peel away the layers of exhaustive thinking which blanket the brilliance of my drug.
When concluding a book, certain last sentences release the unutterable radiance of understanding - not an idea or a smart conjecture, but something already in existence, simply noticed. And I reach the high of a blown mind.
No other writer, for me, deserves my unwavering trust to fulfill my need for this graceful electricity. Bug-Jargal, albeit an overly-romantic novella, measures the quality of humanity in its capacity for true justice, honor, friendship, sacrifice, love, vengeance and failure.
Hugo bases the story on the Haitian slave uprising in the late 18th century. His protagonist, Captain Leopold D'Auverney, narrates his experience during the uprising. Hugo knits the entire story in the first-person narrative style which, in my opinion, adds a certain level of fallibility but humanity to it. I shutter to hear some readers chastise this work as inexcusably racist when the white Captain, a product of French imperialism and racial injustice, tells the story! And tell me: if the events dictated from his perspective began as morally obligatory to sensitive racial issues, what room is left for Hugo to transform the Captain himself? His judgement throughout the narrative had proven erroneous so why wouldn't we, the reader, condemn him as a bigot with an opportunity for redemption rather than chastise the book as a promotion for racist sentiments?
Hugo layers his theme of justice and brotherhood through personal and societal levels. After the uprising, D'Auverney describes the character of the newly formed black army which, after several examples brilliantly symbolic of mental and physical oppression, simply emulates the oppressions of their white masters. Hugo readily condemns nearly every suppressive weapon employed by those in power by mirroring their uses by blacks on whites. Some readers may choose to end their reasoning here and enjoy the ignorant comforts of condemning one race for attempting to right a wrong with the same wrong - and thereby defending their wrong by displacing it on those perpetrating the same evil. In either case, the cycle of vengeance never ends! Where some see evil, reason to fear and hate, I see humanity! I see equality!
Hugo also sees disease - which spreads through all close-quarter groups whether in the grips of battle or the beds of separate peace.
Pierrot, a slave with a mighty history, patrols these happenings like Dostoevsky's Christ visiting the Spanish Inquisition. He both commands obedience and the worship of his fellow slaves and befriends our captain. The nature of their relationship and the intrigue of his character add a particularly romantic, mystical and entirely fascinating element to the novella, which I will not spoil here. But I found their relationship and the circumstances which cultivated it starkly different from the relationship between the groups of blacks and whites. For D'Auverney and Pierrot, two individuals guided by virtue rather than vengeance, love for humanity rather than brother, the end proved bitter in a bloated and selfish worldly system without space for their substance.
My drug paraphernalia reads,
'Who can tell if the bullets of the enemy nay not have spared his head for his country's guillotine?'If a man fights an enemy to take their power, he will likely enjoy the praise of those he leads. But a man who fights to liberate humanity, a true liberation of all life, will not only find an enemy in evil but also in those he seeks to save. In order to transcend such opposition, at both ends of the power pendulum, the liberator must honor his code of virtue, as opposed to the approach taken by oppressors, even to an unjust and ungrateful end for the sake of righteous living under the dictation of justice and love rather than pride, for the sake of all people whom he endeavors to liberate.
Through both Pierrot and the captain life itself seemed liberated from the chains of injured pride and hateful recompense. Where both white and black stood enslaved to the guttural urge to take the other eye, to shift power from one to the other only to perpetrate the same lingering evil, two men willfully succumbed to the graces of virtue, the abandonment of that evil, and the best of enlightened man.
In this sense, we can all be "the slave become king, the prisoner a liberator."?
January 31, 2017
Depuis que mes yeux sont tombés sur "Demain Dès L'Aube", Hugo est devenu le point vers lequel je tends dans l'écriture. J'ai entrepris de lire tous ses ouvrages par ordre croissant.
Ce roman est donc reconnu comme le premier de sa plume.
Ce que j'ai particulièrement aimé :
J'ignore si à cet âge là Victor s'était déjà rendu sur les terres qu'il décrit, mais il les peint avec une vivacité et un réalisme prenant qui nous projette dés les premières pages dans ce climat chaud, sous ces rayons dorés et dans les plantations sèches. Il nous transporte. Pour tout vous dire, lire ce roman m'a fait voyagé ! J'ai donc économisé un billet d'avion.
Ensuite, l'intrigue... j'ai particulièrement aimé cette forme de discours rapporté, portée par un personnage miné et mystérieux. J'ai rarement lu des romans ainsi emboîtés mais celui-ci était facile à lire, on entrait et ressortait aisément des différentes dimensions de narration.
Peut-être est-ce mon côté novice, mais j'ai été séduite par certaines tournures de phrases, certaines ambivalences et oxymores chantantes qui étaient autant de plaisir à entendre qu'à s'imaginer. Les mots sont associés de façon presque hasardeuse pour donner un sens tout à fait unique à une action ou une expression et c'est particulièrement cela qui me frappe tant dans le style d'Hugo.
Enfin, faut-il même en parler ? Chapeau bas pour cette situation historique fidèlement présentée à seulement 16 ans. Le contexte est réaliste à souhait. On sait qu'il a pris le soin d'enrichir de documentation ses premiers jets. Il n'en reste pas moins que le travail historique a du être conséquent.
Ce que j'ai moins aimé
Ce roman est-il vraiment un roman contre l'esclavage ? Je n'en ai eu aucune preuve tangible au cours de ma lecture, au contraire, les noirs sont souvent décrits avec beaucoup de péjoratif et les blancs passent souvent pour des victimes quand on sait qu'ils ont été en réalité les bourreaux jusqu'à avant cette révolte.
Par contre, ce que ce roman démontre bien, c'est dans quel état peut mettre la haine. La révolte est décrite comme quelque chose de sanglant et d'extrêmement violent et condamnable, mais n'a été provoquée que par des maltraitances encore plus grandes et cela est bien incarné par le personnage d'Habibra. Mais outre le contexte et l'intrigue, je n'ai pas vu de position réellement prise dans ces écrits, peut-être qu'à l'époque ca passait effectivement pour de la défense des droits des noirs de faire d'un noir, le héro d'un livre.
Pour résumer, je vous le conseille. Il est facile à lire, se lit trés vite et fait voyager. L'intrigue est plaisante, le suspense tient la route et l'écriture est agréable.
Ce roman est donc reconnu comme le premier de sa plume.
Ce que j'ai particulièrement aimé :
J'ignore si à cet âge là Victor s'était déjà rendu sur les terres qu'il décrit, mais il les peint avec une vivacité et un réalisme prenant qui nous projette dés les premières pages dans ce climat chaud, sous ces rayons dorés et dans les plantations sèches. Il nous transporte. Pour tout vous dire, lire ce roman m'a fait voyagé ! J'ai donc économisé un billet d'avion.
Ensuite, l'intrigue... j'ai particulièrement aimé cette forme de discours rapporté, portée par un personnage miné et mystérieux. J'ai rarement lu des romans ainsi emboîtés mais celui-ci était facile à lire, on entrait et ressortait aisément des différentes dimensions de narration.
Peut-être est-ce mon côté novice, mais j'ai été séduite par certaines tournures de phrases, certaines ambivalences et oxymores chantantes qui étaient autant de plaisir à entendre qu'à s'imaginer. Les mots sont associés de façon presque hasardeuse pour donner un sens tout à fait unique à une action ou une expression et c'est particulièrement cela qui me frappe tant dans le style d'Hugo.
Enfin, faut-il même en parler ? Chapeau bas pour cette situation historique fidèlement présentée à seulement 16 ans. Le contexte est réaliste à souhait. On sait qu'il a pris le soin d'enrichir de documentation ses premiers jets. Il n'en reste pas moins que le travail historique a du être conséquent.
Ce que j'ai moins aimé
Ce roman est-il vraiment un roman contre l'esclavage ? Je n'en ai eu aucune preuve tangible au cours de ma lecture, au contraire, les noirs sont souvent décrits avec beaucoup de péjoratif et les blancs passent souvent pour des victimes quand on sait qu'ils ont été en réalité les bourreaux jusqu'à avant cette révolte.
Par contre, ce que ce roman démontre bien, c'est dans quel état peut mettre la haine. La révolte est décrite comme quelque chose de sanglant et d'extrêmement violent et condamnable, mais n'a été provoquée que par des maltraitances encore plus grandes et cela est bien incarné par le personnage d'Habibra. Mais outre le contexte et l'intrigue, je n'ai pas vu de position réellement prise dans ces écrits, peut-être qu'à l'époque ca passait effectivement pour de la défense des droits des noirs de faire d'un noir, le héro d'un livre.
Pour résumer, je vous le conseille. Il est facile à lire, se lit trés vite et fait voyager. L'intrigue est plaisante, le suspense tient la route et l'écriture est agréable.
May 1, 2020
Ce livre, quand je l’ai vu, m’a intrigué parce que je n’en avais jamais entendu parler et que j’étais curieuse de le découvrir car c’est le premier que Hugo a écrit suite à un pari, à l’âge de 16 ans. De ce fait, on retrouve une plume encore jeune mais dont la beauté est déjà présente et savoureuse. L’histoire elle, se place dans le contexte de la révolte des esclaves de Saint-Domingue en 1791. Le texte, vibrant de colère, montre la tyrannie coloniale et la puissance vengeresse des révoltés et laisse aussi entrevoir la cruauté des esclaves incarnée par le chef des rebelles Biassou. Comme je m’y attendais, le racisme de l’époque et du narrateur, est présent notamment dans le langage employé mais aussi -à ma grande surprise- dans les idées. Trop souvent le narrateur maudit les esclaves et les méprise. Tout cela, même mis sur le compte de l’époque, me rend perplexe quant à la position de Hugo. En effet, il peint autant de scènes poignantes et révolutionnaires que de scènes mettant en avant la cruauté des esclaves, plaçant ainsi les colons en victimes. Il y avait peut-être là plus une volonté de parler de la révolte dans son contexte, sans prendre de position, je ne sais pas. Quand bien même, le racisme omniprésent et l’image négative des esclaves ont rendu cette lecture insoutenable. Autre déception concernant ce livre : Bug-Jargal, qui donne quand même son nom à l’œuvre, n’est pas le personnage principal. (J'imagine que cela aurait choqué à l'époque mais si ce livre dénonçait l’esclavage, donner voix à un esclave-narrateur aurait sans doute eu plus d’effet.) Pleins d'éléments comme celui-ci me laisse penser que le but n'était définitivement pas de prendre position mais de parler de la révolte sous tous ses aspects, y compris en évoquant la rage et la soif de sang qui animent les esclaves après avoir connu les horreurs de l’esclavage. Malgré tout, cette œuvre me plonge dans une confusion évidente.
Read
December 11, 2020I'm not sure what I think about this one. It was very interesting to learn about that time and the rebellion and also even at 16, hugo's writing is amazing.
However, it was hard for me to read such racist words that are set in a time where that was the reality, and from a man, which from his point of view, is trying to do the opposite and show some light. I believe that in that time, it was considered lighten, and even too lighten... Makes you think, and feel sick to your under belly. I guess that's what fiction is all about.
However, it was hard for me to read such racist words that are set in a time where that was the reality, and from a man, which from his point of view, is trying to do the opposite and show some light. I believe that in that time, it was considered lighten, and even too lighten... Makes you think, and feel sick to your under belly. I guess that's what fiction is all about.
September 15, 2017
Introduction
Intrigued by my recent reading of Victor Hugo’s biography, I was compelled to read some of his less remembered works. I was especially drawn to Bug-jargal because it deals with the Haitian revolution, a place I have visited and read much about.
In many respects, the tale of Bug-jargal is similar to Guy Endore’s Babouk: Voices of Resistance , which is also a relatively obscure novel, set amidst the Haitian revolutionary upheavals. Endore’s character, Babouk, is based on the rebellious Haitian slave Bouckmann, who is also mentioned in Bug-jargal. Both novels are fast paced, intriguing reads, and highly recommended.
The character Bug-jargal reminds me of a mysterious historical character known as Mackandal , who is often referred to as the Black Messiah. Mackandal was a maroon (escaped slave) that worked subversively to instigate revolt in Haiti. Mackandal was ultimately set to burn at the stake by the French. Legend has it that Mackandal had supernatural abilities and somehow escaped before the flames could take him.
Hugo seems to build his protagonist, Bug-jargal, after Mackandal, but turns Bug-jargal into a Christ-like figure, who offers up his life for others. At one point in the novel, reflecting upon the bloody massacres occurring in the revolution, Bug-jagal remarks to the fierce rebel leader Biassou:
“Do not let us be less merciful than they are. Will our cause be more holy and more just because we exterminate the women, slaughter the children, and burn the colonists in their houses? Must the track of our progress be always marked by a line of blood and fire?”
Hugo would be saddened to know that the subsequent history of Haiti has been little other than blood and fire, as the island has seen very little progress and severe impoverishment instead.
Deforestation
Hugo possesses the unique skill for exposing social ills through simple fictional discourse. For example, the horrible deforestation in Haiti, which has rendered modern Haiti a land of abject poverty, is underscored by continual remarks from the characters about the destruction of trees. The rebel blacks set fire to the cane fields, forests, and estates; which was the only way of permanently discouraging the more technologically advanced French planters. Hugo has his character, the rebellious leader Biassou, remark as follows in reference to such pillage:
“no mercy for the planters; let us massacre their families and destroy their plantations! Do not allow a tree to remain standing on their estates; let us upturn the very earth itself that it may swallow up our white oppressors!”
Later when the captured white philanthropist seeks to save his life by telling Biassou of his skills in mining coal, Bisssou replies:
“What do I care for that! When I want charcoal I will burn a few leagues of forest.”
Such references to burning and cutting down trees pop up throughout the novel. In fact, Hugo brilliantly uses the destruction of the trees to symbolize and highlight the life struggle occurring in Haiti. Hugo’s alluring descriptions of early Haiti reveal what a heavenly paradise it once was. Like the blacks, the trees represent the struggle of life in a world that is attempting growth in the face of destruction. It is a world that seemingly nourishes while simultaneously destroying. Hugo writes as follows:
“Over this terrible precipice hung the trunk of an old tree whose top-most branches were filled with the foam of the waterfall, and whose knotty roots pierced through the rock two or three feet below the brink. This tree, whose top and roots were both swept by the torrent, hung over the abyss like a skeleton arm, and was so destitute of foliage that I could not distinguish its species. It had a strange and weird appearance; the humidity which saturated its roots prevented it from dying, whilst the force of the cataract tore off its new shoots, and only left it with the branches that had strength to resist the force of the water.” -Victor Hugo
Let us pray that the fate of the trees does not become the permanent fate of the Haitian people, as seems so overwhelmingly probable.
Religious Confusion
Another key historical occurrence that Hugo illuminates is the rise of the sort of religious confusion that still exists in Haiti today. There is a scene in which the rebel leader Biassou attempts to conduct a Catholic religious ceremony, but inadvertently profanes it though ignorance. The modern day practice of Vodou in Haiti today bears many remnants of the French Catholicism that the Haitian slaves never quite understood, but attempted to mimic nonetheless. It’s quite ironic that the colonialists found the same Catholicism, which had so long been used to subjugate the French peasantry, too good for the Africans they interred in Haiti. Without the mesmerizing indoctrination afforded by primitive Catholicism, the Haitian blacks would eventually rebel in bloody revolt.
Prejudice
The most brilliant accomplishment of this novel is the exposure of the levels of prejudice exhibited between whites, the half-breed mulattoes, and the full blacks. One white plantation owner found himself ostracized merely because he was rumored to have a distant black relative. Mulattoes held themselves above the full blacks and whites despised both mulattoes, blacks, and even poorer whites. It was a social hierarchy built upon systemic hatred. Hugo attempts to untangle this mass of errant human dispositions, which serve nothing more than to perpetuate evil on the island.
The scene in which a hypocrite white philanthropist and the planter of doubtful origin are brought before the fierce rebel leader Biassou to be judged is the most revealing part of the entire novel. Hugo displays, in Biassou, the same sort of diabolical arrogance that would possess most future Haitian leaders and paralyze black Haitian governments, even into modernity. In attempting to convince Biassou to spare his life, the philanthropist spews forth a profusion of ways that he can help the blacks with his knowledge of crops, engineering, construction, and economics; only to receive the retort of Biassou that:
“if you are such a philanthropist why have you not already done these things for the blacks”.
In the character of the philanthropist, Hugo displays the hypocrisy of the Parisian elite, who publicly decry inequality, until such a position directly affects their own situation, at which time their hypocrisy is suddenly revealed. This is also the way that the French revolution exposed the hypocrisy of monarchists, who would knowingly choose to support an unrighteous king, before even considering to give up the pensions and estates the king provided to them. To support a cause merely philosophically, without throwing ones efforts behind it, is half heartedness; it is a lukewarmness that sickens the observer by its shear hypocritical impotence.
When the white man of doubtful origin comes to be judged by Biassou, he suddenly exclaims that he is part black, a fact that he has heretofore denied his entire life. In this character, Hugo displays the hypocrisy of the mulattoes, who would set themselves over the blacks and pretend to be fully white. Hugo shows that all the players in this drama bear some responsibility for the environment of catastrophe that is Haiti. For this is a drama of intense evil, perpetuated by all the human actors, who daily live the scenes.
Conclusion
Ultimately. Biassou sentences the white of doubtful origin to execute the philanthropist, which he does without delay, extinguishing the philosophical lover of the negro race with a dagger. Reading such violence is reminiscent, not only of the bloody Haitian revolution, but also the diabolical French guillotine, both of which reveal the horror that happens when a country, possessed of evil, turns upon itself.
-end-
Intrigued by my recent reading of Victor Hugo’s biography, I was compelled to read some of his less remembered works. I was especially drawn to Bug-jargal because it deals with the Haitian revolution, a place I have visited and read much about.
In many respects, the tale of Bug-jargal is similar to Guy Endore’s Babouk: Voices of Resistance , which is also a relatively obscure novel, set amidst the Haitian revolutionary upheavals. Endore’s character, Babouk, is based on the rebellious Haitian slave Bouckmann, who is also mentioned in Bug-jargal. Both novels are fast paced, intriguing reads, and highly recommended.
The character Bug-jargal reminds me of a mysterious historical character known as Mackandal , who is often referred to as the Black Messiah. Mackandal was a maroon (escaped slave) that worked subversively to instigate revolt in Haiti. Mackandal was ultimately set to burn at the stake by the French. Legend has it that Mackandal had supernatural abilities and somehow escaped before the flames could take him.
Hugo seems to build his protagonist, Bug-jargal, after Mackandal, but turns Bug-jargal into a Christ-like figure, who offers up his life for others. At one point in the novel, reflecting upon the bloody massacres occurring in the revolution, Bug-jagal remarks to the fierce rebel leader Biassou:
“Do not let us be less merciful than they are. Will our cause be more holy and more just because we exterminate the women, slaughter the children, and burn the colonists in their houses? Must the track of our progress be always marked by a line of blood and fire?”
Hugo would be saddened to know that the subsequent history of Haiti has been little other than blood and fire, as the island has seen very little progress and severe impoverishment instead.
Deforestation
Hugo possesses the unique skill for exposing social ills through simple fictional discourse. For example, the horrible deforestation in Haiti, which has rendered modern Haiti a land of abject poverty, is underscored by continual remarks from the characters about the destruction of trees. The rebel blacks set fire to the cane fields, forests, and estates; which was the only way of permanently discouraging the more technologically advanced French planters. Hugo has his character, the rebellious leader Biassou, remark as follows in reference to such pillage:
“no mercy for the planters; let us massacre their families and destroy their plantations! Do not allow a tree to remain standing on their estates; let us upturn the very earth itself that it may swallow up our white oppressors!”
Later when the captured white philanthropist seeks to save his life by telling Biassou of his skills in mining coal, Bisssou replies:
“What do I care for that! When I want charcoal I will burn a few leagues of forest.”
Such references to burning and cutting down trees pop up throughout the novel. In fact, Hugo brilliantly uses the destruction of the trees to symbolize and highlight the life struggle occurring in Haiti. Hugo’s alluring descriptions of early Haiti reveal what a heavenly paradise it once was. Like the blacks, the trees represent the struggle of life in a world that is attempting growth in the face of destruction. It is a world that seemingly nourishes while simultaneously destroying. Hugo writes as follows:
“Over this terrible precipice hung the trunk of an old tree whose top-most branches were filled with the foam of the waterfall, and whose knotty roots pierced through the rock two or three feet below the brink. This tree, whose top and roots were both swept by the torrent, hung over the abyss like a skeleton arm, and was so destitute of foliage that I could not distinguish its species. It had a strange and weird appearance; the humidity which saturated its roots prevented it from dying, whilst the force of the cataract tore off its new shoots, and only left it with the branches that had strength to resist the force of the water.” -Victor Hugo
Let us pray that the fate of the trees does not become the permanent fate of the Haitian people, as seems so overwhelmingly probable.
Religious Confusion
Another key historical occurrence that Hugo illuminates is the rise of the sort of religious confusion that still exists in Haiti today. There is a scene in which the rebel leader Biassou attempts to conduct a Catholic religious ceremony, but inadvertently profanes it though ignorance. The modern day practice of Vodou in Haiti today bears many remnants of the French Catholicism that the Haitian slaves never quite understood, but attempted to mimic nonetheless. It’s quite ironic that the colonialists found the same Catholicism, which had so long been used to subjugate the French peasantry, too good for the Africans they interred in Haiti. Without the mesmerizing indoctrination afforded by primitive Catholicism, the Haitian blacks would eventually rebel in bloody revolt.
Prejudice
The most brilliant accomplishment of this novel is the exposure of the levels of prejudice exhibited between whites, the half-breed mulattoes, and the full blacks. One white plantation owner found himself ostracized merely because he was rumored to have a distant black relative. Mulattoes held themselves above the full blacks and whites despised both mulattoes, blacks, and even poorer whites. It was a social hierarchy built upon systemic hatred. Hugo attempts to untangle this mass of errant human dispositions, which serve nothing more than to perpetuate evil on the island.
The scene in which a hypocrite white philanthropist and the planter of doubtful origin are brought before the fierce rebel leader Biassou to be judged is the most revealing part of the entire novel. Hugo displays, in Biassou, the same sort of diabolical arrogance that would possess most future Haitian leaders and paralyze black Haitian governments, even into modernity. In attempting to convince Biassou to spare his life, the philanthropist spews forth a profusion of ways that he can help the blacks with his knowledge of crops, engineering, construction, and economics; only to receive the retort of Biassou that:
“if you are such a philanthropist why have you not already done these things for the blacks”.
In the character of the philanthropist, Hugo displays the hypocrisy of the Parisian elite, who publicly decry inequality, until such a position directly affects their own situation, at which time their hypocrisy is suddenly revealed. This is also the way that the French revolution exposed the hypocrisy of monarchists, who would knowingly choose to support an unrighteous king, before even considering to give up the pensions and estates the king provided to them. To support a cause merely philosophically, without throwing ones efforts behind it, is half heartedness; it is a lukewarmness that sickens the observer by its shear hypocritical impotence.
When the white man of doubtful origin comes to be judged by Biassou, he suddenly exclaims that he is part black, a fact that he has heretofore denied his entire life. In this character, Hugo displays the hypocrisy of the mulattoes, who would set themselves over the blacks and pretend to be fully white. Hugo shows that all the players in this drama bear some responsibility for the environment of catastrophe that is Haiti. For this is a drama of intense evil, perpetuated by all the human actors, who daily live the scenes.
Conclusion
Ultimately. Biassou sentences the white of doubtful origin to execute the philanthropist, which he does without delay, extinguishing the philosophical lover of the negro race with a dagger. Reading such violence is reminiscent, not only of the bloody Haitian revolution, but also the diabolical French guillotine, both of which reveal the horror that happens when a country, possessed of evil, turns upon itself.
-end-
April 1, 2024
BUG-JARGAL (1826) es la primera novela de Víctor Hugo. Inicialmente se trataba de un relato breve escrito en colaboración con su hermano que unos años después Víctor tomaría para reescribir como una novela que trata de una historia de amor, tragedia y lealtad en medio de las luchas y revueltas de los esclavos en Haití.
.
.
Así es, esta novela se ambienta en la Haití colonial francesa y describe con mucha precisión historica los movimientos convulsivos que sacuden a la colonia antes, durante y después de los ecos de la revolución francesa y como esto repercute sobre los excluidos del famoso lema de libertad, igualdad y fraternidad. Se trata, entonces, de como circulaban las ideas políticas sobre la esclavitud en la época, de como era la política colonial francesa y sobre todo cuáles eran las divisiones sociales entre mulatos, criollos, congos y colonos.
.
.
Particularmente la novela esta narrada desde el punto de vista de un jóven oficial francés que vive con su tío esclavista en una gran plantación a orillas del río Acul y esta prometido con su prima. Todo le pasa masomenos por el costado porque el vive su primera de amor mientras la isla se prende fuego porque tres rebeliones de esclavos la sacuden en distintos puntos haciendo crujir los cimientos del sistema colonial. Nuestro jóven oficial vive en una nube de pedos, incluso tiene un rival por el amor de su prima que descubre que es negro, pero le perdona la vida por sus ideales humanísticos y más adelante intercede para que el esclavo no sea ejecutado por desobediencia. El esclavo escapa y acá viene el spoiler que igual lo adivinan fácil, es el jefe de la revuelta de esclavos. No voy a contar que sigue, pero si llamaré atención sobre este punto: Para ser una novela inicial me sorprendió mucho la vasta sabiduría del narrador sobre el paisaje tropical de la isla, sus divisiones políticas, y los distintos conflictos que fueron estallando alrededor. Una novela increíblemente divertida.
.
.
Así es, esta novela se ambienta en la Haití colonial francesa y describe con mucha precisión historica los movimientos convulsivos que sacuden a la colonia antes, durante y después de los ecos de la revolución francesa y como esto repercute sobre los excluidos del famoso lema de libertad, igualdad y fraternidad. Se trata, entonces, de como circulaban las ideas políticas sobre la esclavitud en la época, de como era la política colonial francesa y sobre todo cuáles eran las divisiones sociales entre mulatos, criollos, congos y colonos.
.
.
Particularmente la novela esta narrada desde el punto de vista de un jóven oficial francés que vive con su tío esclavista en una gran plantación a orillas del río Acul y esta prometido con su prima. Todo le pasa masomenos por el costado porque el vive su primera de amor mientras la isla se prende fuego porque tres rebeliones de esclavos la sacuden en distintos puntos haciendo crujir los cimientos del sistema colonial. Nuestro jóven oficial vive en una nube de pedos, incluso tiene un rival por el amor de su prima que descubre que es negro, pero le perdona la vida por sus ideales humanísticos y más adelante intercede para que el esclavo no sea ejecutado por desobediencia. El esclavo escapa y acá viene el spoiler que igual lo adivinan fácil, es el jefe de la revuelta de esclavos. No voy a contar que sigue, pero si llamaré atención sobre este punto: Para ser una novela inicial me sorprendió mucho la vasta sabiduría del narrador sobre el paisaje tropical de la isla, sus divisiones políticas, y los distintos conflictos que fueron estallando alrededor. Una novela increíblemente divertida.
August 16, 2025
بوک ژارگال، اثر ویکتور هوگو، ترجمه شهلا انسانی.
این رمان، یکی از دو رمانی هست که در کتاب "پکوپن زیبا"ی هوگو، از نشر سمیر منتشر شده.
داستان کاملا به سبک رمانتیسم، با درون‌مایه‌ای عاشقانه و حماسی‌ست، همان‌گونه که از نثر ویکتور هوگو و رمانتیسم قرن نوزدهم فرانسه انتظار می‌رفت.
این رمان، یکی از دو رمانی هست که در کتاب "پکوپن زیبا"ی هوگو، از نشر سمیر منتشر شده.
داستان کاملا به سبک رمانتیسم، با درون‌مایه‌ای عاشقانه و حماسی‌ست، همان‌گونه که از نثر ویکتور هوگو و رمانتیسم قرن نوزدهم فرانسه انتظار می‌رفت.
September 5, 2025
Œuvre qui me laisse plutôt mitigé. On a du mal à cerner quel est le propos de l’œuvre, c’est assez ambigu parfois. Est ce une critique du système esclavagiste ? Où est ce une critiques raciste des esclaves noirs ? C’est assez flou. L’histoire se tient quand même bien, assez rapide à lire, on reconnaît le style de Victor Hugo.
March 19, 2023
In addition to the racism, this book also just isn't very good. I know Hugo says he wrote it at 16 in like a week, but he also changed it for publication years later, so I refuse to give him the excuse.
December 30, 2023
-Rich with emotion
-Handles very sensitive topics that may make the reader uncomfortable.
-Funny that I have found myself once again completing a Hugo novel at the end of the year almost exactly five years after completing Hunchback of Notre Dame.
-Handles very sensitive topics that may make the reader uncomfortable.
-Funny that I have found myself once again completing a Hugo novel at the end of the year almost exactly five years after completing Hunchback of Notre Dame.
July 19, 2025
Bon pour un livre écrit à 16 ans… mais sinon pfiouuuu
September 25, 2025
vrmnt pas fan du style de victor hugo.........
January 29, 2024
Um jovem Victor Hugo escreve aos 16 anos uma história sobre uma amizade improvável, entre um jovem oficial branco e um rei negro escravizado, tendo como pano de fundo a revolução dos escravos de São Domingos (futuro Haiti) em 1791.
Gostei do passo da história, tem ação, drama e emoção, impossível não gostar do Rei Bug-Jargal.
História de um tempo em que a honra e a palavra contavam muito.
Gostei do passo da história, tem ação, drama e emoção, impossível não gostar do Rei Bug-Jargal.
História de um tempo em que a honra e a palavra contavam muito.
January 17, 2025
Le début est bien, la fin est longue. Je cherche encore l'intérêt de lire ce livre même après l'avoir fini
March 24, 2011
I don't know how to give a rating
to this book.
It's very racist, colonialist and conservative.
It's also one of the first Hugo's writing, one of
the only french fiction book of 19th century about the Haitian revolts
and revolution against french colonial domination.
The book gives a very interesting demonstration of the colonial
view of a black slaves revolt : how only european values
can give a great black hero, how the distinction is made
between a black noble hero and a coward & cruel metis is made,
how afro-americans people are always compared to witches, animals
and evil...
I usually hate Hugo's excessive style but this looks like more
a short story, with a lot of actions and explanations. Hugo wasn't
the great humanist that our teachers taught, he was for a long time
okay with slavery and all his life admire the european colonisation
of Africa. this book must be read to see this other side of Hugo
and the political view of his times.
to this book.
It's very racist, colonialist and conservative.
It's also one of the first Hugo's writing, one of
the only french fiction book of 19th century about the Haitian revolts
and revolution against french colonial domination.
The book gives a very interesting demonstration of the colonial
view of a black slaves revolt : how only european values
can give a great black hero, how the distinction is made
between a black noble hero and a coward & cruel metis is made,
how afro-americans people are always compared to witches, animals
and evil...
I usually hate Hugo's excessive style but this looks like more
a short story, with a lot of actions and explanations. Hugo wasn't
the great humanist that our teachers taught, he was for a long time
okay with slavery and all his life admire the european colonisation
of Africa. this book must be read to see this other side of Hugo
and the political view of his times.
February 24, 2016
Don't let my rating sway you too heavily here - The text of the Hugo novel (and accompanying) story are good - they show signs of where Hugo would eventually go as a writer - but what really buoys this book is - like almost everything that broadview publishes - the wealth of supplemental material. But, if you're buying a broadview book then you almost certainly already know this.
The story itself is good though, set at the beginning of the Haitian slave revolt, you have here a well crafted story about friendship across racial and class divides. The characters are the best part of the book, which is no real surprise to those who've read Hugo's later books.
Worth checking out for sure - make sure you read everything broadview has given you though, otherwise you're cheating yourself!
The story itself is good though, set at the beginning of the Haitian slave revolt, you have here a well crafted story about friendship across racial and class divides. The characters are the best part of the book, which is no real surprise to those who've read Hugo's later books.
Worth checking out for sure - make sure you read everything broadview has given you though, otherwise you're cheating yourself!
January 8, 2017
Nowhere near as lyrically beautiful as any of his later novels. For being written by a 16 year old this is a good novel. Hugo obviously had contradictory and troubling ideas about black people at this point in his life.
October 5, 2017
First person makes Hugo's tangents much more tolerable, and the epilogue casts a whole new light on the story. Mildly racist, but not nearly as bad as some material from this time. Right up there next to Les Miserables.
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