A Letter to the Author
Dear Victor Hugo,
You could have written a book of philosophy, a history of the French Revolution, and a best selling novel. Instead, you wrote Les Miserables and we got a three for one package whether we wanted it or not. And yet, we continue to forgive you because you gave us Jean Valjean.
I've heard it said before that people never change and that comment, thrown like a grenade into my brain, made me angrier than it should have. Or maybe not angry enough. Because if that's true, we are all doomed. If I have no hope of being a better person tomorrow than I am today, I might as well give up right now.
In Jean Valjean, you showed me that yes, people can and do change. But you also showed the hidden struggle and fight that is behind that change. It comes with a price. Lasting change requires engaging in war with yourself every single day. And yet, at the end of every battle there is a peace that can't be described with mere words.
The fight to be better and do right is always worth it.
I've known this in my head, but after reading Les Miserables, I know it in my heart. And what the heart knows, it doesn't quickly forget.
Thank you for whispering truth in the form of a story. You have shown me just how powerful stories can be and have inspired me to try my own, shaking hand at fiction. I will always regard your work as something that changed my life.
Sincerely,
A reader in 2020
You could have written a book of philosophy, a history of the French Revolution, and a best selling novel. Instead, you wrote Les Miserables and we got a three for one package whether we wanted it or not. And yet, we continue to forgive you because you gave us Jean Valjean.
I've heard it said before that people never change and that comment, thrown like a grenade into my brain, made me angrier than it should have. Or maybe not angry enough. Because if that's true, we are all doomed. If I have no hope of being a better person tomorrow than I am today, I might as well give up right now.
In Jean Valjean, you showed me that yes, people can and do change. But you also showed the hidden struggle and fight that is behind that change. It comes with a price. Lasting change requires engaging in war with yourself every single day. And yet, at the end of every battle there is a peace that can't be described with mere words.
The fight to be better and do right is always worth it.
I've known this in my head, but after reading Les Miserables, I know it in my heart. And what the heart knows, it doesn't quickly forget.
Thank you for whispering truth in the form of a story. You have shown me just how powerful stories can be and have inspired me to try my own, shaking hand at fiction. I will always regard your work as something that changed my life.
Sincerely,
A reader in 2020
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