Myriam Truеl’ Russian Adaptations of “Les misérables” by Victor Hugo (1868-1915)

Abstract

Russian adaptations of Victor Hugo’s novel Les misérables were aimed at children and the wider adult audiences. From the 1860s to the 1880s, adaptations were largely simplified retellings of the narrative, which presented their readers with virtue models. These were deprived of social criticism that appears in Hugo’s original novel. From the 1880’s more and more adaptations were created for wider general audiences and substantially differed from the previous children’s texts. They were longer, their style and content were more faithful to the original text; at times, even social criticism made an entrance in these narratives. The evolution of the adaptations of the text shows the changing attitudes of both translators and publishers.   Keywords: Les misérables, Victor Hugo, French literature in Russia, adapted books, translation, children literature, popular literature, Tolstoi L. N.