''Jean Val Jean'' is a 1935 novel by Solomon Cleaver. It is a much abbreviated retelling in English of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

's 1862 novel ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

''. According to the publisher's preface, around the turn of the 20th century, Cleaver, a young minister from

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

, read through ''Les Misérables'' and often retold it in his own words. His oral adaptation proved so popular that he was persuaded to write it down and publish it. The resulting novel, titled ''Jean Val Jean'', is less than one-tenth the length of and uses much simpler language than the original. It remains popular, especially among young readers who do not have the patience or reading skills for Hugo's five-volume original.

Rudy Wiebe Rudy Henry Wiebe (born 4 October 1934) is a Canadian author and professor emeritus in the department of English at the University of Alberta since 1992.

, a Canadian author and professor of English, described it as "a sanitized text approved for Canadian children by both the Catholic and public school boards", in which Hugo's lengthy history of the Paris sewers is "eviscerated into one subordinate clause", the entire passage through the sewers condensed "from 39 pages to 627 words" and the last 2 chapters replaced with a single hymn verse. He recalled reading it at the age of 12 and later finding it shelved in the university library's Canadian Literature section.

Publication history

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

: Clarke, Irwin and Company Limited, 1935, 1951, 1957, 1959, 1962. *

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...

: Western Extension College Educational Publishers, 1989.

Notes

{{lesmis 1935 Canadian novels Works based on Les Misérables English-language novels

Publication history

See also

Notes