The Hunchback of Notre Dame
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Victor Hugo's towering novel of Quasimodo, archdeacon Claude Frollo and the gypsy Esmeralda has become one of the most widely read and influential books ever written.
Caught in a web of fatal obsession, three extraordinary characters are at the center of Hugo's novel: the grotesque hunchback Quasimodo, bell-ringer of Notre-Dame, owes his life to the ascetic archdeacon, Claude Frollo, who in turn is bound by a hopeless passion to the gypsy dancer Esmeralda. She, meanwhile, is bewitched by a handsome, dim-witted officer, but by an unthinking act of kindness wins Quasimodo's selfless devotion.
Published in hundreds of editions and translated into virtually every modern language, it has not been out of print since 1831.
VICTOR HUGO (1802-1885) was the most forceful, prolific and versatile of French nineteenth-century authors. His Les Misérables is considered to be one of the ten best novels ever written.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Children who have had a taste of Hugo's 18th-century epic through the animated film may find this version, with its absence of song, rather sobering. Wynne-Jones (Some of the Kinder Planets) makes no attempt to soften the harsh story of the hideously deformed, big-hearted Quasimodo, who escapes ridicule only in the sanctuary of the cathedral. Although the narrative is fluent and conversational, children may need guidance through some of the more challenging vocabulary and occasional wordy passages. The irony in Hugo's novel is preserved here, as when Wynne-Jones draws a delicious parallel between church and state: Quasimodo is deaf because "the bells of the church had made him that way"; the judge who sentences the deformed man to a flogging "is as deaf as Quasimodo. The court had made him that way." Still, the deeper implications of the story will likely be lost on children. Dramatically framing the text are Slavin's (Extra! Extra! The Who, What, Where, When and Why of Newspapers) subtly hued, skillfully composed paintings. His mastery of detail, especially in period dress and architecture, makes turbulent medieval Paris appear real--sometimes frighteningly so. This polished, thoughtful collaboration may serve as an authentic preview to Hugo's classic, but may be best appreciated with an adult standing by. Ages 5-8.
