3.5
The Mysteries of Paris
ByPublisher Description
The first new translation in over a century of the brilliant epic novel that inspired Les Misérables
Sensational, engrossing, and heartbreaking, The Mysteries of Paris is doubtless one of the most entertaining and influential works to emerge from the nineteenth century. It was one of France’s first serial novels, and for sixteen months, Parisians rushed in droves to the newsstands each week for the latest installment. Eugène Sue’s intricate melodrama unfolds around a Paris where, despite the gulf between them, the fortunes of the rich and poor are inextricably tangled. The suspenseful story of Rodolphe, a magnetic hero of noble heart and shadowy origins, was spun out over 150 issues—garnering wild popularity, influencing political change, and inspiring a raft of successors, including Les Misérables and The Count of Monte Cristo. At long last, this lively translation makes the riveting drama of Sue’s classic available to a new century of readers.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Sensational, engrossing, and heartbreaking, The Mysteries of Paris is doubtless one of the most entertaining and influential works to emerge from the nineteenth century. It was one of France’s first serial novels, and for sixteen months, Parisians rushed in droves to the newsstands each week for the latest installment. Eugène Sue’s intricate melodrama unfolds around a Paris where, despite the gulf between them, the fortunes of the rich and poor are inextricably tangled. The suspenseful story of Rodolphe, a magnetic hero of noble heart and shadowy origins, was spun out over 150 issues—garnering wild popularity, influencing political change, and inspiring a raft of successors, including Les Misérables and The Count of Monte Cristo. At long last, this lively translation makes the riveting drama of Sue’s classic available to a new century of readers.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Mysteries of Paris Reviews
3.5
“This one was both entertaining and strange a various points. Some of the strange points include…
1) Scene in which our hero is about to drown in a dungeon that is rapidly filling with water from a torrential downpour. He stands upon the top most stair. The door of his escape is locked. His lips and nose just a above the water, but he will surely die. And then the door is thrown open and he is pulled up and out. How is that? The stairs lead up to the door. He is standing against the door. There is literally no room left except for a thin sliver of air. And yet the door is opened and he pulled up and out?! Perhaps it’s a bad translation from the original French and it should have been described as a trap door. That would certainly make more sense.
2) The introduction of the “black doctor” or “negro doctor” who for a very long time is only described by the color his skin despite the fact that he is a skilled and talented doctor who saves the lives of both our hero and his best friend. Later the doctor gets a name (David) and a backstory, but his initial introduction is off putting. Again, it was the 1840s, so this behavior probably wasn’t out of alignment with reality at the time, it’s just weird given that the doctor is much more than just the color of his skin to the characters in the book. Perhaps it’s done for the shock value? A black doctor?! Unheard of!”
About Eugene Sue
Eugène Sue (1804–1857) was a French novelist. In addition to The Mysteries of Paris, his works include The Wandering Jew, an anticlerical melodrama, and The Mysteries of the People, a fictionalized history of the working classes throughout French history. In 1850, Sue won election to the National Assembly as a Socialist delegate.
Carolyn Betensky is an associate professor of English at the University of Rhode Island.
Jonathan Loesberg is a professor of literature at American University.
Peter Brooks is a professor emeritus at Yale and currently teaches at Princeton. His essays and reviews have appeared in in the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, and elsewhere.
Carolyn Betensky is an associate professor of English at the University of Rhode Island.
Jonathan Loesberg is a professor of literature at American University.
Peter Brooks is a professor emeritus at Yale and currently teaches at Princeton. His essays and reviews have appeared in in the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, and elsewhere.
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