From Booklist
As "a masterpiece of impossibility,"
Les Miserables provoked the ire of conservative critic Alphonse de Lamartine. But for Peruvian novelist Vargas Llosa, it is the very impossibilities Hugo creates that endow this work with its enduring imaginative value. By defying the limits of merely factual history, Vargas Llosa insists, Hugo transports his readers to a better world--a world of moral heroism and spiritual redemption. The self-sacrificing Jean Valjean, the Christ-like Monseigneur Bievenu, the angelic Cosette--these and other enchanting characters join the godlike narrator in beckoning the reader toward utopian ideals of justice and perfection, even as they obscure the tawdry complexities of nineteenth-century France. Vargas Llosa probes these ugly complexities--establishing, for instance, that the rebels that Hugo romanticizes for ascending the barricades actually espoused a wide range of incompatible causes. Yet Vargas Llosa discerns genius in the French novelist's artistic transmutation of such leaden terrestrial events into a golden utopian fantasy. Readers who cherish Hugo's powerful novel will value this insightful study.
Bryce ChristensenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Although books about other books abound, there are very few that actually tell us what it is like to read. The Temptation of the Impossible, Mario Vargas Llosa's book about Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, is one of these rare confessions. -- Benjamin Lytal Los Angeles Times Vargas Llosa discerns genius in the French novelist's artistic transmutation of ... leaden terrestrial events into a golden utopian fantasy. Readers who cherish Hugo's powerful novel will value this insightful study. Booklist Among the things that most fascinate Vargas Llosa is how very fictional Les Miserables is--in the sense of not being true to reality... Among the best parts are when Vargas Llosa goes at it from a writer's point of view--such as in explaining the necessity and use of the great lengths to which Hugo took this work--but even in professor-mode Vargas Llosa offers many useful tidbits (about Hugo, about the reception of the book, etc.) and opinions... Even if [Les Miserables] is only a distant memory, Vargas Llosa's look makes one eager to pick it up again. The Complete Review Novelist Mario Vargas Llosa contributes to the canon with his provoking and insightful study of 19th century French novelist Victor Hugo's Les Miserables in his book-length essay, Temptation of the Impossible...Vargas Llosa's study reaches beyond an analysis of Les Miserables to help define the very essence of the novel and fiction. -- Robert Hicks San Francisco Chronicle Part literary criticism, part biography, and part personal essay, The Temptation of the Impossible is the author's perceptive tribute to Hugo's Les Miserables. For Vargas Llosa ... Hugo's marvelous novel is a brilliant portrayal of 'a world blazing with extreme misfortune, love, courage, happiness, and vile deeds.'... Some literary critics may disagree with his provocative claims regarding the role of fiction in readers' lives, but Vargas Llosa argues so passionately that even dissenting critics will admire his zealous and meticulous reasoning... For any student of world literature who is interested in an important and hugely readable, one-stop critical analysis of Hugo's canonical novel, Vargas Llosa's book is the perfect destination. -- Tim Davis ForeWord Vargas Llosa is ideally placed to lead a reconsideration of Victor Hugo... [He] examines the providential vein in Les Miserables that runs through both individual destinies and the life of nations. -- Algis Valiunas First Things Mario Vargas Llosa, acclaimed novelist, critic and one-time conservative politician, has, in Hugo's epic, found the perfect vehicle for a study that is a combination of literary criticism, general essay and philosophical speculation. He dissects Hugo's style, emphasizing not just his larger-than-life characters, but, more importantly, his narrator--the biggest and most dangerous 'character' in the book of dangerous characters. What makes Hugo's book dangerous is that it just might stir the reader to pursue the ideals of a better world. Llosa, with an eloquent ease that has to be admired, relates this danger to the novel form itself, and how societies--especially repressive regimes of military, religious, left or right persuasion--have distrusted the novel. -- Steve Carroll The Age When one distinguished author critiques the masterpiece of another, the result is not always exceptional. But in this case, it is. In this expanded version of lectures he delivered at Oxford in 2004, Vargas Llosa offers both probing insights into the characters, themes, and ultimate significance of Les Miserables and powerful lessons on the art of fiction writing. -- C.B. Kerr Choice Vargas Llosa's book is a significant addition to the criticism of Les Miserables and of Hugo as a novelist. Vargas Llosa makes Hugo accessible to the reader as an author who was not fettered by the time period in which he wrote. He also presents valuable insights into the genre of fiction and what 'reality' means in a fictional work. Since Vargas Llosa is himself a highly respected novelist, his book has been particularly welcomed by critics in the field. -- Shawncey Webb Magill's Literary Annual
