Roman « filousophique » et roman populaire : Pigault-Lebrun et Les Misérables

The reception of the “most famous” but also the “gloomiest” novelist of the Empire is studied here through the Pigaultian intertext of Les Misérables. Although he continually disparaged the author and made him the favorite writer of the awful Thénardier, Hugo leaned heavily on the poetics of Pigault-Lebrun. We analyze this paradox in a number of ways: we examine the genesis of the novel (Les Misères and La Bohème dorée by Charles Hugo), and we contextualize this tension within a long history of the “popular novel,” its intentions, and its readership.