Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables is pervaded by two central conflicts. The first is the conflict between love and justice. Love is championed by the bishop and, later, by Valjean. Justice is the supreme god of the fanatical Police Inspector Javert. The second is the conflict between love and egotism. Found within the heart of Jean Valjean himself, it is barely discernable in the Jean Valjean of the musical; but without it, the central character of Hugo’s novel and its adaptations in the performing arts cannot be fully understood.

All human beings, in experiencing the world, unavoidably find themselves as the center of their world. Self-centeredness therefore is tenacious. Yet what is commonly termed the “me generation” fell in love with a musical about a selfless man. Why is that? Is it not because there is in each of us an intimation that the highest form of self is to be selfless?

Going to the heart of Victor Hugo’s magnificent novel, Steve Antinoff’s book reveals the depth and beauty of its conception and throws new light on its central characters that inspired the authors of musical and film versions as well as a growing, world-wide public.