Synopses & Reviews
Ninety-three, the last of Victor Hugos novels, is regarded by many including such diverse critics as Robert Louis Stevenson and Andr Maurois as his greatest work. 1793, Year Two of the Republic, saw the establishment of the National Convention, the execution of Louis XVI, the Terror, and the monarchist revolt in the Vende, brutally suppressed by the Republic. Hugos epic follows three protagonists through this tumultuous year: the noble royalist de Lantenac; Gauvain, who embodies a benevolent and romantic vision of the Republic; and Cimourdain, whose principles are altogether more robespierrean. The conflict of values culminates in a dramatic climax on the scaffold. Following a distinguished career as a civil servant, James Hogarth acquired a reputation as a versatile and punctilious translator. His translations span travel guides, archaeological texts, and novels. In 2002 he won the French-American Foundation Translation Prize for his English translation of Victor Hugos Travailleurs de la Mer. He died in 2006.
Synopsis
A historical novel built upon the questions "Can a good action be a bad action? Does not he who spares the wolf kill the sheep?" centers on revolutionary France; just as the plot is an abstract judicial difficulty, the hero is an abstract historical force.