# What's the best translation of Hugo's Les Mis?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-translation-of-hugos-les-mis/341760>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 26, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-translation-of-hugos-les-mis/341760 "2006-01-26T21:47:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-translation-of-hugos-les-mis/341760/1 "2006-01-26T21:47:48Z")

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I’ve been meaning to re-read _Les Mis_ for about, oh, the past two days. I looked it up in my school’s library catalogue, and there are about sixteen different versions of it – in the original French, nineteenth century translations, abridged English translations, one into German, blahblahblah.

Can anyone recommend one translation over another? I’d prefer unabridged, since that’s what I read when I was 12, and if I could handle then, I can handle it now, I think. But if there’s an abridged translation that transcends an unabridged version, then I’ll go for that. Ideally, an abridged suggestion would have only description cut, and not plot.

I found this [earlier thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=249046), but the info is kinda vague. Penguin or Signet? What translations have you read and enjoyed?

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**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-translation-of-hugos-les-mis/341760/2 "2006-01-27T02:12:21Z")

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I have the Penguin Classics version which is translated by Norman Denny. I have no idea if it is the best, but I believe Penguin Classics has a very good reputation.

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**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-translation-of-hugos-les-mis/341760/3 "2006-01-27T03:01:01Z")

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Penguin. In my observation, the funny parts are much funnier as opposed to Signet. I am thinking, for instance, of the scene where Marius meet L’Aigle de Meaux (or one of the fellas anyway) just after having been kicked out of his grandfather’s house.

I read this scene in Signet and it was very flat.