Toilers of the Sea, 1866
Original title: Les Travailleurs de la Mer
Dedicated to the island where he spent 15 years of exile, Toilers of the Sea was an addition to Hugo's great illustration of Man's Destiny. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame had depicted Religion, Les Miserables Society - Toilers of the Sea was intended to illustrate Nature. The stage for Mans battle with the elements was the sea, and one of its most horrible creatures lurking in its depths. Hugo's original title for the novel had been The Abyss, which perhaps would have been more appropriate.
Besides being a drama about the ocean surrounding it, Toilers of the Sea was also a display of Hugo's intimate knowledge of life on the Channel Island of Guernsey. The life of the natives, local folklore, the Island people's mixture of English and French and the magnificent scenery gave the novel peculiar and fresh qualities.
After completion, Hugo wanted to begin writing on his next novel immediately but Lacroix, who had made a fortune on Les Miserables, persuaded him to rush the publication of Toilers of the Sea. Two newspaper editors requested the rights to publish it serialized but Hugo turned them down - it had to be published as a complete novel. In consequence, he turned down half a million Francs, which one of the editors had offered.
The novel flooded Paris with squids; people talked about squids, watched squids displayed on Champs-Élysées, wore squid hats and ate squids. Alexander Dumas even invited to a squid-tasting party in homage to the novel. The critics focused on Hugo's extensive descriptions and lack of dialogue. His transcriptions of some English words caused a scandal among British reviewers. But Toilers of the Sea had no explicit political motives and thus passed without serious turmoil.
The seamen of the channel later wrote a letter to Hugo, thanking him for writing Toilers of the Sea. Hugo answered: 'I am one of you, a combatant of the abyss.'
