The Mysteries of Paris, Paperback

The first new translation in over a century of the brilliant epic novel that inspired Les Mis rables

Sensational, engrossing, and heartbreaking, The Mysteries of Paris is doubtless one of the most entertaining and influential works to emerge from the nineteenth century. It was one of France's first serial novels, and for sixteen months, Parisians rushed in droves to the newsstands each week for the latest installment. Eug ne Sue's intricate melodrama unfolds around a Paris where, despite the gulf between them, the fortunes of the rich and poor are inextricably tangled. The suspenseful story of Rodolphe, a magnetic hero of noble heart and shadowy origins, was spun out over 150 issues--garnering wild popularity, influencing political change, and inspiring a raft of successors, including Les Mis rables and The Count of Monte Cristo. At long last, this lively translation makes the riveting drama of Sue's classic available to a new century of readers.

For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About the Author:

Eug ne Sue (1804-1857) was a French novelist. In addition to The Mysteries of Paris, his works include The Wandering Jew, an anticlerical melodrama, and The Mysteries of the People, a fictionalized history of the working classes throughout French history. In 1850, Sue won election to the National Assembly as a Socialist delegate.

Carolyn Betensky is an associate professor of English at the University of Rhode Island.

Jonathan Loesberg is a professor of literature at American University.

Peter Brooks is a professor emeritus at Yale and currently teaches at Princeton. His essays and reviews have appeared in in the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, and elsewhere.