Les Travailleurs de la Mer

Published in 1866, it is a novel by Victor Hugo written during exile (Audio book)

[Ebook reader of 'The Workers of the Sea']

The Workers of the Sea is a novel by Victor Hugo written at Hauteville House during the poet's exile on the Channel Island of Guernsey and published in 1866.

Summary :

It is both a tale and a heroic drama, the story of Gilliat, a solitary fisherman, in love with a beautiful young woman, who goes to brave the ocean for her. Owner of a steamboat which has just suffered a shipwreck, an old shipowner has in fact promised the hand of his niece to the one who will draw from the bottom of the water the formidable and new machines still intact. It is against all odds, against natural obstacles and under the malicious gaze of other sea workers that Gilliat achieves his goal. His exploit will prove to be in vain and his end tragic, witnessing the flight of his bride with the man who was her lover. Published in 1866, just after the Songs of the Streets and Woods, of which it is partly marked by naturalism, The Workers of the Sea offers another reading of Hugo's themes, that of the conquest of machines by modern man. A love novel, maritime and "industrial" novel, it above all gives Hugo the opportunity to explore his imagination, to force himself on the lyricism imposed by the grandeur of nature.

(Audio book)