Bug-Jargal

A new 2023 translation into American English from the original French manuscript of Victor Hugo's classic novel Bug-Jargal. This edition contains an afterword by the translator, a timeline of Hugo's life and a summary of each of Hugo's major works chronologically.

Hugo's novel of colonial fiction follows the relationship between a legendary revolutionary leader named Bug-Jargal and a French military officer during the Haitian Revolution. The idea of a "noble savage" is a term from Rousseau's philosophy that became a motif in Romantic literature. While the antiquated phraseology Hugo uses is obviously Euro-centric and subtly racist, this novel still notable in it's condemnation of colonialism and criticism of European exceptionalism and an example of Rousseau's Humanistic philosophy.