Roman-epopeya Viktora Gyugo Otverzhennyye (1862) — ogromnyy tekst, bez kotorogo nevozmozhno predstavit' sebe dukhovnuyu istoriyu XIX veka. V sushchnosti, eto voyna i mir velikogo frantsuzskogo klassika, tol'ko zdes' nakhodit otrazheniye ne protivostoyaniye vrazheskikh armiy, no voyna, kotoruyu vedut mezhdu soboy dobro i zlo v chelovecheskoy dushe i v obshchestve. Pri sozdanii Otverzhennykh avtora, po yego slovam, prezhde vsego volnovali tri temy: ugneteniye muzhchiny... padeniye zhenshchiny po prichine goloda, uvyadaniye rebenka vsledstviye mraka nevezhestva, chto otrazilos' v istoriyakh glavnykh deystvuyushchikh lits: katorzhnika Zhana Val'zhana, Fantiny i Kozetty. Fantasticheski zakruchennaya avantyurnaya fabula zastavlyayet sledit' s neotryvnym vnimaniyem za sobytiyami, kotoryye razvorachivayutsya na ulitsakh starogo Parizha, v trushchobakh i na barrikadakh. Ne sluchayno v XX veke naschityvayetsya desyatki ekranizatsiy Otverzhennykh — ot nemoy lenty Na barrikadakh (1907) do poslednego fil'ma Toma Khupera.