Why are the descendents of Victor Hugo trying to suppress the publication of Cosette

A. What's eating the family of the 19th-century French novelist is the publication of a continuation to his masterpiece Les Mis�rables (1862). Cosette or The Time of Lost Illusions was written by journalist Fran�ois Ceresa and published by Plon. A red band wrapped around copies of the book leaves no doubt as to their intention: 'The Sequel to Les Mis�rables' it states boldly.

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Q. What's it about

A. Les Mis�rables is the story of a criminal, Jean Valjean, and how he becomes a reformed character. But he is dogged by an obsessive detective, Javert, who won't allow Valjean to put his past behind him. Valjean sacrifices himself for his daughter Cosette and her husband Marius. Javert, eaten away by self-doubt, commits suicide by jumping in the Seine.

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Cosette, in Les Mis�rables a mistreated orphan, is, in the sequel, transformed into a docile housewife. Marius, the dreamy revolutionary has become her spoiled bourgeois husband. Javert didn't drown in the river, and comes back as quite a nice bloke.

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'The characters have been kidnapped,' say the family.

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Q. And what have the Hugos done to stop it

A. They've gone to court and are seeking damages of Fr4.5 million (�410,000), which, if they are successful, they will donate to an arts' related charity. They state that their purpose is not to 'recover any part of the dirty money' the publishers and author have made from the sequel, but to take 'a moral and symbolic' stand against what they see as the corruption of literary values by global capitalism. 'Hugo liked his ending,' they say, so he would not have approved of the changes.

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The publisher, however, says the book is meant as a tribute to the original and follows a long tradition of literary homage. Ceresa's lawyer has said: 'Ceresa wanted to pay homage to one element of our literary heritage. Some musical and cinematic adaptations have mauled Hugo's work more, without shocking his heirs.'

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Reviews of the sequel have been lukewarm, with Le Monde describing it as 'colourless melodrama'. However, Les Mis�rables when it first came out had mixed reviews. Hugo wrote that they were 'reactionary and more or less hostile'. Despite this, 48,000 copies were put on sale on the first day; so far the sequel has sold 65,000 copies.

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This isn't the first time the Hugo family has resorted to the Law to protect the reputation of their illustrious forebear. Lauretta Hugo, wife of Jean, great grandson of Victor, took action in 1997 when Disney released the cartoon film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, taken from Hugo's novel Notre Dame de Paris (a musical adaptation of which is currently running in London's West End, starring Danii Minogue, Kylie's less famous sister, with a view of emulating the extraordinary success of the stage show of Les Mis�rables). Nowhere in the credits was the authorship of the original story mentioned.

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Q. Why write a sequel

A. In general to cash in on the success of an original or, uncynically, because there is more to be told and the original naturally leads on to a continuation. In the case of Les Mis�rables, it is the most successful French book of all time: a television adaptation with Gerard Depardieu, Charlotte Gainsbourg and John Malkovich was watched by 10 million viewers in France; and there have been 19 feature films, two television films, three television series and many stage versions. None of these has thus far upset the family as they are adaptations not rewrites.

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So, Les Mis�rables is an obvious choice for a continuation, and, in fact Plon are publishing a second sequel in autumn 2001 entitled Marius or The Fugitive.

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The court is due to give a verdict on the case on 12 September 2001.

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Q. But literary sequels have a long and honourable tradition, don't they

A. Yes, and this is an argument the defense in the Hugo trial has used. Many authors write sequels - and indeed prequels - to their own books. The only controversy this causes is if the second (or third or fourth) is inferior to the original. One successful and well-respected�continuation is Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, which is a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. The fad for Jane Austen in the 90s spawned a number of sequels, most famously Pemberley: or, Pride And Prejudice Continued by Emma Tennant.

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Q. What about The Wind Done Gone

A. This Gone With the Wind from the perspective of the black characters has recently caused a great deal of controversy in the USA. Author Alice Randall came up against the estate of Wind author Margaret Mitchell, whose story is the best-selling novel in US publishing history. In 1991 the estate had allowed the publication of the critically panned Scarlett: The Sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind by Alexandra Ripley, but this time the gloves were off. At first the court found in favour of the estate, but it was subsequently overturned on First Amendment grounds. Randall's big-hitting support came from the likes of Toni Morrison, Harper Lee, the National Coalition Against Censorship, The New York Times Company and PEN.

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Q. What does this mean for the sequels business

A. It's certainly put it in the spotlight. Regarding the Hugo case, critics Alain Salles and Martine Silber argue in Le Monde: 'Sequels are inseparable from the history of literature. The heirs of Homer would hardly take legal action against James Joyce or his novel Ulysses.' It depends entirely on the attitude of the original author - or more usually the author's estate - and whether the sequel is of a good enough quality not to tarnish the reputation of the first book.

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By Simon Smith