Les Misérables, Book 12: Corinthe, Chapter 1 summary

What happens

1. The narrator maps the narrow, tangled streets around Corinthe and contrasts them with the streets that replace them.
2. Natoire’s painting of grapes gives the tavern its new name, which customers shorten to Corinthe.
3. Father Hucheloup serves celebrated stuffed carp, and rain transforms his misspelled advertisement into apparent philosophical advice.
4. Grantaire discovers the tavern, where Courfeyrac and his friends receive a welcome despite their unreliable payments.
5. Father Hucheloup dies around 1830, and his widow continues the business despite worsening food and wine.
6. The narrator describes the shabby upstairs restaurant, its two serving maids, and Courfeyrac’s warning on the door.

What to notice

Courfeyrac’s written warning captures the restaurant’s poor food and the joking familiarity of its regular customers.

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