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A more pertinent question would be why some of the other translations don't translate the title!
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An interesting question, Harry. Hugo's other best known work,
Notre-Dame de Paris is best known in English speaking countries by its translated title,
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I believe Wilbour's nearly concurrent translations of each volume bore the English title
The Wretched but according to
this article, the French title was on the back of each volume, and Confederate soldiers took to calling themselves "Lee's Miserables." Perhaps that is why the French title stuck.