victor hugo biography in french

Biography of Victor Hugo, French Writer

Poet, novelist, and voice of the French Romantic Movement

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Victor Hugo (February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885) was a French poet and novelist during the Romantic Movement. Among French readers, Hugo is best known as a poet, but to readers outside of France, he’s best known for his epic novels The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables .

Fast Facts: Victor Hugo

• Full Name:  Victor Marie Hugo
• Known For:  French poet and author
• Born:  February 26, 1802 in Besançon, Doubs, France
• Parents:  Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo and Sophie Trébuchet
• Died:  May 22, 1885 in Paris, France
• Spouse:  Adèle Foucher (m. 1822-1868)
• Children:  Léopold Hugo (1823), Léopoldine Hugo (1824-1843), Charles Hugo (b. 1826), François-Victor Hugo (1828-1873), Adèle Hugo (1830-1915)
• Selected Works:   Odes et Ballades (1826), Cromwell (1827), Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), Les Misérables (1862), Quatre-vingt-treize (1874)
• Notable Quote:  “The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved—loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.”

Born in Besançon in Franche-Comté, a region in eastern France, Hugo was the third son born to Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo and Sophie Trébuchet Hugo. He had two older brothers: Abel Joseph Hugo (born 1798) and Eugène Hugo (born 1800). Hugo’s father was a general in the French army and a fervent supporter of Napoleon . As a result of his military career, the family moved frequently, including stints in Naples and Rome. For the most part, though, he spent his early years in Paris with his mother.

Hugo’s childhood was a time of immense political and military turmoil in France. In 1804, when Hugo was 2 years old, Napoleon was proclaimed emperor of France ; a little over a decade later, the monarchy of the House of Bourbon was restored . These tensions were represented in Hugo’s own family: his father was a general with republican beliefs and a supporter of Napoleon, while his mother was Catholic and fervently royalist; her lover (and Hugo’s godfather) General Victor Lahorie was executed for conspiracies against Napoleon. Hugo’s mother was primarily responsible for his upbringing, and as a result, his early education was both intensely religious and strongly biased towards pro-monarchy sentiments.

As a young man, Hugo fell in love with Adèle Foucher, his childhood friend. They were well-matched in personality and in age (Foucher was only one year younger than Hugo), but his mother strongly disapproved of their relationship. Because of this, Hugo would not marry anyone else, but would not marry Foucher while his mother was still alive, either. Sophie Hugo died in 1821, and the couple were able to marry the following year, when Hugo was 21. They had their first child, Leopold, in 1823, but he died in infancy. Eventually, they were the parents of four children: two daughters (Leopoldine and Adele) and two sons (Charles and François-Victor).

Early Poetry and Plays (1822-1830)

• Odes et poésies diverses  (1822)
• Odes  (1823)
• Han d'Islande  (1823)
• Nouvelles Odes  (1824)
• Bug-Jargal  (1826)
• Odes et Ballades  (1826)
• Cromwell  (1827)
• Le Dernier jour d'un condamné  (1829)
• Hernani  (1830)

Hugo began writing as a very young man, with his first publication coming in 1822, the same year as his marriage. His first collection of poetry, titled Odes et poésies diverses was published when he was only 20 years old. The poems were so admired for their elegant language and passion that they came to the attention of the king, Louis XVIII , and earned Hugo a royal pension. He also published his first novel, Han d'Islande , in 1823.

In these early days—and, indeed, through much of his writing career—Hugo was heavily influenced by one of his predecessors, French writer François-René de Chateaubriand, who was one of the preeminent literary figures in the Romantic Movement and one of France's most visible writers during the early 19th century. As a young man, Hugo vowed to be "Chateaubriand or nothing," and in many ways, he got his wish. Like his hero, Hugo became both an icon of Romanticism and an involved party in politics, which eventually led to his exile from his homeland.

Although the youthful, spontaneous nature of his early poems put him on the map, Hugo’s later work soon evolved to show off his remarkable skill and craftsmanship. In 1826, he published his second volume of poetry, this one titled Odes et Ballades . This work, in contrast to his more precocious first work, was more technically skillful and contained several well-received ballads and more.

Hugo’s early writings were not solely confined to poetry, though. He became a leader in the Romantic Movement with several plays during this time as well. His plays Cromwell (1827) and Hernani (1830) were at the epicenter of literary debates about the Romantic Movement’s tenets versus the rules of neoclassical writing. Hernani , in particular, sparked intense debate between traditionalists and Romantics; it came to be considered the vanguard of French Romantic drama. Hugo’s first work of prose fiction was also published during this time. Le Dernier jour d'un condamné ( The Last Day of a Condemned Man ) was published in 1829. Telling the story of a man condemned to death, the short novel was the first appearance of the strong social conscience that Hugo’s later works would be known for.

First Novel and Further Writing (1831-1850)

• Notre-Dame de Paris  (1831)
• Le roi s'amuse  (1832)
• Lucrezia Borgia  (1833)
• Marie Tudor  (1833)
• Ruy Blas  (1838)
• Les Rayons et les Ombres  (1840)
• Le Rhin  (1842)
• Les Burgraves  (1843)

In 1831, Notre-Dame de Paris , known in English as The Hunchback of Notre Dame , was published; it was Hugo’s first full-length novel. It became a huge hit and was quickly translated into other languages for readers across Europe. The novel’s biggest legacy, though, was much more than literary. Its popularity led to a surge of interest in the real Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, which had fallen into disrepair as a result of ongoing neglect.

Because of the stream of tourists who loved the novel and wanted to visit the real cathedral , the city of Paris began a major renovation project in 1844. The renovations and restorations lasted for 20 years and included the replacement of the famous spire; the spire built during this period stood for nearly 200 years, until it was destroyed in the 2019 Notre Dame fire. On a broader scale, the novel led to a renewed interest in pre-Renaissance buildings, which began to be cared for and restored more than they had in the past.

Hugo’s life during this period was also subject to some immense personal tragedy, which influenced his writing for some time. In 1843, his oldest (and favorite) daughter, Leopoldine, drowned in a boating accident when she was a 19-year-old newlywed. Her husband also died while trying to save her. Hugo wrote "À Villequier,” one of his most famous poems, in mourning for his daughter.

During this period, Hugo also spent some time in political life. After three attempts, he was finally elected to the Académie française (a council on French arts and letters) in 1841 and spoke in defense of the Romantic Movement. In 1845, he was raised to the peerage by King Louis Philippe I and spent his career in the Higher Chamber speaking out for issues of social justice— against the death penalty , for freedom of the press. He continued his political career via election to the National Assembly of the Second Republic in 1848, where he broke ranks with his fellow conservatives to denounce widespread poverty and to advocate for universal suffrage , the abolition of the death penalty , and free education for all children. However, his political career came to an abrupt end in 1851, when Napoleon III took over in a coup . Hugo strongly opposed Napoleon III’s reign, calling him a traitor, and as a result, he lived in exile outside of France.

Writing While in Exile (1851-1874)

• Les Châtiments  (1853)
• Les Contemplations  (1856
• Les Misérables  (1862)
• Les Travailleurs de la Mer  (1866)
• L'Homme qui rit  (1869)
• Quatre-vingt-treize  ( Ninety-Three ) (1874)

Hugo eventually settled in Guernsey, a small island under British jurisdiction in the English Channel off the French coast of Normandy. Although he did continue to write political content, including several anti-Napoleon pamphlets that were banned in France yet still managed to make an impact, Hugo went back to his roots with poetry. He produced three volumes of poetry: Les Châtiments in 1853, Les Contemplations in 1856, and La Légende des siècles in 1859.

For many years, Hugo had planned a novel about social injustices and the misery suffered by the poor. It wasn’t until 1862 that this novel was published: Les Misérables . The novel sprawls over a few decades, interweaving stories of an escaped parolee, a dogged policeman, an abused factory worker, a rebellious young rich man, and more, all leading up to the June Rebellion of 1832, a historical populist uprising that Hugo had witnessed himself. Hugo believed the novel to be the pinnacle of his work, and it became immensely popular among readers almost instantly. However, the critical establishment was much harsher, with almost universally negative reviews. In the end, it was the readers who won out: Les Mis became a genuine phenomenon which remains popular in the modern day, and has been translated into many languages and adapted into several other mediums.

In 1866, Hugo published Les Travailleurs de la Mer ( The Toilers of the Sea ), which pivoted away from the themes of social justice in his previous novel. Instead, it told a quasi-mythic tale about a young man trying to bring home a ship to impress his father, while battling natural forces and a giant sea monster. The book was dedicated to Guernsey, where he lived for 15 years. He also produced two more novels, which returned to more political and social themes. L'Homme Qui Rit ( The Man Who Laughs ) was published in 1869 and took a critical view of the aristocracy, while Quatre-vingt-treize ( Ninety-Three ) was published in 1874 and dealt with the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution. By this time, realism and naturalism were coming into vogue, and Hugo’s Romantic style decreased in popularity. Quatre-vingt-treize would be his last novel.

Literary Styles and Themes

Hugo covered a wide variety of literary themes throughout his career, ranging from politically charged content to much more personal writings. In the latter category, he wrote several of his most acclaimed poems about his daughter’s untimely death and his own grief. He expressed his concerns for the welfare of others and of historical institutions, with themes reflecting his own republican beliefs and his anger at injustices and inequality.

Hugo was one of the most notable representatives of romanticism in France, from his prose to his poetry and plays. As such, his works largely embraced Romantic ideals of individualism, intense emotions, and a focus on heroic characters and actions. These ideals can be seen in many of his works, including some of his most notable ones. Sweeping emotion is a hallmark of Hugo’s novels, with language that drops the reader into the intense feelings of passionate, complicated characters. Even his most famous villains—Archdeacon Frollo and Inspector Javert—are permitted inner turmoil and strong feelings. In some cases, in his novels, Hugo’s narrative voice goes into immense detail about specific ideas or places, with intensely descriptive language.

Later in his career, Hugo became notable for his focus on themes of justice and suffering. His anti-monarchical views were on display in The Man Who Laughs , which turned a harsh eye on the aristocratic establishment. Most famously, of course, he focused Les Misérables on the plight of the poor and the horrors of injustice, which are depicted both on an individual scale (the journey of Jean Valjean) and a societal one (the June Rebellion). Hugo himself, in the voice of his narrator, describes the book thusly towards the end of the novel: “The book which the reader has before him at this moment is, from one end to the other, in its entirety and details ... a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God. The starting point: matter, destination: the soul.”

Hugo returned to France in 1870, but his life was never quite the same. He suffered a series of personal tragedies: the death of his wife and two sons, the loss of his daughter to an asylum, the death of his mistress, and he suffered a stroke himself. In 1881, he was honored for his contributions to French society; a street in Paris was even renamed for him and bears his name to this day.

On May 20, 1885, Hugo died of pneumonia at the age of 83. His death sparked mourning across France due to his immense influence and the affection the French held for him. He had requested a quiet funeral but was instead given a state funeral, with over 2 million mourners joining the funeral procession in Paris. He was buried in the Panthéon, in the same crypt as Alexandre Dumas and Émile Zola, and left 50,000 francs to the poor in his will.

Victor Hugo is widely considered an icon of French literature and culture, to the point where many French cities have streets or squares named after him. He is, certainly, among the most recognizable French writers , and his works continue to be widely read, studied, and adapted in the modern day. In particular, his novels The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables have had a long and popular life, with multiple adaptations and entry into mainstream popular culture.

Even in his own time, Hugo’s work had influence beyond just literary audiences. His work was a strong influence in the music world, especially given his friendship with composers Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz, and many operas and other musical works were inspired by his writing—a trend which continues into the contemporary world, with the musical version of Les Misérables becoming one of the most popular musicals of all time. Hugo lived through a time of intense upheaval and societal change, and he managed to stand out as one of the most notable figures of a notable time.

• Davidson, A.F.  Victor Hugo: His Life and Work . University Press of the Pacific, 1912.
• Frey, John Andrew.  A Victor Hugo Encyclopedia . Greenwood Press, 1999.
• Robb, Graham. Victor Hugo: A Biography . W. W. Norton & Company, 1998.
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Victor Hugo Biography

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Victor Hugo

(1802-1885)

Who Was Victor Hugo?

Victor Hugo was a French poet and novelist who, after training as a lawyer, embarked on the literary career. He became one of the most important French Romantic poets, novelists and dramatists of his time, having assembled a massive body of work while living in Paris, Brussels and the Channel Islands. Hugo died on May 22, 1885, in Paris.

Victor-Marie Hugo was born in Besançon, France, on February 26, 1802, to mother Sophie Trébuche and father Joseph-Léopold-Sigisbert Hugo. His father was a military officer who later served as a general under Napoleon.

'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'

Hugo studied law between 1815 and 1818, though he never committed himself to legal practice. Encouraged by his mother, Hugo embarked on a career in literature. He founded the Conservateur Litteraire , a journal in which he published his own poetry and the work of his friends. His mother died in 1821. The same year, Hugo married Adèle Foucher and published his first book of poetry, Odes et poésies diverses . His first novel was published in 1823, followed by a number of plays.

Hugo's innovative brand of Romanticism developed over the first decade of his career.

In 1831, he published one of his most enduring works, Notre-Dame de Paris ( The Hunchback of Notre Dame ). Set in the medieval period, the novel presents a harsh criticism of the society that degrades and shuns the hunchback, Quasimodo. This was Hugo's most celebrated work to date and paved the way for his subsequent political writing.

'Les Misérables'

A prolific writer, Hugo was established as one of the most celebrated literary figures in France by the 1840s. In 1841, he was elected to the French Academy and nominated for the Chamber of Peers. He stepped back from publishing his work following the accidental drowning of his daughter and her husband in 1843. In private, he began work on a piece of writing that would become Les Misérables.

Hugo fled to Brussels following a coup in 1851. He lived in Brussels and in Britain until his return to France in 1870. Much of the work that Hugo published during this period conveys biting sarcasm and fierce social criticism. Among these works is the novel Les Misérables , which was finally published in 1862. The book was an immediate success in Europe and the United States. Later reinterpreted as a theatrical musical and a film, Les Misérables remains one of the best-known works of 19th-century literature.

Death and Legacy

Though Hugo returned to France after 1870 as a symbol of republican triumph, his later years were largely sad. He lost two sons between 1871 and 1873. His later works are somewhat darker than his earlier writing, focusing on themes of God, Satan and death.

In 1878, he was stricken with cerebral congestion. Hugo and his mistress, Juliette, continued to live in Paris for the rest of their lives. The street on which he lived was renamed Avenue Victor Hugo on the occasion of his 80th birthday in 1882. Juliette died the following year and Hugo died in Paris on May 22, 1885. He received a hero's funeral. His body lay in state beneath the Arc de Triomphe before burial in the Panthéon.

Hugo remains one of the giants of French literature. Although French audiences celebrate him primarily as a poet, he is better known as a novelist in English-speaking countries.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Victor
• Birth Year: 1802
• Birth date: February 26, 1802
• Birth City: Besançon
• Birth Country: France
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Victor Hugo is a celebrated French Romantic author best known for his poetry and his novels, including 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' and 'Les Misérables.'
• Fiction and Poetry
• Theater and Dance
• Astrological Sign: Pisces
• Nacionalities
• Death Year: 1885
• Death date: May 22, 1885
• Death City: Paris
• Death Country: France

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Victor Hugo Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/victor-hugo
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: April 1, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
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• Les Miserables

Victor Hugo

• Literature Notes
• Victor Hugo Biography
• Book Summary
• About Les Misérables
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Part 1: Fantine: Book I
• Part 1: Fantine: Book II
• Part 1: Fantine: Book III
• Part 1: Fantine: Book IV
• Part 1: Fantine: Book V, Chapters 1-7
• Part 1: Fantine: Book V, Chapters 8-13
• Part 1: Fantine: Books VI-VIII
• Part 2: Cosette: Book I
• Part 2: Cosette: Book II
• Part 2: Cosette: Book III
• Part 2: Cosette: Book IV-Book V, Chapters 1-5
• Part 2: Cosette: Book V, Chapters 6-10
• Part 2: Cosette: Books VI-VII
• Part 2: Cosette: Book VIII
• Part 3: Marius: Book I
• Part 3: Marius: Books II-III
• Part 3: Marius: Book IV
• Part 3: Marius: Books V-VI
• Part 3: Marius: Book VII
• Part 3: Marius: Book VIII
• Part 4: St. Denis: Book I
• Part 4: St. Denis: Books II-III
• Part 4: St. Denis: Books IV-V
• Part 4: St. Denis: Book VI
• Part 4: St. Denis: Book VII
• Part 4: St. Denis: Books VIII-IX
• Part 4: St. Denis: Book X
• Part 4: St. Denis: Books XI-XV
• Part 5: Jean Valjean: Book I, Chapters 1-10
• Part 5: Jean Valjean: Book I, Chapters 11-24
• Part 5: Jean Valjean: Book II-Book III, Chapters 1-9
• Part 5: Jean Valjean: Book III, Chapters 10-12, Book IV
• Part 5: Jean Valjean: Books V-VI
• Part 5: Jean Valjean: Books VII-IX
• Essay Questions
• Cite this Literature Note

Victor Hugo was horn on February 26, 1802, the son of a Breton mother and a father from northeastern France. His works show the influence of both racial strains: the poetic mysticism which marks Celtic literature from the Arthurian romances to Chateaubriand and the earthy vigor of the peasant of Lorraine.

Although Hugo later claimed he descended from a family of the minor nobility, his father, General Joseph Léopold Hugo, was the son of a carpenter, and like many men of the Napoleonic era, he rose through valor and merit to power and influence in Napoleon's citizen army.

General Hugo was attached to the entourage of Joseph Bonaparte, and his duties took him to Naples and to Spain. Victor visited him in Italy at the age of five and went to school in Madrid in 1811. Traces of these exotic memories will be found in his later poetry and plays. However, Mme. Hugo, a strong-minded and independent personality, did not like the unstable existence of an army wife and in 1812 settled in Paris. Here her three sons, of whom Victor was the youngest, received their first orderly education.

As a result of this estrangement, General Hugo formed a liaison that took on a permanent character, and after Waterloo the Hugos arranged a separation. General Hugo, however, refused to leave his sons with their mother and sent them to a boarding school.

Victor Hugo suffered, but not acutely, from this separation from his mother. He was already, at fifteen, in love with a neighbor's daughter, Adéle Foucher, and was planning a brilliant literary career so that he could marry her. An excellent student in literature and mathematics, in 1817 he received an honorable mention from the Académie Française for a poem entered in a competition, and in 1819 he won first place in another national poetry contest.

When his mother died in 1821, he refused to accept any financial support from his father and endured a year of acute poverty, but in 1822, his first volume of verse, Odes at Po é sies diverses, won him a pension of 1,000 francs a year from Louis XVIII. On the strength of this he promptly married Adéle, and during the following years four children were born to the Hugos.

Already in 1824, Hugo was a member of the group of Romantic rebels who were attempting to overthrow the domination of classical literature, and in 1830, he became one of the leaders when his historical drama Hernani won the theater audience and broke the stranglehold of the classical format on the stage. It also made him rich, and during the next fifteen years, six plays, four volumes of verse, and the novel Notre Dame de Paris ( The Hunchback of Notre Dame ) established his position as the leading writer of France.

His connection with the stage also had effects on his personal life. In 1831, a rupture developed in the Hugo household when Sainte-Beuve, one of Hugo's closest friends and a well-known Romantic critic, fell in love with Adéle Hugo and received some encouragement. The next year, Hugo met a young actress, Juliette Drouet, who in 1833 became his mistress and quit the stage. Supported by a modest pension from Hugo, she became for the next fifty years his unpaid secretary and traveling companion.

In 1843, the failure of Hugo's last drama, Les Burgraves, and the death of his eldest daughter, drowned on her honeymoon, caused him to abandon poetry temporarily for politics. This sharp change of direction in Hugo's career was paralleled in the lives of a number of other Romantic authors — for instance, Lamartine and George Sand. In the face of a rapidly growing and changing French society, plagued by social problems of all kinds, many writers came to feel that it was not enough simply to write beautiful and moving works of art but that their talents should be more directly applied in helping the poor and oppressed. In effect, this changing mood marks the end of the Romantic era in French literature and the opening of the Realistic-Naturalistic period.

Originally a royalist like his mother, Hugo's reconciliation with his father in 1822 broadened his political views, and he was, by this time, a moderate republican. He was made a peer of France in 1845 and made a number of speeches on social questions of the time.

With the revolution of 1848 and the founding of the Second Republic, Hugo was elected deputy to the Constitutional Assembly. Three years later, when Louis Napoleon abolished the republic by a coup d'etat and reestablished the empire, Hugo risked his life trying vainly to rally the workers of Paris against the new emperor and had to flee to Brussels disguised as a workman.

The next nineteen years of Hugo's life were spent in exile, first on the island of Jersey, then on Guernsey. His family and Mlle. Drouet accompanied him into exile. From his island in the English channel Hugo continued to inveigh against the man he considered the perverter of republican liberties, and 1852 and 1853 saw the writing of the satires Napoléon le Petit and Les Châtiments. He also turned again to poetry and the novel, publishing the philosophical Les Contemplations and the remarkable "history of man's conscience," La Légende des Siecles. Three novels also occupied him: Les Misérables, first begun many years before; Les Travailleurs de la Mer (1866), and L'Homme qui rit (1869).

Following the Franco-Prussian War and the fall of the empire in 1870-71, Hugo returned to Paris. It was a triumphal return: He was greeted at the station by an immense crowd and was accompanied through the streets to his hotel amid shouts of "Vive Victor Hugo!" He remained in Paris throughout the siege of the city, and the revenues from the first French publication of Les Châtiments bought two cannons to defend the city. In 1871, the death of one of his sons took him for some time to Brussels; he then returned to Guernsey until the death of another son brought him back to Paris in 1873. He was elected to the Senate in 1876, but two years later poor health forced him to return to the tranquility of Guernsey. His later years were saddened not only by the death of his sons but by that of Mme. Hugo in 1868 and of Mlle. Drouet in 1882.

Hugo himself died in 1885 at the age of eighty-three. His last wishes were, "I leave 50,000 francs to the poor. I wish to be taken to the cemetery in the hearse customarily used for the poor. I refuse the prayers of all churches. I believe in God."

Despite the austerity of his wishes, his funeral was the occasion of a national tribute to France's greatest writer. His body lay in state under the Arc de Triomphe guarded by horsemen with flaming torches, and twelve poets watched around his bier. On the day of the funeral, a million spectators followed his cortege, and the Pantheon, a church under Napoleon III, was once again transformed into a national sepulcher to receive his remains. He lies there today, amid France's great men.

Victor Hugo has frequently been criticized for vanity of character and shallowness of mind. The vanity of which he was accused is largely justified by the immense scope of his talents, unparalleled in literary history since Shakespeare and Goethe. It is true that he was not a profound thinker, but his devotion to "the good, the beautiful and the true," if uncritical, was instinctive and sincere. The people of France whom he loved have judged him better than the critics, and he remains to this day one of France's best-loved authors.

Hugo's career, covering as it does most of the nineteenth century, spans both the Romantic and the Realist movements, but it cannot be said — despite Hugo's initial fame as a Romantic poet — to belong to one movement more than the other. His superb use of the colorful and significant detail, which produces exoticism in Les Orientales and local color in Notre Dame de Paris, becomes, when applied to the modern scene in Les Misérables, the sheerest realism. He is never, like Stendhal and Flaubert, objective and impassive in the face of the scene he describes, but he is always more interested in the external world than in the inner world of his own feelings; and the passionate spirit with which he describes what he sees is no more "romantic" than Zola's. If the themes of his poetry are often Romantic, his concern for art and technique makes him a brother to the Parnassians; and the epic quality of all his work links him with Chateaubriand and de Vigny, on the one hand, and with Zola, on the other. Only as a dramatist can he be considered purely a Romantic.

Hugo is among the greatest poets of a century of great poets. He claims this place not only because of the immense volume of his production, spread over nearly sixty years, but because of the variety of his themes and techniques.

Hugo's poems deal with an unusually wide range of themes. Romantic love and the evocation of nature are, of course, among them, but he also deals ably and movingly with current events of the day, descriptions of exotic and historic scenes, philosophy, parenthood and grandparenthood. His satires are as powerful as his lyrics; no strain is foreign to his lyre.

As a poetic technician, Hugo is a great innovator. He is one of the first to move away from the classical tradition of the Alexandrine couplet (which, nevertheless, he can handle magnificently) toward more complex and subtle forms of verse borrowed from the Middle Ages and from his own rich imagination. He reshapes not only the form but the vocabulary of poetry and injects it with a new variety and richness.

In contrast with most poets who are skilled in the use of only two or three poetic devices, Hugo is master of all. He is a splendid rhetorician but is also adept in the music of poetry. And he employs not only the music of skillful phrasing but the sound of the words themselves to awaken and charm the inner ear of the imagination. When in L'Expiation he writes, "Après une plaine blanche, une autre plaine blanche," not only the repetitive phrase but the flat echo of the open vowels call up the image of Russia's endless expanses.

He is also a master of imagery, not only simile and metaphor but symbol. He advises poets to interpret their "interior world of images, thoughts, sentiments, love and burning passion to fecundate this world" through "the other visible universe all around you" ( Pan , 1831); and he can almost always find a vivid and exact natural parallel to the landscape of his soul. In all these respects, he is the precursor and inspiration for the poets who follow: Baudelaire, the Parnassians, and the Symbolists are all to a large extent his disciples and his debtors.

In the preface to Cromwell of 1827-28, Hugo serves as spokesman for the Romantic movement in attacking classical drama and in laying down the precepts of the new drama to be. He condemns the rigidity of both classical format and language: the unities of time, scene, and action, and the false and formal elegance of speech. He calls for a richer and more flexible verse, which will more closely approximate the rhythm of everyday speech, and a more flexible format, which will allow comedy and tragedy to mingle in Shakespearean fashion, just as they do in life itself. Weary of the eternal Greek kings and Roman heroes of the classical stage, he suggests that more recent history may also provide suitable themes for drama and that a bourgeois or a bandit may also sometimes possess enough nobility to transform a stage.

These precepts he exemplified in his own plays, some of which are in prose as well as in verse and which generally deal with some dramatic episode from European history. The subjects of Marie Tudor and Lucrezia Borgia are self-explanatory. Hernani , which quite literally caused a riot at its first performance, sets at odds a noble Spanish bandit and Charles V, Emperor of Spain; in Ruy Blas , a valet, through the love of a queen, temporarily becomes head of state.

We cannot today appreciate Hugo's plays as wholeheartedly as did his contemporaries. His plots, with their disguises and recognitions, seem a little too melodramatic; his daring adventurers and his perfect, passionate, unattainable heroines are two-dimensional. Nevertheless, particularly in their historical accuracy of incident and decor, they represent a great stride toward realism in the drama; in the stage's own terms, some of them are still "marvelous theater."

Previous Books VII-IX

Victor Hugo - French poets and authors

The French writer Victor-Marie Hugo is remembered as one of the most influential of French Romantic writers, adopting a style of writing philosophy that eschewed science and rationalism, and instead embraced emotions as the main inspiration for art. Although he is primarily remembered for his poetry and playwriting, Hugo was a jack-of-all-trades, producing a large number of novels, essays and drawings during his lifetime.

Hugo was born in Besancon, France – the third son of an Army general who was a great supporter of Napoleon. After moving to Paris at the age of two, his parents separated and from that point he was raised by his mother. At the age of thirteen, Hugo attended the Lycée Louis-le Grand in Paris, where he honed his interest in poetry.

The work of the Romantic poet François-René de Chateaubriand inspired him greatly, and remained his most major influence throughout his career – in fact, his motto was ‘Chateaubriand or nothing”.

Hugo was barely twenty when he published his first volume of poetry, Nouvelles Odes et Poésies Diverses in 1824, which garnered him a royal pension from King Louis XVIII. His next collection, Odes et Ballades (1826), garnered him even more acclaim, and cemented his reputation as a poet.

Hugo’s playwriting career took longer to take off, but his play Hernani (1830), a politically charged work changed all that by not only being good, but so good that it inspired riots and demonstrations. Then he topped it off with the novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1831, which became an instant success.

Hugo went into voluntary exile for 20 years during the reign of Napoleon III, living in Brussels and Jersey and Guernsey. It was during this period when he wrote one of his most recognizable works, Les Misérables (1862) which took him nearly 17 years to finish. Because of its focus on social injustice, the novel was hotly debated by politicians, thinkers, and the public alike.

During his exile, Hugo also found time to publish anti-Napoleon III pamphlets, and by the time he returned from exile in 1870, he was so politically popular that he was elected senator in 1876.

Hugo ended up outliving everyone close to him – his children, his wife, and even his mistress. When is finally passed away in 1885, he was given a state funeral and was buried in the Panthéon.

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Victor Hugo: A Monumental French Writer

An exhibition created by the centre des monuments nationaux to celebrate the anniversary of when the final volume of les misérables was published.

By Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

Victor Hugo statue, Paris (1902) by Barrias, Louis-Ernest (1841-1905) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

A monumental French writer

Victor Hugo was born on February 26th 1802 and died May 22nd 1885. He was not only a renowned French writer, but also a committed intellectual and an outspoken politician. Join us in discovering this great man through seven French monuments that influenced his writing and work.

The mask seller (1883) by Astruc, Zacharie (1833-1907) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

A Remarkable Writer Victor Hugo is considered to be one of the most prominent French writers. While it was his novels Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) and Les Misérables (1862) that brought him his reputation, he also produced an abundance of engaging and lyrical poetic works. The theatre was no exception; Hugo was the playwright who developed the theory of romantic drama. His plays Cromwell (1827), Hernani (1830) and Ruy Blas (1838) had a great impact on the Parisian scene, and he was elected to the Académie française in 1841.

Astronomical clock of Besancon Cathedral Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

It All Began at Besançon... Let's go back in time to where it all began. On February 26th 1802, Victor Hugo was born in Besançon. He was the third son of Sophie Trebuchet and Leopold Hugo, a French general who was stationed in the city at the time. This magnificent astronomical clock found in the Cathedral Saint-Jean de Besançon was designed by watchmaker Auguste-Lucien Vérité, a contemporary of Victor Hugo.

Victor Hugo, portrait (1840) by Delpech, François-Séraphin (1778-1825)/Delpech (éditeur) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

A Precocious Genius As a child, Victor Hugo traveled around Europe following his father's postings. In 1812, his parents separated and he moved to Paris with his mother. He devoted himself to writing from adolescence.

Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Chimera gallery (1998) by Philippe Berthé Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

Follow in Victor Hugo's footsteps and discover seven remarkable French monuments that impacted his literary work and his politics: Mont-Saint-Michel, Notre-Dame de Paris, the Conciergerie, the July Column, the Column of the Grande Armée, the Arc de Triomphe and the Panthéon.

Mont-Saint-Michel shape,seen from the North (2016) by Colombe Clier Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

Mont-Saint-Michel: a source of wonder

Victor Hugo traveled across the country to discover regional France. In 1836 he toured Normandy and visited the Mont-Saint-Michel, which has been a place of pilgrimage ever since the Middle Ages. The many descriptions of the Mont in his correspondence and his works bear witness to his fascination with its imposing structure. During this visit he wrote to his wife Adele to say: "Yesterday I was at Mont-Saint-Michel. Here, one should pile up superlatives of admiration, as man has piled buildings onto the rocks and as nature has piled rocks onto the buildings."

Mont Saint Michel abbaye seen from the sky Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

"A Very Strange Place This Mont-Saint-Michel! " "Around us, everywhere as far as the eye can see, is infinite space, the blue horizon of the sea, the green horizon of the earth, the clouds, the air, freedom, birds of every wing, boats of every sail; and then, suddenly, high above our heads, the sight of the pale figure of a prisoner, through a barred window in an old wall. Never have I felt more keenly than here, the cruel antitheses between man and nature." Letter to Louise Bertin, June 27th 1836, Correspondence with Victor Hugo.

Mont-Saint-Michel abbey, cloister (2015) by Colombe Clier Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

An Abbey that Attracts Pilgrims Mont-Saint-Michel became one of the most important places of pilgrimage after the cult of Saint Michael arrived there in 708. You are in the cloister of the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel. Perching at a height of 80m, it was built on the Mont in the 10th century and received monks until 1790. The Restoration of the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey Cloister For several years now, rainwater infiltrations from the cloister have damaged the coatings of the vaults of the Knights' Hall, located just below. A call for donations is currently open for repairs to the garden and the cloister gallery; to restore the original beauty of this haven of peace, suspended between sky and sea.

Mont-Saint-Michel and salt marshes (2016) by Colombe Clier Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

A Final Mention In Victor Hugo's last novel, Quatrevingt-treize , published in 1874, he mentions Mont-Saint-Michel: "Behind him stood an enormous black triangle, with its cathedral like a tiara and its fortress like breastplate, with two large towers in the east, one round and the other square, helping the mountain to carry the weight of the church and village. Mont-Saint-Michel, is to the ocean as Cheops is to the desert." Excerpt from Quatrevingt-treize , Victor Hugo, 1874.

Take a walk around Mont-Saint-Michel and admire its alleys and its bay, which were so dear to Victor Hugo.

Towers of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral (2011) by Jean-Pierre Delagarde Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

Notre-Dame de Paris: the novel rescues the monument

Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris was first published in 1831 and then as the definitive version in 1832. It cleverly intertwines the lives of many characters such as Quasimodo the hunchback and bell ringer of Notre-Dame, Frollo the archdeacon, Esmeralda the gypsy and the poet Gringoire. However their surroundings, the 15th century Parisian cathedral, is also a principle character. Hugo writes about it poetically, with a language sometimes refined and sometimes truculent.

Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Northern tower, bells (1949) by Séeberger Frères Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame The character of Quasimodo is inseparable from Notre-Dame. A deformed being, he was abandoned at birth and adopted by Frollo, the archdeacon of the cathedral. He grows up in Notre-Dame, far from people and frightened by his deformity, and goes on to become the bell-ringer. After the gypsy Esmeralda has been unfairly condemned to death, he hides her inside Notre-Dame. "One would have called him a broken giant who had been badly reassembled [...] That's Quasimodo, the bell ringer! That's Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre-Dame." Extract from Notre-Dame de Paris , Victor Hugo, 1832.

Frollo pushed by Quasimodo (1844) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

A Masterpiece of Literary Heritage The immediate and enduring success of the work means it is still one of the landmarks of French literature today. It has been translated many times and adapted for the stage, as well as in the cinema. This engraving illustrates an edition of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1844. It shows Quasimodo lunging at Frollo, the archdeacon of the cathedral, who is threatening Esmeralda.

Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, the Chimera gallery (1999) by Pascal Lemaître Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

Notre-Dame: The Main character in Victor Hugo's Novel? "Every face, every stone of this venerable edifice is a page not only of the history of the country but also of the history of science and art ...All is blended, combined, amalgamated in Notre-Dame. This central mother church is, among the ancient churches of Paris, a sort of chimera; it has the head of one, the limbs of another, the haunches of another, something from everywhere. » Extract from Notre-Dame de Paris , Victor Hugo, 1832.

Presentation of Notre-Dame Towers (2015) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

"There are surely few such wonderful pages in the book of Architecture as the façades of the cathedral. Here unfolding before the eye, successively and at one glance, the three deep Gothic doorways, the richly traced and sculptured band of twenty-eight royal niches. The immense central rose-window, flanked by its two lateral windows, like a priest next to the deacon and subdeacon. The lofty and fragile gallery of trifoliated arches supporting a heavy platform on its slender columns, and finally, the two dark and massive towers with their projecting slate roofs, harmonious parts of one magnificent whole, rising one above another in five gigantic stories, massed yet unconfused, in their innumerable details of statuary, sculpture, and carvings boldly allied to the impassive grandeur of the whole. A vast symphony in stone, as it were; the colossal achievement of a man and a nation one and yet complex...like the Illiad and the Romances to which it is a sister..." Extract from Notre-Dame de Paris , Victor Hugo, 1832. Can you hear the novel Notre-Dame de Paris still resonating at the feet of the incredible cathedral?

Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, seen from the Seine river (1850/1860) by Bisson, Auguste-Rosalie (1826-1900) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

Victor Hugo, Heritage Defender Victor Hugo's fascination for French heritage can not only be seen in the monuments present in his literary works — he also safeguarded them in real life. At the dawn of the nineteenth century there was a growing awareness in France of the revolutionary "vandalism" of ancient monuments, to which, in particular, the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris had fallen victim. Several writers considered themselves to be witnesses to such history, such as Châteaubriant. At the dawn of the monarchy de Juillet (1830-1848) the first heritage protection institutions were created. The art of the Middle Ages became, when viewed through history, the symbol of the genius and grandeur of France, and of the construction of national unity. The enormous success of Victor Hugo's novel, Notre Dame de Paris , had a decisive influence on public opinion and provoked the first measures to save the monument. Hugo introduced the notion that a monument was a "Book of Stone".

Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, West Facade, Towers and King gallery (2011) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

The novel Notre-Dame de Paris favored the architecture of the "grave and powerful cathedral" adorned with the "dark color of centuries which gives the monuments the age of their beauty". It was therefore an accompaniment to the development of the early heritage protection institutions. As early as 1830, an Inspector of Historic Monuments, Ludovic Vitet, was appointed to make an inventory of the ancient and medieval monuments. Four years later, Prosper Mérimée succeeded him. Both of them sat on the new "Commission des Monuments Historiques" in 1837, which allocated the designations allotted by the State. Three years later, the "classification" of ancient monuments began, and culminated in a first "liste de 1840". In 1844, the project to restore Notre-Dame was adopted, introduced by the architects Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, and in the following year a financing law was voted through by the assembly. Notre-Dame de Paris was saved.

Daguerréotype of Notre Dame West facade Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

"Assuredly the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris is, to this day, a majestic and sublime edifice... One cannot but regret, cannot but feel indignant at the innumerable degradations and mutilations inflicted on the venerable monument, both by the action of time and the hand of man." Extract from Notre-Dame de Paris , Victor Hugo, 1832.

Conciergerie facade, seen from quai de Gesvres (2012) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

La Conciergerie: an insight into the last day of a condemned man

The Conciergerie, the prison of the Palais de la Cité, serves as the setting for a militant piece published by a young Hugo in 1829: The Last Day of a Condemned Man. The text appeared at the end of the First Restoration during the reign of Charles X, who would then be dethroned by the July freedom revolution in the following year. Hugo was just 27 years old, but had already been published for a decade. Beyond being just a literary work, it was a political commentary against the death penalty. This tied Victor Hugo to the Conciergerie — the dungeons of which he would later revisit as a deputy.

Prisoners corridor, Conciergerie (1793) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

A Painful Testimony The Conciergerie, once the medieval residence of the kings of France, served during the Reign of Terror as the place where people were incarcerated by the famous "Revolutionary Tribunal" (1792-1795). Its name has since been closely associated with capital punishment. In Hugo's The Last Day of a Condemned Man (1829) a man tells his own story, from the verdict at his trial and the time spent in a prison cell at the Conciergerie, to the final preparations for his public execution. Hugo then takes us with the man, who remains anonymous, step by step towards the scaffold, participating in all his emotions: anger, fear, hope, despair and indignation. This magnificent plea against the violence of the death penalty, sober and effective, is delivered to us by a poet and brother in humanity, who makes the reader a confidant. The prisoners' corridor, the main axis of the Conciergerie prison, still seems to echo with the cries of the guards, the rattling of their keys, the noise of the chains and the grinding of the grates.

Conciergerie, prisoners corridor Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

"On the damp and reeking dungeon-walls, in the pale rays of my night-lamp, in the rough material of my prison-garb, in the sombre visage of the sentry whose cap gleams through the grating of the door — it seems to me that already a voice has murmured in my ear: Condemned to death!" Excerpt from the Last Day of a Condemned Man , Victor Hugo, 1829.

Conciergerie, a prison during the revolution Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

La Conciergerie and Victor Hugo's Fight Against the Death Penalty "Now I am a captive... I have only one thought, one conviction, one certitude: condemned to death. Whatever I do, that frightful thought is always here, like a spectre, beside me. " Excerpt from the Last Day of a Condemned Man , Victor Hugo, 1829. This room in the Conciergerie, "la salle des noms", holds the list of the 4200 persons who appeared before the Revolutionary Tribunal.

Conciergerie (Paris), kitchens (2016) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

The fight against the death penalty goes further than Victor Hugo's writing. Beyond this novel, he also assumed one of his many political roles. Elected deputy in 1848, Hugo returned to the Conciergerie to visit the cells of those condemned. The narrative was published posthumously in the collection Choses vues , a compilation of works about the great events that marked his life. In November 1851, Hugo opposed Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the future Napoleon III, and was imprisoned in the Conciergerie himself, before going into exile in Belgium. He did not return to France until the fall of the Second Empire.

A visit to the Conciergerie to better immerse yourself in Victor Hugo's novel?

Colonne de Juillet, Bastille (1835/1840) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

The July Column: the Paris of Les Misérables and the barricades

Today, the Place de la Bastille cannot be appreciated without its definitive commemorative column, topped by the Génie de la Liberté (the Spirit of Freedom). However this was not the case when Victor Hugo began writing Les Misérables.

Elephant statue, Bastille place, Paris (1865) by Brion Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

Before the Column: L'éléphant de la Bastille In 1808, Napoleon ordered the construction of a fountain, mounted with a sculpture of a gigantic elephant, to adorn the Place de la Bastille. But the work was delayed due to lack of funding and then the fall of Napoleon, so the pachyderm remained at the model stage — made of wood and plaster. Victor Hugo, fascinated by the animal, alludes to it in his novel Les Misérables . Gavroche, a street child, finds refuge in the ruined model of the elephant. "In this deserted and unprotected corner he found a place in the broad brow of the colossus, his trunk, his defenses, his tower, his enormous rump, his four feet constructed like columns, the night, under the starry sky, a surprising and terrible form. We did not know what that meant. It was a sort of symbol of popular force. It was sombre, mysterious and immense. It was some mighty visible phantom, standing erect beside the invisible spectre of the Bastille." Excerpt from Les Misérables , Victor Hugo, 1862.

Today, the July Column, stands in the Place de la Bastille. Its construction was ordered by Louis Philippe to pay tribute to the victims of the Revolution of the Trois Glorieuses (Revolution of Three Glorious Days), who brought him to power. It was inaugurated in 1840. Do you recognize something from the previous monument? The base of the column corresponds to the base of the fountain that accommodated the elephant. Stroll through the picture to go around the column.

Column of the Grande Armée, statue of Napoleon I (1804/1824) by Stenne, Pierre (1893-1967) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

The Column of the Grande Armée: a poet in the time of conquests

Napoleon Bonaparte established the Boulogne military camp in 1798 in this port facing the English enemy. It was from there that his Grande Armée moved towards Austerlitz in 1804. Before the troops left, Napoleon distributed more than two thousand crosses of the Légion d'honneur. The column was erected in memory of the award. It wasn't inaugurated until 1841, during the reign of Louis-Philippe.

Hymn written by Victor Hugo for Wimille column opening (1841) by Victor Hugo Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

A Secret Poem The National Guard commissioned a hymn from Victor Hugo to celebrate the inauguration of the column of the Grande Armée at Wimille. But, judged to be too offensive to the English, the administration refused to endorse it. In 1959, when the statue of Napoleon on the column was removed, the workers discovered a lead case — containing Victor Hugo's famous lost poem that had been hidden in the column.

Here you are facing the column of the Grande Armée where Napoleon turned his back on England.

Pantheon, seen from the city Hall (5th arrondissement) (1757/1790) by Soufflot, Jacques-Germain (1713-1780)/Rondelet, Jean-Baptiste (1743-1829) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

Victor Hugo in the Pantheon: the legend of the centuries

On May 22nd 1885, Victor Hugo died aged 83 at number 50 Avenue Victor Hugo. The writer's prestige was already more than established — his funeral roused a rarely equalled popular enthusiasm.

Arc de Triomphe, sate funeral of Victor Hugo, 1885 (1885) by Fichot, Charles (1823-1904)/Meyer, Henri (dessinateur actif fin 19e siècle) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

Arc de Triomphe in Mourning Before being buried at the Pantheon, the coffin containing the body of Victor Hugo was on display for one night at the feet of the Arc de Triomphe.

Pantheon, Victor Hugo state funeral (1885) by Sinibaldi, Jean-Paul, dit Paul (1857-1909) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

The Panthéon: The Last Residence Victor Hugo's entry into the Pantheon was one of the major events of the late nineteenth century in France. Four years earlier on his 80th birthday — by now a veritable living legend — 600,000 people had gathered under his window on Avenue d'Eylau. The avenue was then renamed after him from that day forth. The news of his death created considerable emotion. This prompted the Third Republic to reconnect with the cult of great men, which had begun during the French Revolution but had experienced many twists and turns since.

Pantheon, Paris (2015) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

On the 1st of June, a huge crowd of several million French citizens accompanied Victor Hugo to his last resting place, the church of Sainte-Genevieve, which would become, with him, the Pantheon. By the force of this great man, who embodies the century he lived in, the function of the monument will never change.

Pantheon, crypt, Victor Hugo grave (1757/1790) Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN)

An Immense Writer of Many Roles The 700,000 visitors who come to see Victor Hugo's tomb at the Pantheon every year think, above all else, of what an immense writer he had been. But it was also his commitment to the politics of his time that justified, in 1885, the grandiose homage that the Republic paid him. Victor Hugo was not always a republican. A legitimist during the Restoration and orleanist during the reign of Louis Philippe, the 2nd of December 1851 coup d'etat made him join the detractors of Napoleon III and embrace the cause of the Republic. For this, and his hostility towards the Second Empire, he underwent nineteen years of exile on the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, which completed the forging of his legend. But the strength of Victor Hugo also lies in his use of the voice of combat that still resonates universally today, as well as in his commitment against the death penalty.

In front of the Pantheon the trail of Victor Hugo and the French monuments comes to an end. Can you find his tomb in this famed building?

You have just encountered seven national monuments that have influenced the life and work of Victor Hugo. To learn more about the Centre des monuments nationaux and find more information about visiting the monuments, do not hesitate to visit our website . This virtual exhibition was created by the Centre des monuments nationaux, with the contribution of the Conciergerie and the Pantheon, with the support of the image centre team and the coordination of the digital centre. Do you want to learn more about Victor Hugo ? Visit his houses in Paris and Guernsey . Images are taken from Regards - Banque d’images des monuments © Centre des monuments nationaux // Youtube

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Victor Hugo (Portraits français)

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Encyclopedia of Humanities

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Victor Hugo

We explore the life of Victor Hugo and his main literary works. In addition, we discuss why he is regarded as one of the major figures of French and European literature.

Who was Victor Hugo?

Victor Hugo was a French novelist, poet and playwright, considered one of the greatest exponents of French literature and one of the most renowned intellectuals of the 19th century. His novels Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame are among the most celebrated and best-known works in European literature.

Brother of writers Eugène and Abel Hugo, Victor was also a political figure deeply committed to France and its history , and a fervent opponent of Napoleon III and the Second French Empire. For this reason, his work not only encompasses literary fiction, but political and moral speeches, as well as travel chronicles.

Victor Hugo was a central figure of European Romanticism . His work was acclaimed by writers, intellectuals, and the general French populace alike. Upon his death, the nation honored him with a state funeral, and he was buried in the Panthéon in Paris.

• See also: Homer

Birth and youth of Victor Hugo

Victor-Marie Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, in the town of Besançon, in Eastern France. He was the youngest of the three sons of General Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo (1773-1828), battalion commander of the Dubois imperial regiment, and his wife Sophie Trebuchét (1772-1821). His two older brothers were Abel (1798-1855) and Eugène (1800-1837).

His early years were marked by frequent moves due to his father’s position in the Napoleonic army: Paris, Elba, Naples, and Madrid were among some of the places young Victor got acquainted with during his childhood. His mother, however, always stayed in Paris, as the couple did not have a very stable relationship.

In 1813, the couple finally separated as a result of a love affair between his mother and General Victor Lahorie, Victor Hugo's godfather, to whom he owed his name.

These were unstable times for the Hugo brothers, who alternated between their father and mother’s homes, until Napoleon's defeat in 1815, which gave them greater stability. That year, Victor and his brother Eugène entered the Pension Cordier and then the Lycée Louis-le-Grand , where they studied until 1818. Victor then continued his studies at the University of Paris, in the field of law .

During those youthful years, Victor discovered his literary vocation in a self-taught way : he filled entire notebooks with verses and kept personal diaries in which, at just fourteen, he wrote: "I shall be Chateaubriand or nothing". His ambitions were exceptionally high, and his mother and his brother Eugène were his faithful readers.

Thus, in 1817, he participated in a poetry contest sponsored by the French Academy , receiving an honorable mention for his poem Trois lustres à peine . In 1819, he won his first poetry prizes awarded by the Floral Games of the Academy of Toulouse, and another in 1820 for his poem Moïse sur le Nil .

In 1819, encouraged by his mother and his recent successes, Victor founded the literary periodical Le Conservateur littéraire along with his brothers , which published the earliest essays of poets Alphonse de Lamartine and André de Chénier. The publication ceased to exist in 1821, the same year his mother died suddenly.

Marriage and early publications

At the time of his mother's death, Victor Hugo was courting the young Adèle Foucher, daughter of friends of his parents’ and childhood friend of his. He wrote to her around 200 love letters even though his brother Eugène was also in love with her .

In 1822, the successful publication of Victor's first collection of poems, Odes et poésies diverses , earned him an annual pension of one thousand francs from King Louis XVIII. Counting on this income, Victor felt encouraged to ask Adèle in marriage. At the age of 20 and with 1,500 copies of his first book sold, Victor Hugo married the woman who would be his wife for forty-six years .

His brother Eugène plunged into a deep depression due to heartbreak. Later on, he manifested a mental illness that forced him to spend the rest of his days in an asylum, until his death in 1837.

Victor and Adèle shared a close bond, which brought five children into the world : Leopold, who died some weeks after his birth, Léopoldine (1824-1843), Charles (1825-1871), François-Victor (1828-1873), and Adèle (1830-1915). Following his marriage, Victor Hugo began to write his earliest fiction works.

I n 1823 he published his first novel, Han d'Islande (Han of Iceland ) , which was met with little enthusiasm. A positive review by author Charles Nodier (1780-1844), however, led to a friendship between the two writers, which opened for Victor Hugo the doors of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal , where the Cénacle literary group gathered, the cradle of French Romanticism.

Throughout 1824, he collaborated in the monthly publication La Muse Française (1823-1824) , the official dissemination channel of the Romantic literary movement, and published a new collection of verses: Nouvelles Odes (New Odes), dedicating some poems to his father. He also published Bug-Jargal , a novel on which he had begun working when he was just 16.

In 1827 his first play, Cromwell , came out, which broke with the classical dramatic tradition and consisted of 6,000 verses. Although the play was never performed in the theater, it was the content of its preface that caused a literary stir. This text is considered the foundation stone of French Romanticism.

The following year, his father died . Yet, the bereavement did not stop Victor Hugo's creative streak. That same year he published another collection of poems Odes et Ballades (Odes and Ballads), and the novel Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man). The following year saw the release of Les Orientales , a collection of poems characterized by romantic exoticism. In 1830, the romantic drama Hernani was published, followed in 1831 by Marion de Lorme and Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame), a novel that definitively catapulted Victor Hugo into fame.

Literary fame of Victor Hugo

Literary acclaim brought the Hugos new friends , such as painter Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), playwright Alfred de Musset (1810-1857), historian Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870), poet Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869), and literary critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804-1869), with whom Adèle had an affair in 1831.

Victor Hugo also frequented composers Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), Franz Liszt (1811-1886), and Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864), as well as his childhood idol, French prose writer François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848). Around that time, he produced several collections of poems , including his famous Les Feuilles d’automne (Autumn Leaves).

However, his real successes during those years were in the theater . The 1830 debut of Hernani turned Victor Hugo into the icon of a movement seeking to renew theatrical forms, led by poet and playwright Théophile Gautier (1811-1872) and inspired by the changes brought about by the Revolution of 1830. These were politically turbulent times, which was reflected in the arts.

Some of Hugo's works were banned by the government , including Marion de Lorme in 1829 (though it premiered in 1832) and Le roi s'amuse (The King Amuses Himself), the following year. This only magnified Hugo's stature as a revolutionary playwright.

In 1833, he met actress Juliette Drouet, the most important of his many mistresses, who would become his secretary and traveling companion. From that date until her death in 1883, Juliette devoted her life to Victor Hugo . She gave up her acting career and lived practically secluded, only for the company of the French novelist.

During those years, Hugo did not cease to produce new stage plays. In 1841, his talent was recognized by the French Academy , where he was finally accepted after three failed attempts due to objections of the opponents of Romanticism.

However, his creative streak soon came to an end: in 1843 his newlywed daughter Leopoldine and her husband drowned in an accident . This family tragedy profoundly affected Victor Hugo, who, after writing a few more verses of Les Contemplations (The Contemplations), plunged into a literary silence which lasted nearly eight years.

The Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or the Three Glorious Days, was an uprising of the middle and working classes against the autocratic government of King Charles X of France. It took place in Paris, in July 1830, when the king dissolved the parliament following elections that were unfavorable to him. In his place, the so-called "citizen king", Louis-Philippe I of France, was elected, and France adopted a liberal Constitution.

Politics and exile

As the years went by, Victor Hugo began to distance himself from the royalist stance. Instead, he came closer to social sectors that fought for democracy and the establishment of the French Republic, eventually becoming a fervent supporter of republicanism .

This political transition began around 1844, when his literary stature allowed him to become a confidant of King Louis-Philippe I, which Victor Hugo saw as an opportunity to introduce changes to the system. In 1845, he was appointed a peer of France , a distinction reserved for relatives of the king and other distinguished personalities.

When a new revolution broke out in 1848, Victor Hugo was mayor of the eighth district of Paris and was involved in the repression of the workers' riots in June. Later, however, he openly criticized the massacre of the protesters. That same year, he founded the newspaper L'Événement , and was elected deputy to the National Assembly of the Second Republic, on the conservative side.

The Revolution of 1848 was a popular uprising that took place in Paris in February of that year, which ended the monarchy of King Louis-Philippe I and established the Second Republic. The events were triggered by the government's prohibition of the freedom of assembly, an attempt to curb the proliferation of opposition meetings. This revolution sparked the so-called "Springtime of the Peoples", which involved similar revolts throughout Europe, and was a key event in modern Western history.

In 1849, following the dissolution of the National Assembly, Victor Hugo's political stance took a definitive turn . While serving as a deputy in the National Assembly, he delivered his famous speech on misery and poverty ( Détruire la misère , "End the misery"), and broke with his former political allies, criticizing their reactionary stances, and severing ties with the then president Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte.

In 1851, the republican government staged a self-coup d'état, with President Bonaparte proclaiming himself Emperor of the French under the name Napoleon III. When persecution of the opposition began, Victor Hugo fled to Brussels, Belgium . There he criticized the coup and wrote several political works, such as Napoléon le Petit (Napoleon the Little) and Histoire d’un crime (History of a Crime). He also published a collection of satirical poems: Les Châtiments (The Punishments), in 1853.

His publications led to his expulsion from Belgium , prompting Hugo to relocate to the island of Jersey in the English Channel, in the company of Juliette. He devoted himself to writing and spiritualism, partly in the hope of contacting his deceased daughter. However, in 1855, he was once again expelled, this time for openly criticizing the visit of Queen Victoria of England to France.

Victor Hugo moved to the island of Guernsey , and immersed himself in literary creation. In 1856, his work Les Contemplations (The Contemplations) came out, regarded as his magnum opus and a faithful reflection of the existential torments that afflicted him at the time.

He wrote two epic poems of a metaphysical nature : La Fin de Satan (The End of Satan) and Dieu (God), both about the confrontations between good and evil. Neither was published until after his death. He also completed the first volume of his monumental epic-historical poem La Légende des siècles (The Legend of the Ages), with the second and third volumes coming out years later, in 1877 and 1883, respectively.

In 1859, the French government proclaimed an amnesty and a return to France for political prisoners and exile s, albeit under the same system of government. Nevertheless, Hugo and other French expatriates rejected the proposal.

Les Misérables

Shortly after, Victor Hugo returned to fiction. He took up an abandoned novel Les Misérables, published in 1862 , which was to become his most famous work. The novel was an immediate success in France and was quickly translated into other languages, earning him immense international fame.

Regarded as one of the greatest novels of 19th-century European literature , Les Misérables tells a story of love-hate and resentment towards society, embodied in its protagonist, Jean Valjean, sentenced to five years in prison for stealing bread to feed his family.

This work constitutes a study of the society of the time, touching upon poverty, conservatism, and classism . It also provides an account of the Parisian uprising of 1832 and the funeral of Jean Maximilien Lamarque (1770-1832), a renowned French revolutionary military figure. As such, it can be seen as a novel that is simultaneously epic, realistic, and romantic.

Les Misérables benefitted from both a massive advertising campaign and the fame that Hugo had already attained , especially following the success of Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). However, the novel met with mixed reviews, particularly from the most conservative sectors, who frowned upon the sympathetic portrayal of the revolutionaries in the text.

Some criticized the novel's excessive sentimentality, and writer Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) lamented that the characters "all speak very well, but all in the same way" . On the other hand, authors like Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) praised Hugo's success. The Catholic Church, in turn, banned the book, including it in its Index Librorum Prohibitorum .

Les Misérables was followed by another novel, a tribute to the people of Guernsey, entitled Les Travailleurs de la Mer (Toilers of the Sea), in 1866, and L'Homme Qui Rit (The Man Who Laughs), in 1869. However, those years were overshadowed by the news of the death of his wife, Adèle, on August 27, 1868.

In 1863, Adèle Hugo published a biography of her husband, entitled Victor Hugo raconté par un témoin de sa vie . This biography offers readers insights into Victor Hugo's thought and literary talent.

The complicated return to France

In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out, resulting in the fall of the French Empire and the establishment of the Third French Republic. Victor Hugo could at last return to his homeland . In 1870, he participated in the defense of Paris, now under the republican government, and in 1871 he was elected deputy to the National Assembly, a position to which he resigned shortly after. That year, his son Charles died unexpectedly, and he had to travel to Belgium to arrange inheritance matters.

While in Brussels, the Paris Commune uprising broke out. Victor Hugo strongly criticized the subsequent brutal repression, leading to his expulsion from Paris . He sought refuge in Luxembourg, Vianden, Diekirch, and Mondorf-les-Bains, successively, for several months, during which time, he finished his poetry collection L'Année terrible .

Towards the end of 1871, he returned to Paris , where he accepted to run in the 1872 election for the Republicans. However, he was viewed as a "radical", and his proposal to pardon the communards was poorly received. That same year he returned to Guernsey, where he wrote his last novel, Quatre-vingt-treize (Ninety-three), set during the French revolutionary Reign of Terror, and published in 1874.

In 1873, he settled again in France, this time devoting himself to the upbringing of his grandchildren Georges and Jeanne. The experience was so gratifying that he wrote L'Art d'être grand-père (The Art of Being a Grandfather), a collection of lyrical poetry on childhood. Three years later, he was elected senator of the Republic, actively opposing President Patrice de Mac Mahon when he dissolved the lower house of parliament.

His health began to deteriorate. In 1878, after delivering the opening speech at the International Literary Congress, he retired to Guernsey for four months to rest. His ailments prevented any further literary production, but various poetry anthologies continued to be published during those years. 

Death and legacy of Victor Hugo

In 1883, his beloved Juliette died, aged 77. Victor Hugo was over 80 years old himself. Two years later, on May 22, 1885, he died in the French capital , where he was given a state funeral.

His remains were mourned under the Arc de Triomphe, in an unprecedented funeral attended by a massive crowd of intellectuals, politicians, and ordinary people. Nearly two million people accompanied his coffin in the funeral procession to the Panthéon , his final resting place.

Victor Hugo’s literary legacy was enormous, spanning the genres of poetry, narrative, drama, political oratory, and travel chronicles . During his exile in Guernsey he also cultivated drawing and photography, leaving behind a photographic archive of almost 350 works. His towering literary stature is celebrated throughout the world, and in France he is revered as one of the major national poets.

As for his political views, Hugo was a fervent defender of the republican system , and in his speeches he strongly advocated for the fight against social segregation and inequality. He was one of the few men of his time to raise his voice for women's rights, and promoted the idea of a United States of Europe as a solution to the constant conflicts between the powers in the continent.

Over time, Victor Hugo's image became a symbol of the French republic and a national artistic icon, which inspired the French resistance during World War II . His works have been extensively translated and adapted into film, opera, animation, and television.

Major works of Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo's body of work was exceptionally extensive and varied. Among his most renowned works are:

Prose fiction

• Les Misérables (1862)
• L'Homme qui rit (The Man Who Laughs - 1869)
• Quatre-vingt-treize (Ninety-three - 1874)
• Les Feuilles d’automne (Autumn Leaves - 1832)
• La Légende des siècles (The Legend of the Ages - 1859)
• L'Année terrible (1872)
• Cromwell (1827)
• Hernani (1830)
• Napoléon le Petit (Napoleon the Little - 1852)
• Histoire d’un crime (History of a Crime - 1877)
• Barrère, J. B. (2023). Victor Hugo (French writer). The Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/  
• Hugo, A. (1863). Memorias de Víctor Hugo . Trad. Nemesio Fernández Cuesta. Imprenta Las Novedades. 
• Ministerio de Cultura de Argentina. (2022). Víctor Hugo, el último gigante. https://www.argentina.gob.ar/  
• Telesur. (2023). Conozca la vida del escritor francés Víctor Hugo. https://www.telesurtv.net/

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FAMOUS AUTHORS

Victor Hugo

A prominent literary figure during the nineteenth century Romantic Movement in France was Victor Marie Hugo. He was an eminent French novelist, poet, playwright and essayist. It was his poetry that first earned him fame in the literary world and later his novels and plays brought him recognition. His notable works include Les Contemplations, Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris .

Born on February 26, 1802, in Besançon, France, Hugo was the son of Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo, a Napoleon army officer and Sophie Trébuchet, a Catholic Royalist. It was a reign of political chaos and upheaval in his childhood. Two years after his birth Napoleon came to power and his father was a huge supporter of the Emperor. On the contrary, his mother had opposing political and religious views as that of her husband and the perpetual travel entailed by his job deepened the rift in their marriage. Sophie temporarily separated from her husband and moved to Paris with her children. Growing up under his mother care, Hugo’s early poetry and fiction reflect his mother’s firm belief in monarchy and Catholic faith. However, the events preceding the French Revolution of 1848 radically changed his views. He became a strong proponent of Free-thought and Republicanism.

Hugo spent his adolescence years writing verse tragedy and poetry. In 1819, he and his brother founded a periodical, the Conservateur Littéraire . A few years later he published a collection of poems, titled Odes et Poésies Diverses , which earned him royal pension from Louis XVIII. It was not until the publication of Odes et Ballades , that not only the fluency of his poetry was appreciated but he was grown in stature for his expert lyrical craftsmanship. His political stand wavered as he made acquaintance with liberal writers. He soon realized the injustices done by monarchist regime and wrote in favor of the Republicanism.

He married to his childhood friend and lover Adèle Foucher in 1822 and the very next year published his debut novel, Han d’Islande . It was previously published anonymously in the form of four pocket-sized volumes. Shortly afterwards, the book was translated in English and Norwegian language. His second novel, Bug-Jargal , appeared in 1926, which narrates the story of friendship between a French army officer and an enslaved African prince. Similar to young writers of his era, Hugo was highly inspired by the most celebrated literary figure, François-René de Chateaubriand, during nineteenth century Romanticism movement. He aspired to become like his idol and furthered the cause of the literary movement. During late 1820’s he began to produce more mature works including Le Dernier jour d’un condamné . It reflects his acute social conscience that later influenced other pre-eminent literary figures including Fyodor Dostoevsky, Albert Camus and Charles Dickens .

In 1831, one of Hugo’s major works, Notre-Dame de Paris , appeared. The poignant story is set in the 15 th century Paris and centered on the Notre Dame Cathedral. This French Romantic and Gothic novel attained instant success upon its publication and guilted the concerned authority into restoring the beauty of Notre Dame Cathedral. Subsequently, Hugo began to work on major work of fiction that underlines the miserable state of affairs in France and the social injustices faced by the people belonged to lower echelon of society. It took seventeen years for a masterpiece like Les Misérables (1862) to be recognized and published. It became a landmark in the French history for addressing certain issues that were later raised in the National Assembly of France. In 1885, Victor Hugo died of pneumonia at the age of 83.

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Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, in Besançon, France. He studied law from 1815 to 1818 and graduated from the law faculty in Paris. During this time, he also began a career in literature, founding the journal Conservateur Littéraire in 1819. He published his first book of poems, Odes et poesies diverses (Pélicier), in 1822. Hugo went on to publish numerous poetry collections and is considered one of the great French Romantic poets. However, he is perhaps best known for his novels, which include Les Misérables (Carleton, 1862) and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (R. Bentley, 1833). Also known for his political involvement, Hugo served in Paris’s Constituent Assembly and Legislative Assembly after the Revolution of 1848. After a coup d-etat in 1851, he fled France to live in Belgium and, later, the Channel Islands. In 1871 he returned to Paris, where he was received as a national hero. He died on May 22, 1885, and was buried in the Panthéon.

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Victor Hugo

(1802-1885), French

Victor Hugo was one of the greatest French authors of the 19th century. He is best known for his works of Romantic literature, such as ‘ Les Misérables’ and ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame.’ 

Hugo also wrote poetry, plays, and essays. His life was marked by tragedy, great successes, and a powerful legacy that continues to be felt today. Today, he is primarily associated with French Romanticism, but he was interested in far more than that. In fact, he accomplished a great deal of both prose and verse during his life, as well as philosophical texts and more than 4,000 drawings.

• Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, in Besançon, France.
• As a young boy, Victor attended a Lycée in Paris.
• He wrote extensively in both poetry and prose.
• Hugo’s literary works were, and are, immensely popular and were read across Europe, Asia, and America.
• His first published work was a collection of poems called Odes et Ballades .

Interesting Facts

• Throughout his career, Hugo wrote over 25 novels.
• By the age of twenty, he had written and published his first book of poetry.
• In addition to his novels and plays, Hugo wrote essays on philosophy and politics.
• He was buried in the Pantheon in Paris.

Famous Books by Victor Hugo

Les Misérables – Published in 1862, this powerful novel is set in France and tells the story of ex-convict Jean Valjean, the struggles he faces with the law and society, and his attempts to redeem himself.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Written in 1831, this work tells the tragic story of Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer of Notre Dame. Through Quasimodo’s experiences, Hugo examines themes of love and justice.

The Toilers of the Sea – Published in 1866, this novel follows the story of a young man trying to save a shipwrecked vessel off the coast of Guernsey. It deals with themes of humanity’s struggle against the forces of nature.

The Man Who Laughs – Written in 1869, this novel is set in the early 1700s and follows the story of Gwynplaine, a disfigured man whose face has been carved into a permanent smile. The novel examines themes of identity and justice.

Ninety-Three – Published in 1874, this novel is set during the Reign of Terror and tells the story of a group of French revolutionaries who are trying to protect their land from an invading army. It explores themes of loyalty and faith.

Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, in Besançon, France. His father was a high-ranking officer in the French army. Victor Hugo’s mother was a well-known local women of society. Victor was their second child. As a young boy, Victor attended a Lycée in Paris for his primary education, and he quickly showed a talent for writing.

By the age of twenty, he had written and published his first book of poetry, ‘ Odes et poésies diverses.’ His writing style focused on themes of nature, love, and liberty, often described as “Romanticism.” After the publication of this work, Hugo quickly became a popular figure in French literary circles. He would eventually go on to become one of the most renowned authors of all time.

Literary Career

Victor Hugo was a prolific writer and is widely regarded as one of the greatest French writers of all time. He wrote extensively in both poetry and prose, but he is perhaps best known for his novels, particularly ‘ Les Misérables’ (1862) and ‘ The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ (1831).

Hugo began writing poems and plays at a young age. His first published work, a collection of poems called ‘ Odes et Ballades,’ appeared in 1822 when he was just 21 years old. He followed this up with his first novel, ‘ Han d’Islande,’  which was released in 1823.

Throughout his career, Hugo wrote over 25 novels, many plays, and numerous volumes of poetry. Some of his most famous books include ‘ Notre-Dame de Paris’ (or ‘ The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ ) (1831), ‘ Les Mis é rables’ (1862), and ‘ L’Homme qui rit’ (1869). He also penned several political tracts on the topics of freedom of the press and slavery, which won him the admiration of revolutionaries throughout Europe.

In addition to his novels and plays, Hugo wrote essays on philosophy and politics, as well as several collections of stories for children.

Hugo’s literary works were immensely popular and were read across Europe, Asia, and America. He remains one of the most translated authors in history, and his works have been adapted into numerous films, television shows, and theatrical productions.

Later Life and Death

Victor Hugo’s later life was characterized by continued success and recognition. He was elected to the French National Assembly in 1848, and he remained an important political figure until his death. In 1871, Hugo moved to the Channel Islands due to the rise of Napoleon III and a growing distrust of him in France.

During this period, he wrote some of his most famous works, including ‘ Les Miserables.’ He returned to France in 1879, and his later life was filled with honors and accolades. Victor Hugo passed away on May 22, 1885, at the age of 83. He was buried in the Pantheon in Paris, where he had been enshrined as a national hero.

Literature by Victor Hugo

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Victor Hugo Biography: The Extraordinary Life Of A Literary Legend

Victor Hugo, born on February 26, 1802, was a renowned French poet, novelist, and playwright. Considered one of the greatest literary figures of his time, Hugo’s works, such as “Les Misérables” and “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,” continue to captivate readers worldwide with their profound themes and timeless storytelling. Join us on a journey through the life and legacy of this iconic literary genius.

Biography Of Victor Hugo

Early life of victor hugo.

Victor Hugo Biography was born on February 26, 1802, in Besançon, France. He was raised in a family of artists and intellectuals, which greatly influenced his upbringing and creative pursuits. At the age of 13, Hugo’s family moved to Paris, where he would spend the majority of his life. In the bustling artistic and cultural capital, he was exposed to a diverse range of influences, from literature to politics, that would shape his future career as a renowned writer and social activist. Despite facing financial difficulties in his early years, Hugo’s passion for literature and his unwavering determination propelled him to become one of the most influential figures in French literature and a champion for human rights.

Family Details About Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo was born to Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo and Sophie Trébuchet. He had several siblings, including Abel, Eugène, Léopoldine, Charles, François-Victor, Adèle, and Victorine. His father, Joseph Hugo, was an officer in the French army, and his mother, Sophie Trébuchet, was a socialite and artist. The influence of his parents and the unique dynamics with his siblings would later shape Victor Hugo’s life and literary career.

Victor Hugo, one of the most influential French writers of all time, had an intriguing romantic life. Let’s take a look:

Victor Hugo is currently married to Adèle Foucher. They tied the knot on October 12, 1822.

Adèle Foucher was the childhood friend of Victor Hugo, and their friendship blossomed into love. They had known each other since their early years and shared a deep connection. Adèle was known for her intelligence and beauty.

Victor Hugo had some previous relationships before his marriage to Adèle Foucher. Here is a table listing the significant others in his life:

Although these relationships were significant in different periods of his life, it was ultimately with Adèle Foucher that Victor Hugo found his true love and partner.

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Victor Hugo was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist. He became famous through his literary works that played an important role in the Romantic movement. Hugo’s career started in the early 1800s when he began publishing volumes of poetry. In 1831, he achieved widespread fame with his novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,” which brought him critical acclaim and commercial success.

Victor Hugo’s notable works include novels like “Les Misérables,” “Toilers of the Sea,” and “The Man Who Laughs.” These novels depicted social and political issues of the time, highlighting the struggles of the poor and oppressed. Hugo’s writings had a profound impact on society and helped shape public opinion on various issues.

• Hugo was honored with the French Academy’s highest literary award, the “Grand Prix de Littérature,” in 1862.
• In 1870, he received a national tribute for his immense contribution to French literature.
• Hugo was also appointed to the Belgian Royal Academy in 1845.
• One of the major controversies surrounding Victor Hugo was his political activism. He openly opposed Napoleon III and his authoritarian regime, which resulted in his exile from France for almost two decades.
• Hugo’s novel “Les Misérables” faced criticism from some conservatives who saw it as promoting revolutionary ideas and portraying the Church in a negative light.
• His personal life also raised controversies, including his extramarital affairs and unconventional relationships.

FAQ About Victor Hugo

1. who was victor hugo.

Victor Hugo was a renowned French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the 19th century. He is widely considered one of the greatest writers in French literature.

2. What Are Some Notable Works By Victor Hugo?

Some of Victor Hugo’s most notable works include:

• “Les Misérables” (1862)
• “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” (1831)
• “Ninety-Three” (1874)
• “Toilers of the Sea” (1866)

3. When Was Victor Hugo Born And When Did He Die?

Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, in Besançon, France. He passed away on May 22, 1885, in Paris, France.

4. What Is Victor Hugo Best Known For?

Victor Hugo is best known for his epic historical novel “Les Misérables,” which explores themes of social injustice, redemption, and love. This work has been widely adapted into various forms, including musicals and movies.

5. Did Victor Hugo Have Any Political Involvement?

Yes, Victor Hugo was actively involved in politics and held strong republican beliefs. He served as a senator and was a staunch supporter of democracy and social progress.

6. What Was Victor Hugo’s Impact On French Literature?

Victor Hugo played a significant role in the Romantic literary movement and heavily influenced the development of French literature. His works explored complex themes and his use of vivid imagery and poetic language revolutionized storytelling.

7. Did Victor Hugo Receive Any Awards Or Recognition For His Work?

Yes, Victor Hugo received several awards and recognition during his lifetime, including being elected to the Académie Française, the highest honor in French literature. He also received numerous other literary accolades.

8. Can You Visit Any Places Associated With Victor Hugo?

Yes, there are several places associated with Victor Hugo that can be visited. Some notable sites include his house in Guernsey, the Victor Hugo Museum in Paris, and the Victor Hugo House in Besançon.

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French of the French: Victor Hugo and Politics

Though he exercised little political influence, Victor Hugo’s genius and his ardent championship of liberty had made him a legendary figure long before his death.

Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo, the son of a master-carpenter in Nancy, was an army officer who owed everything to the Revolution.

In 1793 he had been sent to help put down the revolt in the Vendee; while he was there he had called at a farm at Petit-Auverne to ask for an hour’s shelter for his men.

There he had met a kind and attractive Breton girl, Sophie Trébuchet; in 1797 he married her. On February 26th 1802, at Besangon, she gave birth to their third son. He was named Victor after his godfather, General Victor Lahorie, and Marie after his godmother, Marie Dessirier, the wife of the local brigade commander.

Six weeks after Victor’s birth, Major Hugo was ordered to Marseilles, to take command of a battalion bound for San Domingo. The major believed that he must be the victim of persecution, and he sent his wife to Paris to plead with Joseph Bonaparte and with General Lahorie to change his posting.

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Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo: The Enduring Legacy of a Literary Titan

Victor Hugo is among the most towering figures in French literature, renowned for his profound influence on both the Romantic movement and genres beyond. Born on February 26, 1802, in Besançon, France, he rose to become an influential writer, playwright, poet, and statesman. His works traverse the span of his tumultuous life, reflecting his political views, his personal struggles, and the social issues of his time.

Notable for his eloquence and command of the language, Hugo’s novels, such as “Les Misérables” and “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,” have become classics, illustrating the depths of human experience and emotion. His ability to depict complex characters and weave detailed settings has secured his status as a master storyteller whose narratives resonate with audiences around the world.

Beyond his literary contributions, Victor Hugo was an avid campaigner for social causes, particularly the abolition of the death penalty. His political activities led to periods of exile, during which he continued to write prolifically. As a cultural icon, Hugo has left an indelible mark not only in literature but also in the realms of social and political thought.

1. Early Life and Background

Victor Hugo was born in Besançon on February 26, 1802. His early life was shaped by a complex family dynamic and his exposure to the literary world through his mother, Sophie Trébuchet.

1.1. Youth in Besançon

Victor Hugo’s childhood was spent under the care of his mother after his parents’ separation. Sophie Trébuchet influenced young Victor with her royalist political leanings, contrasting with his father, Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo, a general who supported Napoleon. The family moved frequently due to his father’s military postings, shaping Victor’s early experiences and perspectives.

1.2. Education and Formation

Hugo’s formal education commenced in Paris, where he began to cultivate his literary skills. As a poet and writer, his formation was partly self-taught and partly formal. He frequented literary salons and was exposed to the influential figures of the time, allowing him to establish connections that would benefit his future career in literature. The tragic loss of his daughter Léopoldine Hugo in 1843 deeply affected him and influenced his subsequent work.

2. Literary Career

Victor Hugo’s literary career spans across various genres, including pivotal contributions to novels, poetry, and plays. He is celebrated for infusing the romanticism movement into his works and leaving a lasting impact on literature.

2.1. Pivotal Works

• Les Misérables: Often regarded as Hugo’s magnum opus, this novel details the struggles within French society and introduces iconic characters like Jean Valjean.
• The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Notre-Dame de Paris): This book not only popularized Gothic fiction but also led to a renewed interest in preserving the historical Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

2.2. Romanticism and Influence

• Cromwell: Illustrated the dramatic manifesto of the romantic literary movement.
• Hernani: Sparked the “Battle of Hernani,” which was crucial in establishing romanticism in French literature and theater.

2.3. Poetry and Novels

• Poetry : Collections like Les Contemplations reflect profound lyricism and an exploration of themes like nature, love, and death.
• Fiction : Hugo’s novels often navigated social issues and human rights, intertwining his political views within gripping fictional narratives.

Victor Hugo’s career as a novelist and dramatist showcases a vast array of literary creations that continue to resonate with readers and scholars alike. His mastery of language and storytelling places him among the seminal figures of 19th-century literature.

3. Political Involvement and Exile

Victor Hugo’s journey through the tumultuous political landscape of 19th-century France led him from fervent activism to a period of exile that profoundly influenced his works. This section explores his political engagements and the circumstances that forced him to live outside his homeland.

3.1. Activism and Coup

Victor Hugo initially supported Louis XVIII and the constitutional monarchy but gradually shifted towards republican ideals. Hugo’s political leaning underwent a substantial transformation from royalist to republican, especially manifested in the Revolution of 1848 when he actively supported the establishment of the Second Republic. Later, he won a seat in the National Assembly, where he voiced opposition to social injustices and the death penalty.

His critical turning point came with the coup by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Napoleon III, on December 2, 1851. Hugo openly denounced the coup, which effectively dissolved the Second Republic. Despite his efforts to organize resistance, his activism ultimately led to his need to flee France.

3.2. Life in Exile

The consequences of Hugo’s political activism culminated in his exile spanning nearly two decades, primarily on the islands of Jersey and Guernsey. Hugo’s exile began in 1851, after Napoleon III seized power, and it lasted until 1870 when the Third Republic was proclaimed following Napoleon III’s downfall.

During these years, Hugo continued his literary work, producing some of his most renowned novels such as “Les Misérables.” The experience of exile enriched his writing, embedding a clear revulsion for tyranny and a fortification of his republican ideals. His letters and poems from this time, notably “Les Châtiments,” are scathing critiques of Napoleon III’s regime. Hugo’s life in exile not only molded his political views but also cemented his legacy as a writer committed to justice and human rights.

4. Victor Hugo Personal Life and Relationships

Victor Hugo’s personal life was marked by profound connections and complex relationships that played significant roles in his life and work. His devotion to his family coexisted with his passionate and often public romantic entanglements.

4.1. Family and Marriage

Victor Hugo married Adèle Foucher in 1822, with whom he had five children. Their marriage endured despite Hugo’s infidelities and the tragic death of their daughter, Léopoldine Hugo, who drowned in 1843. This event profoundly affected Hugo, leading to a solemn and introspective period in his literary works.

4.2. Affairs and Correspondence

Hugo engaged in several high-profile affairs, most notably with Juliette Drouet, an actress who left her career to dedicate herself to him. She became his lifelong companion and confidante, and their relationship is evidenced through copious correspondence, stretching over 50 years. Despite his affairs, Hugo maintained a relationship with his wife Adèle until her death. His mother, Sophie Trébuchet, had passed away before he gained major recognition, influencing his earlier life and works.

5. Legacy and Impact

Victor Hugo’s death was a moment of national significance, leading to collective mourning and a reflection on his profound impact on culture and society. He continues to be celebrated for his ambitious works that touched upon themes of justice, freedom, and the human condition.

5.1. Death and National Mourning

Victor Hugo passed away on May 22, 1885. His passing prompted an outpouring of national grief unprecedented for a writer. He was accorded the rare honor of lying in state under the Arc de Triomphe, where millions paid their respects. Hugo’s final resting place is the Panthéon in Paris, a mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens, a testament to his status as a national hero.

• Date of Death: May 22, 1885
• Place of Honoring: Arc de Triomphe
• Final Resting Place: Panthéon

5.2. Cultural and Artistic Influence

Victor Hugo made enduring contributions to literature and the arts, influencing generations of writers, artists, and thinkers. His works tackled themes of injustice and poverty, resonating with many and inspiring movements for social change.

• Major Themes: Justice, Freedom, Injustice, Poverty
• Biography: Insight into his mind and era
• Artistic Influence: Including but not limited to literature, painting, music, and theater

His novels, particularly “Les Misérables” and “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,” have inspired countless adaptations in film, theater, and music, reflecting their deep cultural impact. Hugo’s advocacy for social causes has immortalized him as a symbol of the quest for justice and freedom.

6. Major Themes in Hugo’s Work

Victor Hugo’s work is renowned for its profound exploration of social justice and humanity, as well as a deep engagement with religion and spirituality. His literature consistently reflects upon the human condition, often highlighting the interplay between societal structures and personal morality.

6.1. Social Justice and Humanity

Victor Hugo passionately addresses the nuances of social justice in his literature, underscoring the struggles against injustice and championing the cause of the downtrodden. In works like Les Misérables , Hugo depicts misery as not just a personal affliction, but as a societal failing, where the poor and disenfranchised are often ignored or punished. Through characters that act as angels amidst the desperation, he explores the potential for goodness and compassion:

• Jean Valjean: Represents the capacity for transformation and embodies the pursuit of justice in a society rife with injustice.
• Javert: Embodies the rigid application of the law, often in conflict with the moral imperative of mercy.

Through these and other characters, Hugo argues for a version of humanity that prioritizes soul and compassion over rigid societal rules.

6.2. Religion and Spirituality

Hugo’s exploration of religion and spirituality does not conform strictly to institutionalized beliefs but often presents a more personal and intrinsic approach to understanding the divine. In his writings:

• God is shown as a pivotal figure, often shaping characters’ moral compasses and influencing their decisions.
• The struggle between faith and reason is a recurring theme, where characters grapple with spiritual crises and existential questions.

Hugo’s works encourage readers to reflect inward and question the nature of the soul, thereby encouraging a form of spirituality that connects deeply with the concepts of justice and humanity.

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Victor Marie Hugo (French pronunciation: ​[viktɔʁ maʁi yɡo]; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is considered one of the greatest and best known French writers. In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables, 1862, and Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831 (known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). Though a committed royalist when he was young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed; he became a passionate supporter of republicanism, and his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He was buried in the Panthéon.

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