Victor Hugo Biography and List of Works

Novelist, poet and dramatist, the most important of French Romantic writers. Among Hugo's best-known works are The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables. Hugo invented his own version of the historical novel, combining the local colour and historical detail of Honoré de Balzac and the spiritual discourse of George Sand.

"How came it that this prudent, economical man was also generous? That this chaste adolescent, this model father, grew to be, in his last years, an ageing faun? That this legitimist changed, first into a Bonapartist, only, later still, to be hailed as the grandfather of the Republic? That this pacifist could sing, better than anybody, of the glories of the flags of Wagram? That this bourgeois in the eyes of other bourgeois came to assume the stature of a rebel? These are the questions that every biographer of Victor Hugo must answer."
(from Olympio: The Life of Victor Hugo by André Maurois, 1954)

Victor Hugo was born in Besançon as the son of a Napoleonic general. After the separation of his parents, he was raised and educated by his mother. From 1815 to 1818 Hugo attended the lycée Louis-le Grand in Paris, reading widely and writing poetry, including verse translations of Virgil. In 1819 he founded with his brothers a review, the Conservateur Littéraire. Inspired by the example of the statesman and author François René Chateaubriand, Hugo published his first collection of poems, ODES ET POÉSIES DIVERSES. It gained him a pension from Louis XVIII. As a novelist Hugo made his debut with HAN D'ISLANDE (1823).

In 182 Hugo married Adèle Foucher, who was the daughter of an officer at the ministry of war. His brother went insane on his wedding day and spent the rest of his life in an institution. For the rest of his life the author felt responsible for his brother's condition.

In the 1820s Hugo came into contact with liberal writers. The romantic style of Sir Walter Scott labelled several of his works, among them BUG-JARGAL (1826). Hugo's foreword for his play CROMWELL (1827) started debate between French Classicism and Romanticism - and in this literary battle Hugo's home became the centre of Romantic writers.

To rise at six, to dine at ten,
To sup at six, to sleep at ten,
Makes a man live for ten times ten.
(Inscription over the door of Hugo's study)

Hugo gained a wider fame with his play HERNANI (1830) and with his famous historical work NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS, which became an instant success. Since its appearance in 1831 the story has became part of the popular culture. The novel, set in 15th century Paris, tells a moving story of a gipsy girl Esmeralda and the deformed bell ringer, Quasimodo, who loves her. Esmeralda arises passion in Claude Frollo, an evil priest, who discovers that she favours Captain Phoebus. Frollo kills the captain and Esmeralda is accused of the crime. Quasimodo attempts to shelter Esmeralda in the cathedral. Frollo finds her and when Frollo is rejected by Esmeralda, he leaves her to the executioners. In his despair Quasimodo catches the priest, throws him from the cathedral tower, and disappears. Later two skeletons are found in Esmeralda's tomb - that of a hunchback embracing that of a woman.

Où sont-ils, les marins sombrés dans le nuits noires?
O flots, quo vous savez de lugubres histoires!
Flots profonds redoutés des mères à genoux!
Vous vous les racontez en montant les marées,
Et c'est ce qui vous fait ces voix désespérées
Que vous avez le soir quand vous venez vers nous!
(from 'Oceano nox')

In the 1830s Hugo published several volumes of lyric poetry, which were inspired by Juliette Drouet, an actress with whom Hugo had a liaison until her death in 1883.

In his later life, Hugo became involved in politics as a supporter of the republican form of government. After three unsuccessful attempts, Hugo was elected in 1841 to the Académie Francaise. This triumph was shadowed by the death of Hugo's daughter Léopoldine in 1843. It took a decade before Hugo published books again. He devoted himself to politics, advocating social justice. In 1848, with the formation of the Second Republic, Hugo was elected to the Constituent Assembly and to the Legislative Assembly.

When the coup d'état by Napoleon III took place in 1851, Hugo fled to Brussels and then to Jersey and Guernsey. This partly voluntary exile lasted 20 years in which time Hugo wrote at Hauteville House some his best works, including LES CHÂTIMENTS (1853) and LES MISÉRABLES (1862), an epic story about social injustice. It is among Hugo's most popular works.

The story is set in the Parisian underworld. Its central character, Jean Valjean, is sentenced to prison for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. After his release, Valjean plans to rob monsigneur Myriel, a saint-like bishop, but cancels his plan. However, he forfeits his parole by committing a minor crime, and for this crime Valjean is hunted by the police inspector Javert. Valjean eventually reforms and assumes the name of M. Madeleine a successful businessman, benefactor and mayor of a northern town. To save an innocent man, Valjean gives himself up and is imprisoned in Toulon. He escapes and adopts Cosette, an illegitimate child of a poor woman, Fantine. Cosette grows up and falls in love with Marius, who is wounded during a revolutionary fight. Valjean rescues Marius by means of a flight through the sewers of Paris. Cosette and Marius marry and Valjean reveals his past. - The story has been filmed several times - last adaptation in 1998.

The political upheaval in France and the proclamation of the Third Republic made Hugo return to France. Napoleon III fell from power and in 1870 Hugo witnessed the siege of Paris. During the period of the Paris Commune, Hugo lived in Brussels, from where he was expelled for sheltering defeated revolutionaries. After a short time refuge in Luxemburg, Hugo returned to Paris and was elected senator.

Hugo died in Paris on May 22, 1885. He was given at his death a national funeral. It was attended by two million people. Victor Hugo is buried in the Panthéon.

For further reading: Olympio: The Life of Victor Hugo by André Maurois (1954 ); Victor Hugo romancier; ou, Les Dessus de l'inconnu by Georges Pironué (1964); Extraordinary House of Victor Hugo in Guernsey by A.D. Chauvel and M. Forestier (1975); Victor Hugo and the Visionary Novel by Victor Brombert (1984); Paroles de Hugo by Anne Ubersfeld (1985); Victor Hugo, ed. by Harold Bloom (1991); "Les Miserables": Conversion, Revolution, Redemption by Kathryn M. Grossman (1996); Victor Hugo: A Biography by Graham Robb (1998); Victor Hugo Encyclopedia by John A. Frey (1998); Victor Hugo and the Romantic Drama by Albert W. Halsall (1998) - Museum: Maison de Victor Hugo, 6 Place des Vosges, the Marais, 75004 - Hugo's house in Paris for 17 years, restored to its original character. - See also: Alfred de Vigny

ODES, (1822)
POST-SCRIPTUM MA VIE, (1901)
LETTRES À LA FIANCÉE, (1820)
LA DERNIÈRE GERBE, (1902)
ŒUVRES COMPLÈTES, (1904)
POÉSIES COMPLÈTES, (1961)
ŒUVRES ROMANESQUES, (1962)
THÉÂTRE, (1963)
ŒUVRES OÉTIQUES, (1964)
ŒUVRES POLITIQUES, (1964)
JOURNAL DE CE QUE J'APPRENDS CHAQUE JOUR, (1965)