Victor Hugo





Victor Hugo (February 26, 1802 - May 22, 1885) was the most important of the
Romantic authors in the French language.

Born in Besanon, Doubs in the region of Franche-ComtŽ. One of the most
powerful and popular authors of 19th century France, and a champion of
republicanism exiled during the reign of Napoleon III and returned in 1870.

Major works include novels and a large body of poetry. His death, and the
spontaneous national mourning which followed, inspired the French government
to reinvent The PanthŽon in Paris as a temple in homage to the great men
(and, eventually, women) of France. He is buried in its necropolis.

Although Hugo is better known to the English-speaking world as a novelist,
it was as a poet that he broke new ground. The French poetic traditions were
as well-established in his time as the English ones were before the time of
the Romantic poets, and Hugo's contribution may be compared with that of
Wordsworth. He believed that the poet's purpose should be two-fold:

   * to echo universal sentiment by revealing his own feelings, uniting the
     voices of mankind, nature and history.
   * to guide the reader: "faire flamboyer l'avenir" - to lead the way.

In his epic, La LŽgende des Sicles, he attempts, by reference to historical
events, to depict humanity's struggle to emerge from obscurity into
enlightenment.

Honorary President and founder of the Association LittŽraire et Artistique
Internationale (ALAI) in 1878 in Paris which gave itself the objective of
creating an international convention for the protection of literary and
artistic properties which was achieved eight years later with the Berne
Convention on September 9, 1886.

Bibliography

   * Odes et PoŽsies Diverses (1822)
   * Nouvelles Odes (1824)
   * Bug-Jargal (1826)
   * Odes et Ballades (1826)
   * Cromwell (1827)
   * Les Orientales (1829)
   * Le Dernier jour d'un condamnŽ (1829)

   * Hernani (1830), (now remembered mainly as the source for Verdi's opera
     Ernani) - at the time when this drama was staged, it was so
     insurrectionist in style and content that it caused nightly riots at
     the La ComŽdie Franaise.)

   * Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
   * Marion Delorme (1831)
   * Les Feuilles d'automne
   * Le Roi s'amuse (1832)
   * Lucrce Borgia (1833)
   * Marie Tudor (1833)
   * ƒtude sur Mirabeau (1834)
   * LittŽrature et philosophie mlŽes (1834)
   * Claude Gueux (1834)
   * Angelo (1835)
   * Les Chants du crŽpuscule (1835)
   * Les Voix intŽrieures (1837)
   * Ruy Blas (1838)
   * Les Rayons et les ombres (1840)
   * Le Rhin (1842)
   * Les Burgraves (1843)
   * NapolŽon le Petit (1852)
   * Les Ch‰timents (1853)
   * Lettres ˆ Louis Bonaparte(1855)
   * Les Contemplations (1856)
   * La LŽgende des sicles (1859)
   * Les MisŽrables (1862)
   * William Shakespeare (1864)
   * Les Chansons des rues et des bois (1865)
   * Les Travailleurs de la Mer(1866)
   * Paris-Guide (1867)
   * L'Homme qui rit (1869)
   * L'AnnŽe terrible (1872)
   * Quatrevingt-Treize (1874)
   * Mes Fils (1874)
   * Actes et paroles - Avant l'exil (1875)
   * Actes et paroles - Pendant l'exil (1875)
   * Actes et paroles - Depuis l'exil (1876)
   * La LŽgende des Sicles 2e sŽrie (1877)
   * L'Art d'tre grand-pre (1877)
   * Histoire d'un crime - 1re partie (1877)
   * Histoire d'un crime - 2e partie (1878)
   * Le Pape (1878)
   * Religions et religion (1880)
   * L'åne (1880)
   * Les Quatres vents de l'esprit (1881)
   * Torquemada (1882)
   * La LŽgende des sicles - Tome III (1883)
   * L'Archipel de la Manche(1883)

Published posthumously:

   * ThŽ‰tre en libertŽ(1886)
   * La fin de Satan (1886)
   * Choses vues - 1re sŽrie(1887)
   * Toute la lyre (1888)
   * Alpes et PyrŽnŽes (1890)
   * Dieu (1891)
   * France et Belgique (1892)
   * Toute la lyre - nouvelle sŽrie (1893)
   * Correspondances - Tome I (1896)
   * Correspondances - Tome II (1898)
   * Les annŽes funestes (1898)
   * Choses vues - 2e sŽrie (1900)
   * Post-scriptum de ma vie (1901)
   * Dernire Gerbe (1902)
   * Mille francs de rŽcompense (1934)
   * OcŽan. Tas de pierres (1942)
   * Pierres (1951)