Victor hugo+biography

French writer and politician (1802–1885)

For other uses, see Victor Hugo (disambiguation).

Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (French:[viktɔʁmaʁiyɡo]; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms.

His most famous works are the novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862). In France, Hugo is renowned for his poetry collections, such as Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles (The Legend of the Ages). Hugo was at the forefront of the Romantic literary movement with his play Cromwell and drama Hernani. His works have inspired music, both during his lifetime and after his death, including the opera Rigoletto and the musicals Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris. He produced more than 4,000 drawings in his lifetime, and campaigned for social causes such as the abolition of capital punishment and slavery.

Although he was a committed royalist when young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed, and he became a passionate supporter of republicanism, serving in politics as both deputy and senator. His work touched upon most of the political and social issues and the artistic trends of his time. His opposition to absolutism, and his literary stature, established him as a national hero. Hugo died on 22 May 1885, aged 83. He was given a state funeral in the Panthéon of Paris, which was attended by over two million people, the largest in French history.

Early life

Victor-Marie Hugo was born on 26 February 1802 in Besançon in Eastern France. He was the youngest son of Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo (1774–1828), a general in the Napoleonic army, and Sophie Trébuchet (1772–1821). The couple had two other sons: Abel Joseph (1798–1855) and Eugène (1800–1837). The Hugo family came from Nancy in Lorraine, wher

By Daniel Frezza

Few writers are successful as poets, novelists, essayists, and playwrights. Victor Hugo did it all—and served in France’s government.

Hugo was born in 1802, in Besançon, France. His father, Leopold, a soldier in the Revolution of 1789, attained the rank of general in the army of Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother. His mother, Sophie, was responsible for encouraging her three sons (Victor was the youngest) to pursue writing careers. Sophie and Leopold’s marriage was troubled and they legally separated in 1814. Leopold received custody, but the boys later chose to live with Sophie (Samuel Edwards, Victor Hugo: A Tumultuous Life [New York: David McKay Co., 1971], 33). Precocious and hard-working, Hugo could read and write by age five. By eighteen his poetry had attracted national attention. After Napoleon’s final defeat in 1815, France restored the former monarchy, and some of Victor’s poems had a strong royalist bent (Sophie’s influence). This pleased Louis XVIII, who invited him to tea (Edwards, 39).

Sophie died in 1821, and Hugo became close to Leopold, gradually absorbing his father’s admiration for Napoleon. This didn’t prevent Hugo from developing connections with the royal family. His first collection of poetry, published at age twenty, sold well and earned him a royal pension. Louis’s successor, Charles X, made Hugo a member of the Legion of Honor.

Now possessing an income, Hugo was able to marry the girl he had loved for several years, Adèle Foucher. Though they were deeply in love, the potential for a rift was present from the start: Adèle admitted she didn’t understand poetry (Andre Maurois, Olympio: The Life of Victor Hugo [New York: Harper Bros 1956], 67). Adèle came to enjoy the benefits of her husband’s fame, but his writings were never of strong interest to her.

Between 1822 and 1840 Hugo published nine volumes of poetry, establishing his reputation as one of the greatest poets of his time; three novels, inclu

Victor Marie Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, statesman and human rightsactivist. He played an important part in the Romantic movement in France.

Hugo first became famous in France because of his poetry, as well as his novels and his plays. Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles are his most famous poetry collections. Outside of France, his novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (known in English also as The Hunchback of Notre Dame) are his most famous works.

When he was young, he was a conservativeroyalist. As he got older he became more liberal and supported republicanism. His work was about many of the political and social problems as well as the artistictrends of his time. He is buried in the Panthéon, in Paris.

Life

Victor Hugo was the son of Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo (1773–1828) and Sophie Trébuchet (1772-1821). He had two older brothers called Abel Joseph Hugo (1798–1855) and Eugène Hugo (1800–1837). He was born in 1802, in Besançon (in the Doubsdepartment). Hugo lived in France for most of his life. During the reign of Napoleon III he went into exile. In 1851, he lived in Belgium, in Brussels.He moved to Jersey in 1852. He stayed there until 1855 when he went to live in Guernsey until 1870. He lived there again in 1872-1873. From 1859, his exile was by choice.

Some great events marked Hugo's early childhood. A few years before his birth, the Bourbon Dynasty was overthrown during the French Revolution. The First Republic rose and fell and the First French Empire rose under the rule of Napoléon Bonaparte. Napoléon became Emperor two years after Hugo's birth. The Bourbon Monarchy was restored when Hugo was 17. His parents had different political and religious views. Hugo's father was an officer. He ranked very high in Napoléon's army. He was an atheistrepublican and considered Napoléon a hero. His mother was an extreme CatholicRoyalist