Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo

   Victor Hugo (1802-85) was a French author, the greatest of the French romantics. His first volumes of verse, Odes el Poésies Diverses, Odes et Ballades, and Les Orientales, are notable for the metrical skill and colorful diction that characterize all his works. The bizarre subjects of his poems foreshadowed the pronounced Romanticism for which he was soon to become celebrated.

   In the preface to Cromwell, 1828, a historical drama, Hugo issued his manifesto. He claimed that complete freedom from tradition and perfect individuality were essential to good literature, and in Hernani, 1830, he put his principles into practice. The unconventional nature of the verse and diction of this play caused a riot on its first night. Hugo went on to revolutionize prose in Notre Dame de Paris, 1831. Other historical plays, including Ruy Blas, followed; and meanwhile he was publishing numerous volumes of poetry, including Les Feuilles d'Automne, Chants du Crépuscule, 1835, and Les Rayons et les Ombres, 1840. In 1852 he was exiled for his political opinions. During this period, Les Chátiments, 1853, a satire, the Légende des Siécles, 1859, narrative poems, and many articles and pamphlets appeared. Les Miserables, es Travailleurs de la Mer, 1866, and l'Homme qui Rit, 1869, established his fame is a writer of prose romances. 

   In 1870 he returned to France, but of his later works, only d'étre Grandpére, 1877, is well known. Hugo's work was made immortal by his tremendons vitality. The color and warmth of his prose and the metrical skill and glowing diction of his poems have never been equaled in any language. He had an enormous influence on all the younger European poets of his day.