Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802 in Besancon, France and died on May 22, 1885. He was a magnificent poet, novelist, playwright and essayist.
Biography and Career :
His parents were Joseph Leopold Sigisbert Hugo, who was a high-ranking officer in
Napoleon's army and Sophie Trebuchet and he has two brothers. Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand was the one who had an influence on him.
He had an important success with "Nouvelles Odes et Poesies Diverses", his first volume of poems which was published in 1824. It also brought him a royal pension from Louis XVIII. With the appearance of his next volume of poems, "Odes et Ballades", he proved he was a talented and creative writer.
1823 was the
year when he published his first novel, "Han d'Islande", and after three years came "Bug-Jargal". The period between 1829 and 1840 was a period of maximum inspiration and he wrote volumes like "Les Orientales", "Les Feuilles d'automne", "Les Chants du crepuscule", "Les Voix interieures" and "Les Rayons et les ombres".
Regarding his stage works he didn't have such great success. In 1827 he came with the drama "Cromwell". Next year "Amy Robsart" was quite a disaster. "Hernani" and then "Le roi s'amuse" were successful and appreciated by audience. The next dramas continued the success and they are "Lucrece Borgia", "Marie Tudor", "Angelo", "Ruy Blas" and "Torquemada".
In 1829 he started writing mature works of fiction such as "Le Dernier jour d'un condamne", "Claude Gueux", "Les Miserables", "Notre-Dame de Paris", "Les Travailleurs de la Mer", "L'Homme Qui Rit" and "Quatrevingt-treize". He entered Academie francaise in 1841 and this certified his position as a great writer. He also entered the Higher Chamber as a pair de France.
He was deeply in love with Adele Foucher, but he married her after his mother died because she didn't agree their relationship. The couple had a child in 1823, Leopold, two years after his mother's death. They also had other four children: Leopoldine, Charles, Francois-Victor and Adele. His conflict with Napoleon III leaded to his exile to Brussels, then Jersey and finally the channel island of Guernsey at Hauteville House. This ended in 1870 when he went back to
Paris. He lost one of his daughters, two sons, his wife and his mistress and on May 22, 1885 he died.
Important Writings :
- Odes et Poesies Diverses (1822)
- Odes (1823)
- Han d'Islande (1823) (Hans of Iceland)
- Nouvelles Odes (1824)
- Bug-Jargal (1826)
- Odes et Ballades (1826)
- Cromwell (1827)
- Les Orientales (1829)
- Le Dernier jour d'un condamne (1829)
- Hernani (1830)
- Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
- Marion Delorme (1831)
- Les Feuilles d'automne (1831)
- Le roi s'amuse (1832)
- Lucrece Borgia (1833) (Lucretia Borgia)
- Marie Tudor (1833)
- Litterature et philosophie melees (1834)
- Claude Gueux (1834)
- Angelo, tyran de padoue (1835)
- Les Chants du crepuscule (1835)
- La Esmeralda (libretto) (1836)
- Les Voix interieures (1837)
- Ruy Blas (1838)
- Les Rayons et les ombres (1840)
- Le Rhin (1842)
- Les Burgraves (1843)
- Napoleon le Petit (1852)
- Les Chatiments (1853)
- Les Contemplations (1856)
- La Legende des siecles (1859)
- Les Miserables (1862)
- William Shakespeare (1864)
- Les Chansons des rues et des bois (1865)
- Les Travailleurs de la Mer (1866), (Toilers of the Sea)
- La voix de Guernsey (1867)
- L'Homme qui rit (1869), (The Man Who Laughs)
- L'Annee terrible (1872)
- Quatre-vingt-treize (Ninety-Three) (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 Legende des Siecles 2e serie (1877)
- L'Art d'etre grand-pere (1877)
- Histoire d'un crime 1re partie (1877)
- Histoire d'un crime 2e partie (1878)
- Le Pape (1878)
- La pitie supreme (1879)
- Religions et religion (1880)
- L'Ane (1880)
- Les Quatres vents de l'esprit (1881)
- Torquemada (1882)
- La Legende des siecles Tome III (1883)
- L'Archipel de la Manche (1883).
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