Victor Hugo

Victor Marie Hugo ( Besançon , February 26 1802 - Paris , May 22 1885 ) was a French writer , poet , essayist and statesman, and is considered one of the most important and influential French Romantic writers of the 19th century. He wrote novels, poems, plays, essays and political speeches and also left after extensive correspondence.

Content

 * 1 Biography
 * 1.1 Youth
 * 1.2 First literary fit
 * 1.3 Leader of the Romantic movement
 * 1.3.1 Theatre
 * 1.3.2 Fiction
 * 1.4 Political life
 * 1.5 Exile
 * 1.6 Return to France and life
 * 2 A monumental achievement
 * 2.1 Novels
 * 2.1.1 Difficult to classify work
 * 2.1.2 A combative work
 * 2.2 Theater
 * 2.3 Poetry
 * 2.3.1 First verses
 * 2.3.2 More mature verses
 * 2.3.3 Exile
 * 2.4 Drawings
 * 3 Hugo's ideas
 * 3.1 Politics
 * 3.2 Religion
 * 3.3 United States of Europe
 * 4 Hugo and his contemporaries
 * 5 Impact of his work
 * 5.1 Television
 * 5.2 Film
 * Opera 5.3
 * 5.4 Musical
 * 5.5 Song
 * 5.6 Famous quote
 * 6 Tribute to Victor Hugo
 * 7 Work
 * 7.1 Theater
 * 7.2 Novels
 * 7.3 Poetry
 * 7.4 Other texts
 * 8 External links

[Youth edit ]
Victor Hugo was born in Besançon ( Franche-Comté ) in 1802 as the third son of Joseph Leopold Sigisbert Hugo (1773-1828), a French general under the Empire of Napoleon came from Lorraine, and Sophie Trébuchet, originally from Nantes . By the profession of his father Hugo had a difficult childhood and he was swept away by the garrison life from city to city. Hugo stayed among others in Paris, in the old convent des Feuillantines in Naples , where his father was for a time governor of a province, and in Spain (1811-1812), where his father three provinces controlled. There was, moreover, a bad relationship between Hugo's parents, who are politically and religiously diverse opinions on nahielden. Hugo's father was an atheist republican who Napoleon was a hero; Hugo's mother was a Catholic Royaliste . These difficulties led to a rift between Hugo's parents. Hugo's mother lived from 1813 separated from her husband and went with her ​​son in Paris live. On the advice of his father, Hugo went to the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, but it was mainly his mother as a major influence on his upbringing and his two brothers, Abel and Eugene. It is therefore not surprising that at Hugo's early work themes like "faith" and "monarchy" frequently are discussed. Hugo made ​​his vocation as a writer rather early fame when he wrote at the age of fourteen in his diary: "Je veux être Chateaubriand ou rien. " (Ed .: I want to be Chateaubriand or nothing.)

First literary fit [ edit ]
Victor Hugo as a young man

Chateaubriand had a big influence on Hugo's first literary work, just like many of Hugo's contemporaries. Chateaubriand can be seen as one of the founders of Romanticism in France and was one of the most important writers of the early nineteenth century. In more ways than one Hugo joined Chateaubriands footsteps. Hugo was the standard-bearer of Romanticism in France committed itself politically a Republican and was exiled because of his political thought.

At age fifteen, he was already recognized for his poetry of the Académie Française . In 1820 he founded with his brothers the literary magazine Le Conservateur littéraire [1], with which he early literary attention to himself. That same year he also won the competition of the Académie des Jeux Floraux to Toulouse, where he also was the year it laureate. Among other successes, Hugo gave his mathematics studies, and he devoted himself entirely to his literary career. In 1822 he published his first collection of poems, entitled Odes. In that decade would follow several books of poetry. In 1824 the collection Nouvelles Odes et diverses Poésies appeared, giving him a royal grant of Louis XVIII yielded. However, it was the beam from 1826, Odes et Ballades, which gave him great fame. The beam would appear in its final form in 1828. Hugo worked on La Muse française and shared affinity with the monarchy and theChristianity of that group. In 1827 he took part in Le Cénacle, a literary circle around the writer Charles Nodier that met in the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal and which can be considered the cradle of French Romanticism . This group exercised great influence on Hugo's literary development. He met, among others, Chateaubriand , Theophile Gautier , Alfred de Musset andAlfred de Vigny . Participation in this group also meant that he defected to the liberal camp.

In this period, particularly in 1822, Hugo married Adèle Foucher, with whom he was in love since 1819. However, this was very much against the wishes of his parents and his close relationship with his mother, he waited until after her death (in 1821) to marry his childhood sweetheart. The marriage also aroused jealousy by his brother Eugene, who would gradually fall prey to insanity . The couple would have five children: Léopold in 1823, a few months after his birth would die, Léopoldine in 1824, Charles in 1826, François-Victor in 1828 and Adele in 1830. Of these five children would only last her father survive although they often stayed by her unstable mental health in nursing homes.

The year after his marriage, Hugo published his first novel, the horror novel, Han d'Islande. His second novel, Bug-Jargal, followed three years later.

Theater [ edit ]
"The Battle of Hernani"

From the end of the 20s of the nineteenth century, Hugo can be regarded as the leader of the romantic Cénacle. He was also attacked in that capacity and maligned by the supporters of the academicism. Moreover, Hugo also collided with the censorship by the audacity of some of his plays. Thus his drama from 1829, Marion de Lorme, initially banned by the censors because of the unflattering picture that was painted by the French monarchy . In 1827 he published the never staged verse drama Cromwell, previously gained fame through his foreword in which Hugo attacked the classical rules, including the unit of time and of place . The preface says enjoyed the reputation of manifesto of the Romantic movement.

The big fuss came at the premiere of Hugo's play Hernani in 1830, which today is largely forgotten, except when based on the eponymous opera by Verdi . Hernani can be considered as an important stage in the history of the French stage. The second idea is known as "La Bataille d'Hernani" (the battle of Hernani). Hugo had previously verse for his play to defend fresh for the royal censorship and there were fragments leaked in the press, intended to ridicule the work and the author. On the evening of the second performance Hugo had invited a large part of his friends (Balzac, Gautier, Nerval, ...) to counter the representatives of the classical theater. The play brought nearly caused riots between the opposed camps: classicists versus romantics, republicans vs. royalists, liberals versus conformists. In the theater was the battle won by Hugo's supporters, but the press cracked the piece. The following performances were still quite unsettled, but the piece recorded each time full houses. Hugo had managed to bring the romantic renewal, which has hitherto been initiated in the salons was enthusiastic, for the people on the scene.

Juliette Drouet, Hugo's muse and mistress

Hugo's next piece was s'amuse Le roi (1832), after a performance prohibited by the censorship was due to the open spot on the French nobility. However, the play was a success in written form. Hugo, however, was such a shot in the wick through the game ban that his next play, Lucrèce Borgia, wrote in just two weeks. This piece was first performed in 1833 and was a huge success. Mademoiselle George, a former mistress of Napoleon, played the leading role. A lesser role was played by Juliette Drouet, an actress who later would claim a leading role in Hugo's life.

The actress became his muse and mistress and although Hugo several romantic escapades had during his life, this relationship was even by his wife as a free specially recognized and tolerated. Drouet had the opportunity to perform at Hugo's play Mary Tudor (1833) the role of Lady Jane Grey, but was found after the first performance to light and replaced. Juliette Drouet then stopped acting and devoted the rest of her life (until her death in 1883) to her lover as an unpaid secretary and traveling companion (including to Brittany , Normandy, the Nord and Germany ). His relationship with Juliette Drouet was a response to the adulterous relationship with his wife Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve .

In 1835, Hugo's play Angelo was successful premiere. In November 1838 it was the turn of Ruy Blas. That was the first piece that was played at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, the new theater by the Duke of Orleans (brother of King Louis-Philippe was founded and admirer of Hugo's work) to bring new pieces on the scene. Although it is considered one of Hugo's best pieces, but the time was met with moderate enthusiasm. Then it would take until 1843 to Hugo another piece would produce. Les Burgraves ran 33 nights, but lost to a public competitive play. It would be the last piece that Hugo wrote. He would write a short verse drama in 1869, Torquemada, but this was never meant to be staged and was only a few years before his death, published in 1882. However, Hugo would have a lasting interest for the drama, as evidenced by an essay 1864 William Shakespeare, whose style he sought to emulate.

Fiction [ edit ]
Illustration of Quasimodo from the original version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame (by Alfred Barbou )

During this long period Hugo naturally produced more than just theater. Hugo's first full-length novel, The Last Day of a Condemned Man (The last day of a convict), appeared in 1829 and showed all the social conscience that later in many of his works would shine through. The work would later writers such as Albert Camus , Charles Dickens andFyodor Dostoevsky influence. In 1831, Hugo's great novel first appeared: Notre-Dame de Paris ( The Hunchback of Notre Dame ). The work was so successful that it was soon translated into several European languages. It was partly intended to turn the city of Paris led the neglected Notre Dame Cathedral restoration. The book also gave rise to a renewed interest for pre-renaissance buildings, which would protect this asset.

In 1834 the documentary appeared novella Claude Gueux, which tells the story of a real-life murderer is executed in France. This short story was later considered by Hugo as a precursor to his immense work on social inequality, Les Misérables . The first steps towards this novel were probably put around 1830, but it would take until 1862 for the book was completely and could be published.

Political life [ edit ]
During his upbringing had his royalist mother had a great influence on Victor Hugo. Gradually, however, he left convinced by the values ​​of democracy . (J'ai grandi (I'm grown), he writes in one of his poems, in a manner of self-identification.) Hugo had become a supporter of the liberal and humanitarian democracy.

In the 40s of the nineteenth century Hugo climbed up to the highest ranks of the literary and political world. In 1841, after five unsuccessful candidatures, he was elected to theAcadémie française (chair 14, succeeding Nepomucene Lemercier ). In 1845 he was by King Louis-Philippe appointed Pair de France. In parliament Hugo spoke out against the death penalty and social inequality and for press freedom and self-government for Poland among others. After the Revolution of 1848 and the proclamation of the French Second Republic, Hugo was elected to the Assembly and the Assembly LÉGISLATIVE constitutionnelle. His dislike of anarchy also ensured that he suppression of workers' revolt by Cavaignac supported. Hugo, however, watched it about freedom of speech and writing, and the rights of the people and, because he believed that they could be rescued by Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, he supported his candidacy for the presidency.

However, the successes in this decade were overshadowed by a number of family dramas. His wife kept a (platonic) relationship with Sainte-Beuve . His brother Eugene, who had become insane, died. His adulterous relationship with Mme Leonie Biard came to light and caused a scandal. His daughter Léopoldine and her husband both drowned in the Seine on September 4, 1843 to Villequier . Especially by the death of his daughter, who was deeply Hugo, he published nothing more in the period 1843-1851.

[Exile edit ]
In this house in Brussels, known as "Le Pigeon," Hugo lived for a time.

Hugo on the rocks of Jersey (1853-1855)

As Napoleon III showed increasing tendencies toward autocracy, Victor Hugo imagined hostile to him. After the coup of Napoleon III, said an anti-parliamentary constitution instituted, Hugo turned entirely on the new emperor and sought rapprochement with the republican left. Hugo called the emperor openly a traitor to France. After he had tried to put on the people to revolt, Hugo was threatened with arrest and he went into exile. He fled to Brussels, then to the Channel Island of Jersey , and finally settled onGuernsey , where he would live until 1870, even had Napoleon III in 1859 amnesty granted to all exiles. Hugo then refused to return to France because it meant that his criticism of the government should cease. He described it as follows: "Et s'il n'en qu'un reste, je serai celui-là" (And if there is only one left, I'll be the one). As Hugo got the aura of unyielding exile. His exile was Hugo genuine living legend, a mythical figure.

During his exile he found new inspiration in his new environment, including some special psychic experiments (motivated by the painful loss of his daughter Léopoldine) put in writing in the name Les Tables tour Jersey.

Hugo also published several famous pamphlets against Napoleon III as Napoléon le Petit (Little Napoleon) and Histoire d'un crime (History of a crime), in which he the coupcondemned for moral reasons. During his stay in Guernsey he wrote some of his best works. He has published three critically acclaimed poetry collections: Les Châtiments(1853), Les Contemplations (1856) and La Légende des siècles (1859-1883). In addition, also published novels, such as the famous novel Les Misérables (1862). Well aware of the high standard of his work, Hugo decided to assign the publication to the highest bidder. That was the Belgian publishing house Lacroix and flyers, which has six months to publish press releases sent in the world and an unprecedented marketing campaign set up. Initially it was just published the first part (Fantine), which also came out in several cities. The book was sold out after a few hours and had a great impact on French society. There were both enthusiastic proponents as intense opponents condemned the book. The book even led to discussions in the National Assembly . Today, Les Miserables is considered a literary masterpiece and is repeatedly edited for television, film and musical.

In his first novel after Les Miserables Hugo turned away from social criticism. Les Travailleurs de la mer of 1866 was dedicated to the island of Guernsey and was well received. Hugo described herein the constant struggle of man against the sea and the creatures that live in it. The novel also provided a rather unusual fashion in Paris:cuttlefish . Several squid dishes were born, there were exhibitions dedicated to the octopus, an animal that had previously been considered by many to be mythical and were organized even squid parties. In the streets even surfaced squid hats.

In 1869 published the novel The Man Who Laughs who re- covery in the political and social criticism of Les Misérables. The novel showed a critical picture of the aristocracy.The novel, however, was not as successful as the previous and Hugo itself noted the distance that existed between himself and literary contemporaries such as Flaubert andZola, whose naturalistic novels in his popularity transcended. Hugo's last novel, Quatre-Vingt-Treize, 1873, dealt with a subject that Hugo had avoided until then: the Terrorafter the French Revolution .

During the 60s Hugo also drew several times by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as a tourist. In 1871 he took refuge in the grand duchy also for three and a half months (June 1-September 23), after Belgium was expelled because he had granted asylum to communards who were persecuted in the French capital. He subsequently stayed toLuxembourg to Vianden (two and a half month), to Diekirch and Mondorf, where he followed a course.

[Return to France and life edit ]
Caricature of Honoré Daumier 's return from exile, Hugo

In 1870, Victor Hugo returned to France after Napoleon III at Sedan was defeated and the French Third Republic was installed. His overtaking in Paris was triumphant. He was hailed as a true national hero. He was elected to the National Assembly, but had to set a time after that this regime was disappointing for him, when he retired from active politics. In the short time he experienced the siege of Paris, he was a mild stroke beyond, his daughter Adèle was admitted to a mental asylum and killed his two sons Charles and François-Victor. Despite this personal loss, Hugo remained committed to his political ideas. He devoted the last years of his life to the protection of the Communards and the retention of his manuscripts for posterity. During the last years of his life he continued to write. So he published in 1870 Religions et religion (about the limits and possibilities of science) in 1872, L'année terrible (a poetic commentary on the Commune ), in 1873, his last novel, Quatre-Vingt-Treize, in 1877 L'Art d'etre grand-père and in 1881 Les Quatre Vents de l'esprit.

Victor Hugo died on May 22, 1885 at the age of 83. His last words were "You vois une lumiere noire" (I see a black light). [2] His death gave rise to a national mourning. His coffin was a few days under the Arc de Triomphe, where he was under massive interest carried to his final resting place in the Pantheon . It is estimated that three million people have done him a last tribute.

Monumental achievement [ edit ]
Hugo was a writer who has successfully practiced all genres: novel , theater , poetry , essay . He had a passion for the Word, on the condition that it would be anchored in history. Consequently, it is therefore very difficult to distinguish the fiction of his political engagement.

Difficult to classify work [ edit ]
Illustration of "Cosette" in the original version of "Les Misérables"

Victor Hugo has nine novels failed. His first novel was Bug-Jargal, written at the age of sixteen, his last, Quatre-Vingt-Treize, at age seventy. His novels oeuvre thus covering all ages of the author and all literary movements of his time. Yet Hugo has never fully identified with one of those literary movements. His novels exhibit properties of currents, but never fully fit into that flow. Novels such as Han d'Islande and The Hunchback of Notre Dame resemble historical novels as they were in fashion at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but may not be fully subscribed in this genre. One recognizes Hugo always some parody of the genre.

Very often Hugo's novels a social and critical social impact. Claude Gueux (1834), a documentary short story in which he denounced the death penalty, already was a first step in that direction. Les Misérables (1862) certainly has a social significance and exhibits characteristics of the realism, but can not yet be fully considered as a realistic novel.

Les Travailleurs de la mer (1866) closes again closer to the romantic aesthetic of the early nineteenth century, with its terrifying nature and his monsters. Some find this work again to pathetic and melodramatic.

His last novel, Quatre-Vingt-Treize, 1874, then again a theme that shows through in many of Hugo's work: the important role of the French Revolution on the political, social, moral and literary conscience of the 19th century.

A combative work [ edit ]
Hugo's work is never pure relaxation, he continued his work always at the service of a debate, a discussion of ideas and opinions. This is clear in his early works in which he takes a stand against the death penalty . In his mature works one notices often this combativeness. Les Misérables contains several digressions on the material and social misery of the French people. Often Hugo's heroes at the mercy of an inexorable fatality and restrictions that are due to society ( Jean Valjean ), the history (Quatre-Vingt-Treize) or at birth (Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame ). One sees strong in Hugo's work for the love of the epic in which man takes on forces greater than themselves (nature, society, fate).

However, the strength of his work is that Hugo has managed to find its audience without ever entirely to the fashions of his time.

Theater [ edit ]
Two works have a profound influence on the development of romantic drama and both Pen of Victor Hugo: Cromwell (1827) and Hernani (1830). At age twenty-five was Hugo's play Cromwell released. A verse that has never been performed, but gained fame through his preface, in which Hugo laid the foundations for a new genre: the romantic drama. The preface clearly articulated the thoughts of the Romantics in connection with the theater and became the manifesto of the new generation of writers. The classical theater with its rules had to be demolished and a modern theater (à la Shakespeare occupy) had its place. Hugo proposes the classical rules ( unity of time and place of ) discussion ( unity of action, also called unity of action or plot, but he said, was important) and brings the romantic ideas on the scene: multiple characters, places , mix records. He planned as to bring more life into a measured drama. However, this also means that Cromwell is labeled as unplayable because of its countless characters and the fact that the piece of 6000 verses counts.

Hugo summarizes his ideas together in three words: Totalite, Liberté and Transfiguration (Totality, Freedom and Transfiguration). Totality, because the play will be a total picture of the reality of things, people and history; Freedom because one has to detach from the traditional system of units; Transfiguration as the drama of the unfolding needs of both the nature and the ego. There is an actual change of the things to be made.

Hernani reached with Hugo or fame. This piece really placed him at the head of the new generation of writers at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The play turned the classic rules overboard and was a mise en scene of what Hugo had unfolded in his preface to Cromwell. The first performance was a real clash between the supporters of Hugo - he had drummed up for the occasion - and supporters of the classical rules.There actually was a mini-riot between the two camps by Hugo supporters - partly through their loud cheers - won. However, the newspapers were much less lyrical the day after the performance. Yet the piece remained attract full houses every night and they still heard hissing or booing during the performance.

The following years, Hugo was confronted with the limitations of the stage (the "scene à l'italienne" was unsuitable for big plays) and the reluctance of the actors to play with his daring pieces. Eventually will be established a hall that is fully adapted to the requirements of the romantic drama: the Théâtre de la Renaissance, where Hugo in 1838 his play Ruy Blas late boost.

The failure of his play Les Burgraves in 1843 and the death of his daughter Léopoldine Hugo never made ​​a piece would perform on stage. He would write a few dramas, but these were never meant to be staged.

[Poetry edit ]
No other poet than Victor Hugo has felt the need to meet the requirement of totality, also in poetry. His poems are a colorful mix of all requirements and temptations of the poetry of his time: virtuoso Les Ballades andLes Orientales, lyrical Les Rayons et les Ombres, satirical Les Châtiments, elegiac in Les Contemplations, epic in La Legende des Siècles .

Hugo is all an issue, everything can be handled by the poem. Therefore, one can often find in a collection of poems of different origins, different, yet complementary.

First verses [ edit ]
His first verses Odes from 1822, show immediately themes that will recur repeatedly in Hugo's work: the history, the world of his time, religion and the role of the poet. It also notes in its successive editions of hisOdes (four editions from 1822 to 1828) a less classical and more and more romantic approach.

Throughout his work he combines in 1828 under the title Odes et Ballades, which one can see how the young poet takes liberties with the meter and the traditional poetics . The poetry collection also illustrates nicely think the gradual evolution at Hugo's: the fervent Catholic states increasingly tolerant, the royalist is less rigid and are more open to the Napoleonic idea. Hugo is his dual background (Napoleonic through his father, royalist through his mother) is not out of the way and puts them even face each other in an attempt to transcend them.

We note at Hugo's fledgling career also an interest in the l'art pour-l'artdoctrine when he delivers his collection Les Orientales. The collection was inspired by the theme of the East and the exoticism that was then in vogue.

More mature verses [ edit ]
The same themes are found in Hugo's lyrics from the 30s: Les Feuilles d'Automne (1831), Les Chants du Crepuscule (1835), Les Voix Intérieures (1837) and Les Rayons et les Ombres (1840).

Les Feuilles d'Automne is a collection of poems still quite conventional. His second collection, Les Chants du Crepuscule, has a different key.Here one sees all the shifts in Hugo's thought. The poems show a triple theme: a reduction of faith, a reduction of the monarchist idea and a decrease of marital happiness, especially because of the meeting with his mistress, Juliette Drouet and his wife's adulterous relationship with Sainte-Beuve.

In Les Voix Intérieures we find the theme of Hugo back in the voices (les Voix) who took the floor: History of the voice, Nature's voice and the voice of the man. These votes are in and our responses to the song that we hear outside.

Les Rayons et les Ombres close this fertile decade off. This collection shows how Hugo grows to a certain maturity and how he evolves from intimacy to a more dramatic and visionary inspiration.

Exile [ edit ]
The verses Hugo wrote during his exile from a very different character. Les Châtiments (1853) has a combative nature, designed to resist Napoleon III . It is a satirical work meant to mock the new emperor. The poems were famous for their enthusiasm and their sarcasm. They also rely on the authenticity of feelings and beliefs that inspire them.

In the spring of 1856 the book was published Les Contemplations, which put an end to the lyrical silence of Victor Hugo, who since Les Rayons et les Ombres (1840) was more concerned with political action. The poems reflect a need to rebuild a sense of life, especially after the death of his beloved daughter and his exile. The bundle includes two parts Autrefois (Formerly) and Aujourd'hui (Today), and are centered around the death of Hugo's daughter Léopoldine, who symbolizes the spiritual death of the poet. The 59 poems under Autrefois are believed to have been written before 1843, which among Aujourd'hui (including the famous Demain dès l'aube ... ) after her death. Les Contemplations provides a kind of synthesis of Christianity , pantheism and mysticism in the line of Emanuel Swedenborg and Louis Claude de Saint-Martin .

The poems of Hugo's latest collection, La Legende des Siècles, were published in three series, in 1859, 1877 and 1883, and became a fused in 1885. Hugo said himself that he is the humanity in this work sequentially and simultaneously in all its aspects describe wanted. This is a series of poems about episodes from the Bible, history, antiquity and modern times, as it were, the synthesis of the history of the world in an immense epic , an epic that consists of several small epics, summarized in a cyclic whole. In this book we see an evolution in the direction of the Symbolists .

Drawings [ edit ]
Drawing by Victor Hugo: "Setting Sun".

Hugo was not only a very gifted writer, but also a talented artist . During his life he has produced some 4,000 drawings. Originally this was just a hobby, but the hobby became increasingly important as he was to concentrate more on politics and less on writing. So much so that signs are creative outlet was in the period 1848-1851.

Hugo worked only on paper, and usually in small format. His drawings were usually in dark brown or black, sometimes with white accents, but very rarely in color. Most of his drawings do surprisingly quite modern and announce experimental techniques, known by it to surrealism or abstract expressionism . In the beginning, his drawings are still quite realistic, but with his exile and confront the sea they are more and more fantastic.

Drawing of an octopus, with the initials VH

He used all kinds of materials to draw, from stencils on ink stains (which he may or may not "pliage" gave rise cf. Rorschachvlekken ) to charcoal (at the end of a match) and his fingers. Sometimes he even used coffee or soot to achieve the desired results. There is even reported that Hugo drew with his left hand without looking at the page, or during seances to let speak his subconscious, a concept that was later distributed by Sigmund Freud .

Hugo published his drawings never, but they used to have family and friends to rejoice with it, such as New Year's card or business card. Some of his works were to artists of his time such as Vincent van Gogh and Eugène Delacroix shown that they are very appreciated. Also Charles Baudelaire 's Hugo showed positive about drawings. Hugo also used his drawings to illustrate his own work, as he has done for Les Travailleurs de la Mer .

Hugo's philosophy [ edit ]
From about 1849 Hugo devoted his life mainly on three topics: politics , religion, and human and social philosophy .

[Politics edit ]
Cartoon Hugo by Daumier, created in 1849 on top of Hugo's political career.

Victor Hugo aspired to change society and put social inequality denounced. He criticized the rich who make merely striving profit without those profits to reinvest back into production. However, this was him not appreciated by the bourgeoisie .

Hugo also opposed violence, when used against a democratic power (in accordance with the Declaration of Human Rights). However, he felt justified violence against an illegitimate power. Hence he called in 1851 the people to revolt against Napoleon III. His aversion for anarchy he expressed as follows in the magazine L'Evénement, which he founded himself: "Strong hatred against anarchy, tender and deep love for the people."

Hugo also spoke out against the death penalty . In his youth, he attended several executions and he has been there for the rest of his life against resistance. Two youth novels,The Last Day of a Condemned Man (1829) and Claude Gueux (1834) emphasize the cruelty, injustice and inefficiency of this punishment. Knowing full well that literature is not enough to have political influence, Hugo has proclaimed his position at all political levels.

During his political career, Hugo has also held several major speeches: - against misery (Speech on the misery, July 9, 1849) - about the place of women (at the funeral of George Sand, June 10, 1876) - against the religious education and for free public education (Speech on the draft law on education, January 15, 1850) - several arguments against the death penalty - several speeches in favor of peace (Opening speech of the Peace Congress, August 21, 1849) - a plea for universal suffrage

Religion [ edit ]
Hugo in his "psychic" period on Jersey

Victor Hugo's religious views changed in the course of his life. Influenced by his mother in his youth, Hugo was a Catholic and he expressed respect for Church hierarchy and authority. He then evolved into a non-practicing Catholic to eventually increasing antipapale and anticlerical express opinions.

During his exile he was involved with spiritualism (including seances to communicate with his drowned daughter). In later years he moved towards a rationalistic deism, akin to deism of Voltaire .

Hugo retained throughout his life a certain antipathy towards the Catholic Church . This was mainly due to the indifference of the Church towards the supplication of the working class that the monarchy was afflicted. A second possible reason might be the frequency with which Hugo's work ended up on the list of banned books of the Pope. As Hugo counted 740 attacks on Les Misérables some in the Catholic press.

On the death of his sons Charles and François-Victor Hugo was that they would be buried without a crucifix or priest, and he put the same firm in his will.

Although Victor Hugo believed that the Catholic dogma outdated and dying, he never directly attacked the Church. Moreover, he was a very religious man who believed strongly in the power and necessity of prayer .

Hugo's Rationalism can also be found in many of his works: Torquemada (1869, about religious fanaticism), and published posthumously, La Fin de Satan (1886) and Dieu (1891), two unfinished poems in which he trapped and repentance respectively the spirit of Evil and the growing knowledge of the divine with the apotheosis describes a God of grace and truth.

United States of Europe [ edit ]
One of the political ideas that Hugo remained faithful throughout his life, both in his speeches and writings, is that of the future United States of Europe .

Hugo's contemporaries considered this idea as absurd and utopian . France and Germany were deemed hereditary enemies and were destined to remain so. One would only after two world wars begin European cooperation, by extension, a political integration.

Several times Hugo made allusions to this idea:

• (Speech to the National Assembly, March 1, 1871) «Plus frontières! Le Rhin à tous! Soyons même la République, les Etats-Unis soyons d'Europe, soyons la fédération continental, soyons la liberté européenne, soyons la paix universelle! » (Ed:. No Frontiers The Rhine for everyone Let's be the same republic, let's be the United States of Europe, let's be the continental federation, let the European liberty, let's be universal peace!!!)

• When in 1876 a violent manner the Bosnian Serbs and the Bulgarians, who had revolted against the Ottoman Empire were suppressed, Hugo wrote a manifesto titled Pour la Serbia : "Les crimes sont des crimes parce qu'il n'est pas plus permis à un gouvernement qu'à un individual d'etre un assassin, c'est que l'Europe est solidarity. [...] Ce qui se passe and Serbia montre la Nécessité des Etats Unis d'Europe. Qu'aux gouvernements désunis succedent lesson peuples unis. » (Ed:. Crimes are crimes because it is not lawful for a government than for an individual to be a murderer, it is because Europe's solidarity [...] What is happening in Serbia demonstrates the need for the United States. Europe. This follow united peoples divided governments.)

Hugo and his contemporaries [ edit ]
By Honore de Balzac and Gérard de Nerval, Hugo kept up a relationship of mutual respect and admiration. By Alexandre Dumas he had a friendship, which, with some ups and downs, would last a lifetime. ByAlphonse de Lamartine, the rivalry slightly sharper Hugo continued to express his admiration for the poet, but gave him no literary prominence in his success. The relationship with Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuvewas first a friendship, but after it had started with his wife Adele, all ties were severed a relationship.

Caricature which Zola tries to persuade Hugo from his pedestal.

Hugo was in his time a living legend. His talent, his originality, his greatness, his integrity and his twenty years of exile made him a popular figure, admired by his peers and feared by politicians. Many young poets sent him their verses, some were rather disrespectful. Among the politicians doubted the leftist republicans to his conversion and the monarchists were little forgiving to those who had betrayed his environment.

Charles Baudelaire had a lot of admiration for Hugo, but was irritated by his political verses. This is typical of the ambiguous relationship that had many writers with Victor Hugo.

Émile Zola reproached Hugo softness against the communards as others criticized him for his socially-oriented views.

Gustave Flaubert was full of admiration for the romantic Hugo of 1830, but also had distrust for the "old crocodile" he philosophical digressions in Les Misérables found unpalatable. Baudelaire and Verlaine shared that opinion, just as others who believed that art and political engagement are not supposed to go together.

Long after his death, Hugo still managed to arouse conflicting reactions: Charles Maurras detested him, François Mauriac had the greatest admiration for him.

Impact of his work [ edit ]
The works of Victor Hugo have given rise to countless adaptations for television , film and theater .

Television [ edit ]
Many adaptations, especially for French television, have appeared in the twentieth century. One of the biggest successes was Les Misérables 1985 by Robert Hossein to include Lino Ventura , Jean Carmet and Michel Bouquet .

[Movie Edit ]
Most film adaptations are made ​​of Les Misérables (twenty), followed by The Hunchback of Notre Dame . The universal character of Hugo's work is evident in the variety of adaptations that have been made ​​of his work over the years: Don Caesar de Bazan (1915, based on Ruy Blas, American); Badshah Dampati (1953 adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame , Indian); Mizeraburu Re: Kami To Akuma (1950, Japanese adaptation of Les Misérables in a Japanese context under the Meiji period ), Al Bo'asa (1978 Egyptian adaptation of Les Misérables ), L'Uomo che ride (1966 Italian adaptation of The Man Who Laughs ).

The cartoon genre was inspired by the work of Hugo with the Disney -tekenfilm The Hunchback of Notre Dame . There is also a Japanese cartoon version of Les Misérables in 1979.

Opera [ edit ]
While Hugo was not informed that they adaptations to music made ​​of his work, there are several opera 's based on his work.

• Lucrezia Borgia by Gaetano Donizetti (1833), to Lucrèce Borgia • Il Giuramento of Saverio Mercadante (1837), to Angelo, the tyrant Padua • Ernani by Verdi (1844), based on the play Hernani • Rigoletto by Verdi (1851), based on Le Roi s'amuse • La Gioconda by Amilcare Ponchielli, based on Angelo, tyrant the Padua

Hugo's friend Franz Liszt composed several symphonic poems inspired by his work: Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne, S95, based on Les Feuilles d'automne and Mazeppa , based on Les Orientales . Other composers ventured to Hugo's "forbidden" work: Georges Bizet , Richard Wagner , Camille Saint-Saëns , Léo Delibes and Gabriel Fauré .

Musical [ Edit ]
• Les Misérables (1980), adaptation of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg Mountain, one of the most famous musicals, played in 29 countries and nearly 200 cities. The musical has been translated into 18 languages ​​and seen by at least 42 million spectators. • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1999), adaptation of Luc Plamondon and Richard Cocciante .

Song [ edit ]
Several singers such as Georges Brassens and Julos Beaucarne have poems by Hugo into singing.

Famous quote [ edit ]
"Il n'y a rien de plus formidable qu'une idée dont le temps est venu."

Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.

Tribute to Victor Hugo [ edit ]

 * Paris and other French cities have named a major street to Victor Hugo.
 * Paris also has a metro station Victor Hugo .
 * Victor Hugo was sixth in the quest for the "Greatest Frenchman of all time", organized by France 2.
 * His ashes to the Panthéon transferred.

Theater [ edit ]

 * Cromwell ( 1827 )
 * Hernani ( 1830 )
 * Marion de Lorme ( 1831 )
 * Le Roi s'amuse ( 1832 )
 * Lucrèce Borgia ( 1833 )
 * Mary Tudor ( 1833 )
 * Angelo, the tyrant Padua ( 1835 )
 * Ruy Blas ( 1838 )
 * Les Burgraves ( 1843 )
 * Torquemada ( 1882 )
 * Théâtre en liberté ( 1886 )
 * Amy Robsart (posthumous, 1889, on the death of Amy Robsart )

Novels [ edit ]

 * Han d'Islande ( 1823 )
 * Bug-Jargal ( 1826 )
 * The Last Day of a Condemned Man ( 1829 )
 * The Hunchback of Notre Dame ( 1831 )
 * Claude Gueux ( 1834 )
 * Les Misérables ( 1862 )
 * Les Travailleurs de la mer ( 1866 )
 * The Man Who Laughs ( 1869 )
 * Quatre-Vingt-Treize ( 1874 )

Poetry [ edit ]

 * Odes et poésies diverses ( 1822 )
 * Nouvelles Odes ( 1824 )
 * Odes et Ballades ( 1826 )
 * Odes et Ballades ( 1828 ) (Final Version)
 * Les Orientales ( 1829 )
 * Les Feuilles d'automne ( 1831 )
 * Les Chants du Crepuscule ( 1835 )
 * Les Voix Intérieures ( 1837 )
 * Les Rayons et les Ombres ( 1840 )
 * Les Châtiments ( 1853 )
 * Les Contemplations ( 1856 )
 * First series of La Legende des Siècles ( 1859 )
 * Les Chansons des rues et des bois ( 1865 )
 * L'Année terrible ( 1872 )
 * L'Art d'etre grand-père (1877)
 * New series of la Légende des Siècles ( 1877 )
 * Religions et religion ( 1880 )
 * Les Quatre Vents de l'esprit ( 1881 )
 * Additional series of la Légende des Siècles ( 1883 )
 * La Fin de Satan ( 1886 )
 * Toute la Lyre ( 1888 )
 * Dieu ( 1891 )
 * Toute la Lyre - nouvelle série ( 1893 )
 * Les Années funestes ( 1898 )
 * Dernière Gerbe ( 1902 )
 * Océan. Tas de pierres ( 1942 )

Other texts [ edit ]

 * Étude sur Mirabeau ( 1834 )
 * Littérature et philosophie melees ( 1834 )
 * Le Rhin ( 1842 )
 * Napoléon le Petit ( pamphlet , 1852 )
 * Lettres à Louis Bonaparte ( 1855 )
 * William Shakespeare ( 1864 )
 * Paris-Guide ( 1867 )
 * Mes Fils ( 1874 )
 * Actes et paroles - Avant l'exil ( 1875 )
 * Actes et paroles - Pendant l'exil ( 1875 )
 * Actes et paroles - Depuis l'exil ( 1876 )
 * Histoire d'un crime - Part 1 ( 1877 )
 * Histoire d'un crime - Part 2 ( 1878 )
 * Le Pape ( 1878 )
 * L'Âne ( 1880 )
 * L'Archipel de la Manche ( 1883 )
 * Œuvres posthumes
 * Choses vues - 1st series ( 1887 )
 * Alpes et Pyrénées ( 1890 )
 * France et Belgique ( 1892 )
 * Correspondances - Part I ( 1896 )
 * Correspondances - Part II ( 1898 )
 * Choses vues - 2nd series ( 1900 )
 * Postscript de ma vie ( 1901 )
 * Mille Francs the Recompense ( 1934 )
 * Pierres ( 1951 )
 * Melancholia