Victor Hugo

Victor-Marie Hugo (1802-1885) was a French poet and novelist, famous for works including The Hunchback of Notre-Dame(Notre Dame de Paris) and Les Misérables.

Childhood

Hugo was born in Besançon. He and his mother accompanied his father, who became a general in Napoleon's army, in the campaigns of Spain and Italy. He produced his first tragedy at 14.

Adulthood

Hugo's first poetry was considered to be in the classical mode, but he soon declared his romantic affiliations. He was admitted at the Académie française and created a peer in 1845. An outspoken democrat, he fled to Brussels after Louis Napoleon's coup d'état. He then established himself in Jersey and later Guernsey. In exile he wrote Les Misérables, Les Travailleurs de la mer, and some of his best known poetry.

In 1870, Victor Hugo came back to France and engaged in politics again and became a senator. After his death an immense crowd (two million by some estimates) followed his body to the Pantheon.