Victor Hugo

Guide Note:

Victor Hugo was the most important of French Romantic writers. In 1819, he founded a review, the Conservateur Littéraire with his brother. His first collection of poems, Odes et Poésies Diverses was published in 1822 for which he received a royal pension from Louis XVIII.

The same year, he married Adèle Foucher; they had five children, but the first son, Léopold, died in infancy. Léopoldine, one of their daughters died in a drowning accident when she was 19 years old. His other daughter, Adèle, was insane and lived many years in an asylum.

His greatest succes is the novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

Later in life he became involved in politics and was also interested in Spiritism during his exile years. He evolved into a non-practicing Catholic, expressing anti-clerical views.

He was also a prolific painter.

After the coup d'état by Napoleon III he thought that his life was in danger and fled to Brussels, then to Jersey and moved with his family to Guernsey where he lived for 15 years. Although Napoleon III granted a general amnesty to political exiles in 1859, Hugo came back to France only in 1870, where he was hailed as a national hero. He was elected senator in 1876. When he died, in 1885, he was given a national funeral.

Fast Facts:

  1. Born: February 26, 1802
  2. Married Adèle Foucher: October 12, 1822
  3. Died: May 22, 1885
  4. Rodin is commissioned to create a monument to Victor Hugo: 1889
  5. National celebration to commemorate the bicentenary of his birth: 2002
  6. Produced more than 4000 drawings
  7. Most famos novels: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Miserables
  8. More than 100 adaptations for cinema and televison
  9. Lived in exile for 20 years
  10. Quotation: "There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher."

The Mahalo Top 7

  1. Wikipedia: Victor Hugo
  2. Jersey Heritage Trust: Victor Hugo in Jersey
  3. Guernsey Official Site: Victor Hugo Exile
  4. Victor Hugo Central: Research Hub for Victor Hugo Enthusiasts  WARNING: some links don't work
  5. eNotes: Victor Hugo Study Guides
  6. Misha Bittleston: Victor Hugo Drawings
  7. Project Gutenberg: Victor Hugo Online Texts

Free Victor Hugo Works Online

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Victor Hugo Personal Timeline

  • 1802: Born on February 26 in Besançon, France
  • 1822: Marries Adèle Foucher on October 12
  • 1822: Publication of his first book Odes et Poesies Diverses
  • 1833: Meets Juliette Drouet, an actress who becomes his mistress
  • 1841: Election to the Académie Francaise
  • 1843: Death of his daughter Léopoldine by drowning
  • 1845: Becomes Peer of France
  • 1849: Breaks with Napoléon III
  • 1851: Coup d'état by Napoléon III on December 2, flees to Brussels
  • 1852-1855: Exile in Jersey
  • 1853: Publication of Les Châtiments
  • 1855-1870: Exile in Guernsey
  • 1859: General amnesty, his exile is a personal choice
  • 1870: Returns to France
  • 1871: Election to the National Assembly
  • 1878: Suffers a mild stroke
  • 1885: Dies on May 22, is burried at the Panthéon

Victor Hugo Publications Timeline

Notable Victor Hugo Films


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