Victor Hugo

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.

• 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