Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo
Portrait by Étienne Carjat, 1876
Born
Victor-Marie Hugo

(1802-02-26)26 February 1802
Besançon, Franche-Comté, France
Died22 May 1885(1885-05-22) (aged 83)
Paris, France
Resting placePanthéon, Paris
Occupations
Political party
Spouse
(m. 1822; died 1868)
Children5
Parents
Writing career
Genre
  • Novel
  • poetry
  • theatre
Literary movementRomanticism
Years active1829–1883
Notable works
Signature
Offices held
Senator for Seine
In office
30 January 1876 – 22 May 1882
ConstituencyParis
Member of the National Assembly
for Gironde
In office
9 February 1871 – 1 March 1871
ConstituencyBordeaux
Member of the National Assembly
for Seine
In office
24 April 1848 – 3 December 1851
ConstituencyParis
Peer of France
In office
13 April 1845 – February 1848
Member of the Académie française
Seat 14
In office
7 January 1841 – 22 May 1885
Preceded byNépomucène Lemercier
Succeeded byLeconte de Lisle

Victor-Marie Hugo (French: [viktɔʁ maʁi yɡo] ; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885), sometimes nicknamed the Ocean Man, was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms.

His most famous works are the novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862). In France, Hugo is renowned for his poetry collections, such as Les Contemplations (The Contemplations) and La Légende des siècles (The Legend of the Ages). Hugo was at the forefront of the Romantic literary movement with his play Cromwell and drama Hernani. Many of his works have inspired music, both during his lifetime and after his death, including the opera Rigoletto and the musicals Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris. He produced more than 4,000 drawings in his lifetime, and campaigned for social causes such as the abolition of capital punishment and slavery.

Although he was a committed royalist when young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed, and he became a passionate supporter of republicanism, serving in politics as both deputy and senator. His work touched upon most of the political and social issues and the artistic trends of his time. His opposition to absolutism, and his literary stature, established him as a national hero. Hugo died on 22 May 1885, aged 83. He was given a state funeral in the Panthéon of Paris, which was attended by over 2 million people, the largest in French history.[1]

  1. ^ "The enduring relevance of Victor Hugo". isreview.org. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

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