February 26, 1802 was born Victor Hugo, author of the novels Notre Dame Cathedral, Les Misérables, The Man Who Laughs.
An illustrious poet, a brilliant writer and a great lover - this is how he went down in history. . AiF.ru recalls what life was like for one of the most widely read French authors in the world.
Hugo was influenced by the figure of a popular French writer Francois Chateaubriand. Already at the age of 14, the ambitious young man said: “I will be Chateaubriand or nobody,” but he turned out to be one of the few who managed to surpass his idol. When the famous critic André Gida asked who is the best French poet, he replied: "Alas, Victor Hugo."
Victor Hugo in his youth. Source: Public Domain
Despite the fact that some of Hugo's works caused misunderstanding or heated debate among critics, the young talented author was always highly appreciated. Already at the age of 15, he achieved his first literary successes, and at 29 he wrote one of his most famous books, Notre Dame Cathedral.
The first historical novel in French was immediately recognized by the general public. It is noteworthy that the book brought world fame not only to its young author, but also to the main character - the Gothic cathedral.
In the first half of the 19th century, Notre Dame Cathedral was planned to be demolished because it was considered too old-fashioned. Hugo, who liked to visit the Gothic cathedral, was seriously worried about his fate and decided to perpetuate the architectural monument in his new work. As the author expected, after the publication of the book, the demolition of the cathedral was out of the question - tourists began to flock to the capital of France to see the landmark with their own eyes.
Hugo's literary career always went uphill - new masterpieces regularly came out from under his pen, and already in 1841 he was elected to the French Academy. It seemed that everything was easy for a talented author, but it was not so. For example, Hugo worked on his famous novel Les Misérables for almost 20 years. Sometimes, so that nothing would distract him from writing a book, he closed himself in a room, taking off all his clothes (the writer ordered his servants to return it only after he had written at least a few pages).
It is generally accepted that Hugo revived the French language: in his works he spoke to the people in the language of the people, used colloquial speech and rich metaphors. Today he is called “the sun of French poetry”, and he himself did not suffer from modesty: “There is only one classic in our century, the only one, you understand? It's me. I know French better than anyone ... They accuse me of being proud; yes, it’s true, my pride is my strength,” said Hugo.
Adele Fouche. Source: Public Domain
All of France spoke not only of Hugo's outstanding literary abilities, but also of his weakness for the female sex. There were whole legends about the adventures of the famous writer. However, the Frenchman was not always reputed to be an unscrupulous womanizer: in his youth he was convinced that spouses should observe chastity before marriage in order to "later taste the joys of love with a full bowl."
Your first mutual love - Adele Fouche- the writer sought for several years, he dedicated the first collection of poems to her: “To my beloved Adele, the angel in whom all my glory and all my happiness” (it is no coincidence that Hugo put “happiness” in second place, glory and recognition for the “sun of the French poetry" were above all).
In marriage, Hugo and Adele had five children, but over the years, the famous husband began to look at young girls more often. And the end of a prosperous family life was put by the meeting of the writer with the actress by Juliette Drouet, who at the age of 26 was known as a sophisticated courtesan. Judging by the memoirs of Hugo, a sudden love for a windy actress turned him from a shy young man into a confident self-sufficient man. Since then, the famous writer devoted new works not to the mother of his children, but to Juliette - "my angel, whose wings are growing".
The windy girl also turned out to be crazy about Hugo, for the sake of him she left the stage and abandoned numerous admirers. He turned into a real tyrant: he forbade his mistress to leave the house, and he continued to change women like gloves.
The novel of the writer and ex-actress lasted five decades - until the death of Juliette. Hugo was very upset by the loss of his beloved, and shortly before her death he presented his photograph with the inscription: “50 years of love. This is the best of marriages." But despite the deep feelings for Juliette, until the end of his days, the famous Frenchman remained an incorrigible womanizer. On the last pages of Hugo's notebook, eight love dates were noted - the last of which occurred just a few weeks before his death.
All his life, Hugo tried to be in the spotlight. Even when the writer was under 80 years old, he continued to attend numerous events intended for young people.
Hugo spent the last years of his life in Paris. It's funny, but even before the death of the writer, the street on which he lived was renamed in his honor. Therefore, when the famous writer left someone his mailing address, he always wrote: "Monsieur Victor Hugo on his avenue in Paris." But this "sun of French poetry" was not enough: they say he wanted Paris to be renamed Hugo after his death.
Vanity and ruined the writer. He died at the age of 83, but if it weren’t for pneumonia, which he got stupidly, he could have lived even longer.
Funeral of Victor Hugo. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
The disease developed in a Frenchman after a parade held in his honor. On that day, the doctors recommended Hugo to stay in bed, but he, of course, did not want to miss a large-scale action in his honor and greeted fans from the open window. The next day, the illustrious author came down with a cold that turned into pneumonia.
“I leave fifty thousand francs to the poor. I want to be taken to the cemetery in a poor man's hearse. I refuse the funeral service of any churches. I ask all souls to pray for me. I believe in God. Victor Hugo,” the famous Frenchman wrote in his will. However, the coffin with his ashes was escorted on his last journey by about a million people, and the funeral ceremony took place for 10 days - none of his contemporaries received the same honor.
You don't have to be a great lover of literature to know who Victor Hugo is. His biography and work, however, are familiar to many of us only in general terms. Meanwhile, without which it is impossible to imagine French literature of the 19th century. Victor Hugo, whose brief biography and work is presented in this article, is one of the most prominent romantics in France, a theorist and leader of romanticism in his country. His work is striking in its diversity and versatility. And the poet, and the playwright, and the prose writer, and the literary critic, and the publicist - all this is Victor Hugo. An interesting biography of him is offered to your attention.
The years of the life of the author of interest to us are 1802-1885. Victor Hugo was born in Besancon on February 26, 1802. His brief biography thus begins on this date. His father was a carpenter. During the reign of Napoleon, he rose to the rank of general. The boy's mother, on the contrary, hated Bonaparte and was a zealous royalist. It is known that the Hugo family often moved from place to place. Victor and his parents lived in Spain for some time. The family broke up in Madrid after the fall of Napoleon. In this city, Victor's father was the governor. After the divorce, the boy was raised by his mother.
Victor's poetic talent woke up early. Even in adolescence, he began to write his biography is marked by early recognition of the poems and odes he created. They were seen as early as 1815-16. During these years, Victor distinguished himself at competitions held by the Toulouse Academy. Later, his work was recognized by the royal government. In 1822, Victor Hugo's first collection of poetry, Odes and Miscellaneous Poems, appeared. It was created in the style of classicism.
It should be said that Victor Hugo betrayed classicism quite early. As soon as Hugo left the stage of apprenticeship, he began to gradually move to the position of romantics, at first timidly, and after a while already decisively. However, in the prose genres, Hugo adhered to romanticism from the very beginning. Gan the Icelander, his first novel, written in 1821-22, is proof of this. Victor Hugo wrote his second novel in 1826. The work is called "Bug Jargal". It became evidence of the further approval of such an author as Victor Hugo on the positions of romanticism. The biography of his subsequent years is marked by development in this direction. In the work "Bug Jargal" Victor described the uprising of Negro slaves.
Hugo's reform in the field of poetic style consisted in an attempt to replace the language of human feelings with the dominance of reason in the poems of classicism. Hugo decided to abandon the decorations, which are borrowed from the mythology of antiquity. Around the same time, he also turned to the ballad, which was considered a romantic genre, very popular in those years. Hugo's collection "Odes and Ballads" appeared in 1826. The very title of the book speaks of its transitional nature. The ode, which is an exemplary genre of classicism poetry, is combined in it with a ballad, characteristic of the romantic tradition.
Romantics in the late 1820s began to pay great attention to the theater, which at that time remained under the rule of dominant classicism. Victor Hugo wrote his first drama, Cromwell, for this purpose in 1827. This romantic-historical work speaks of the 17th century. Cromwell, her leader, is shown as a strong personality. However, he is characterized by moral contradictions, in contrast to the whole characters created within the framework of classicism. Cromwell, having overthrown the king, wants to change the revolution and become a monarch. Not only the work itself, but also the preface to this drama gained great fame. Victor Hugo in it tried to connect the development of world literature with the course of history in order to show that the triumph of romanticism is historically conditioned. He presented a whole program of a new direction.
At this time, the multifaceted Victor reaches an unprecedented intensity. The collection "Orientalia", which appeared in 1829, became a particularly significant event. This is the first complete collection of romantic poetry, establishing Hugo's reputation as an outstanding lyricist.
It should be said that Hugo's work as a whole is characterized by a rare variety of genres. Victor Hugo equally successfully performed in prose, poetry, and dramaturgy. His biography, however, indicates that he was primarily a poet.
As for the drama of this author, its ideological content goes back to the battle of ideologies of the late 1820s, as well as to the July Revolution that took place in 1830. The romantic drama of Victor echoed the socio-political issues. She defended the advanced aspirations and ideals of the author.
The basis of Hugo's dramas, created in 1829-39. (except for "Lucretia Borgia" of 1833), a clash of commoners with the monarchy and the feudal aristocracy ("Marion Delorme", "Maria Todor", "The King is Having Fun", "Ruy Blas", etc.) was supposed.
The biography of the subsequent years of the author of interest to us is marked by the appearance of many new works. The second half of the 1820s in the history of French literature is the time of the dominance of such a genre as the historical novel. Victor's work, created in 1831, is one of the highest achievements of this genre. The novel reflects the history of France. The work also contains topical issues related to the situation in the country during the years of writing the book.
The late 1820s and early 1830s were a time of extraordinary creative activity, even for such a prolific author as Victor Hugo. A brief biography of this time, as well as the period of exile (from 1851 to 1870), is marked by the creation of many different works. Hugo developed romantic dramaturgy, worked in prose and poetry. In the 1830s and early 1840s, Hugo created 4 collections of poetry. In 1836, "Autumn Leaves" appeared, in 1837 - "Songs of Twilight", in 1841 - "Rays and Shadow" and "Inner Voices". And in 1856, the two-volume collection "Contemplation" was published, which already refers to the period of exile.
Victor Hugo decided to leave France after the February Revolution of 1848, after which he became a dictator. Hugo went into exile. Victor settled on an island in the English Channel. In order to denounce the political adventurer Louis Bonaparte and his criminal regime before the whole world, already in the first year of his exile, he wrote the book Napoleon the Small. In 1877-78, the work "The History of a Crime" appeared, which is an accusatory chronicle of the coup d'état that took place in 1851.
The worldview of Victor Hugo was finally formed during the years of exile. Here, on the island of Jersey, he created in 1853 the collection Maps, which is considered the best in Hugo's political poetry. At first glance, this is a kind of kaleidoscope of caricature portraits and scenes from life. However, the collection has its own semantic line, as well as a high level of emotional tension. They unite heterogeneous material into a complete and ordered work.
Victor Hugo also actively performed in prose genres during his stay on the island of Jersey. He wrote three novels. In 1862 "Les Misérables" appeared, in 1866 - "Toilers of the Sea", and in 1869 - The main theme of all these works is the theme of the people.
It should be said that Victor became famous not only as a poet and writer, but also as a public and political figure. He actively sought to change the course of events in the life of his country. In 1872, Victor Hugo created a collection called The Terrible Year. This is a kind of poetic chronicle of the tragic events of 1870-71, when France participated in the Franco-Prussian War.
Until the last years of his life, the activity of this author did not fade away. In the last period of his work, the following poetry collections and poems appeared: in 1877 - "The Art of Being a Grandfather", in 1878 - "Papa", in 1880 - "Donkey", in 1888-83 - "All the Strings of the Lyre", etc.
The writer died in 1885, on May 22. The French public perceived his death as a national tragedy. Seeing Victor Hugo on his last journey became a grandiose manifestation. Thousands of people took part in it.
The works created by Victor Hugo have firmly entered French and world literature. Biography, a summary of his creations, interesting facts about this author - all this is known to many of our contemporaries. No wonder, because Victor Hugo is today a recognized classic.
Victor Marie Hugo (28 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, writer and playwright. Since 1841 he has been an honorary member of the French Academy. Hugo is considered one of the most talented people of his time, as well as one of the most significant figures of French romanticism.
Victor Hugo was born on February 28 in the French town of Benzason. His father served in the Napoleonic army, and his mother taught music at one of the city's schools. In addition to Victor, the family had two more brothers - Abel and Eugene, who later also followed in the footsteps of their father and were killed in one of the battles.
Due to the fact that Victor's father often had to go on business trips, the family moved from place to place every few weeks. So, the boy and his older brothers traveled almost from birth in Italy, major cities of France, were in Corsica, Elba and in many places where Napoleon's military armies were serving at that time.
Many bibliographers believe that constant travel only broke the fate of little Victor, but the writer himself often mentioned that it was travel that allowed him to look at life in a ambiguous way, learn to notice the smallest details and subsequently compare them in his works.
Since 1813, Victor moved to Paris with his mother. At that time, the mother had a stormy affair with General Lagori, who agreed to transport her beloved and her offspring closer to him. So, Victor was cut off from the rest of the brothers, who stayed with his father, and moved to Paris, where he began his education.
According to many bibliographers, Victor's mother was never in love with Lagori and agreed to marry him only for the sake of her son. The woman understood that, being next to her military father, who was an ordinary soldier, the son would sooner or later join the army, which means that he would forever break his fate and career.
She could not bear the fact that her husband "took away" her other two sons, therefore, having met Lagori, she decides to at least try to save Victor's fate. So, the future writer and playwright finds himself in the capital of France.
In 1814, thanks to the connections and authority of General Lagory, Hugo was admitted to the Lyceum of Louis the Great. It is here that his talent for creating unique works is manifested. Hugo creates such tragedies as "Yrtatine", "Athelie ou les scandinaves" and "Louis de Castro", but since Victor was not sure of his talent, the works did not reach publication until a few months after creation.
For the first time, he decides to declare himself at the lyceum competition for the best poem - “Les avantages des études” was written especially for the event. By the way, Victor receives the coveted prize, after which he participates in two more competitive events, in which he also wins.
In 1823, the first full-fledged work of Victor Hugo was published under the title "Gan the Icelander". Despite the fact that the author himself is sure that his creation will be appreciated by the public, it receives only a few positive reviews. The main critic of this work is Charles Nodier, with whom Hugo would later become best friends until 1830, when the literary critic began to allow himself overly harsh negative reviews of the works of his comrade.
Victor Hugo is called one of the key personalities of romanticism is by no means accidental. This was facilitated by the publication in 1827 of the work "Cromwell", where the author openly speaks in support of the French revolutionary Francois-Joseph Talma.
However, the work receives recognition and positive reviews not even for the revolutionary mood of the playwright, but rather for the fact that the author has moved away from the classical canons of the unity of place and time. At that time, it was the only such precedent, so "Cromwell" became an occasion for debate and fierce discussions not only among many literary critics, but even other writers.
Since 1830, Victor Hugo has worked primarily in the theater. This period includes such works by the author as "Rays and Shadows", "Inner Voices" and several other plays, which are almost immediately shown to the general public.
A year before, Hugo creates the play "Ernani", which he manages to put on stage with the help of one of his influential friends. The plot and the overall picture of the work again become a reason for battles between critics, because Hugo completely changes the canons and mixes the so-called classical (in his opinion, old) art with the new. The result is almost completely rejected by both critics and the actors themselves. But there is also a supporter of Hugo - Theophile Gauthier, who advocates novelty in art and ensures that Hernani is staged in several more city theaters.
In the autumn of 1822, Victor Hugo meets his first and only love, Frenchwoman Adele Fouche. Unlike the writer, Adele comes from an aristocratic family that was forced to hide for some time in connection with the suspicion of the murder of one of the kings. Nevertheless, Fouche's ancestors were acquitted, after which the aristocrats were fully returned to their privileges in society.
In the same year, the couple secretly got married. Five children were born in the marriage: Francois-Victor, Leopoldina, Adele, Leopold and Charles. The family has always been a support and support for Hugo. He always strove for loved ones and until the last minute fondly recalled all the moments spent together with his relatives.
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Victor Marie Hugo- French writer (poet, prose writer and playwright), head and theorist of French romanticism. Member of the French Academy (1841).
The father of the writer, Joseph Leopold Sigisber Hugo (fr.) Russian. (1773-1828), became a general of the Napoleonic army, his mother Sophie Trebuchet (1772-1821) - the daughter of a shipowner, was a royalist-Voltairian.
Early childhood Hugo takes place in Marseille, in Corsica, on the Elbe (1803-1805), in Italy (1807), in Madrid (1811), where his father's career takes place, and from where the family returns to Paris every time.
Travel left a deep impression in the soul of the future poet and prepared his romantic outlook. In 1813, Hugo's mother, Sophie Trebuchet, who had a love affair with General Lagory, separated from her husband and settled with her son in Paris.
From 1814 to 1818 he studied at the Lyceum "Louis the Great". At the age of 14 he begins his creative activity. He writes his unpublished tragedies: "Yrtatine" and "Athelie ou les scandinaves", the drama "Louis de Castro", translates Virgil, at the age of 15 he already receives an honorable mention at the Academy competition for the poem "Les avantages des études", in 1819 - two prizes at the competition "Jeux Floraux" for the poems "Verdun virgins" (Vierges de Verdun) and the ode "For the restoration of the statue of Henry IV" (Rétablissement de la statue de Henri III), which marked the beginning of his "Legend of the Ages"; then he publishes the ultra-royalist satire The Telegraph, which first brought him to the attention of readers. In 1819-1821 he published Le Conservateur littéraire (French), a literary supplement to the royalist Catholic journal Le Conservateur (French). Filling out his own publication under various pseudonyms, Hugo published there “Ode on the Death of the Duke of Berry”, which established his reputation as a monarchist for a long time.
In October 1822, Hugo married Adele Fouche (French) (1803 - 1868), five children were born in this marriage:
Leopold (1823-1823)
Leopoldina (French), (1824-1843)
Charles (French), (1826-1871)
François-Victor (French), (1828-1873)
Adele (1830-1915).
The novel was published in 1823 Victor Hugo"Han Icelander" (Han d "Islande), which received a low-key reception. Charles Nodier's well-reasoned criticism led to a meeting and further friendship between him and Victor Hugo. Shortly thereafter, a meeting was held in the library of the Arsenal, the cradle of romanticism, which had a great influence on the development of the work of Victor Hugo. Their friendship will last until 1827-1830, when Charles Nodier becomes increasingly critical of the works of Victor Hugo. Around this period, Hugo resumes relations with his father and writes the poem "Ode to my father" (Odes à mon père) and "After the Battle" (Après la bataille), his father died in 1828.
A family Hugo often arranges receptions in his house and establishes friendly relations with Sainte-Beuve, Lamartine, Merimee, Musset, Delacroix. From 1826 to 1837, the family often lives in the Chateau de Roche (French), in Bièvre (French), the estate of Bertien l "Enet (French), editor of Joual des débats. There Hugo meets Berlioz, Liszt, Chateaubriand, Giacomo Meyerbeer; composes collections of poems "Oriental Motives" (Les Orientales, 1829) and "Autumn Leaves" (Les Feuilles d'automne, 1831). In 1829, "The Last Day of the Sentenced to Death" (Deier Jour d "un condamné) is published, in 1834 - Claude Gueux. In these two short novels, Hugo expresses his opposition to the death penalty. Notre Dame Cathedral was published in 1831.
Victor Marie Hugo (/hjuːɡoʊ/; fr.: ; February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885) was a French romantic poet, prose writer and playwright. He is considered one of the greatest and most famous French writers. His most famous works outside of France are Les Misérables (1862) and Notre Dame Cathedral (1831). In France, Hugo is best known for his collections of poetry, such as Les Contemplations (Contemplations) and La Légende des siècles" ("Legend of the Ages"). He created over 4,000 drawings and also led various public campaigns, including for the abolition of the death penalty.
Although Hugo was a devoted royalist in his youth, over the decades his views changed and he became a passionate republican; his work touches on most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He is buried in the Pantheon in Paris. The homage to his legacy was shown in many ways, including the fact that his portrait was placed on French banknotes.
Hugo was the third son of Joseph Leopold Sigisber Hugo (1774-1828) and Sophie Trebuchet (1772-1821); his brothers were Abel Joseph Hugo (1798-1855) and Eugene Hugo (1800-1837). He was born in 1802 in Besançon in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Leopold Hugo was a free-thinking republican who considered Napoleon a hero; in contrast, Sophie Hugo was a Catholic and royalist who had a close relationship and possibly an affair with General Victor Lagorie, who was executed in 1812 for conspiring against Napoleon.
Hugo's childhood fell on a period of national political instability. Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor of France two years after Hugo's birth, and the restoration of Bourbon power took place before his 13th birthday. The opposing political and religious views of Hugo's parents reflected the forces that fought for supremacy in France throughout his life: Hugo's father was a high-ranking officer in Napoleon's army until he was defeated in Spain (this is one of the reasons why his name is not on the Arc de Triomphe ).
Since Hugo's father was an officer, the family moved frequently and Hugo learned a lot from these travels. As a child, during a family trip to Naples, Hugo saw vast alpine passes and snowy peaks, the magnificent blue Mediterranean Sea and Rome during celebrations. Although he was only five years old at the time, he clearly remembered the six-month journey. They stopped in Naples for a few months and then traveled back to Paris.
At the beginning of family life, Hugo's mother Sophie followed her husband to Italy, where he received a position (where Leopold served as governor of the province near Naples) and to Spain (where he headed three Spanish provinces). Tired of the constant travel required by military life and in conflict with her husband because he did not share Catholic beliefs, Sophie temporarily separated from Leopold in 1803 and settled in Paris with her children. From that moment on, she had the greatest influence on the education and upbringing of Hugo. As a result, Hugo's early work in poetry and fiction reflects her passionate devotion to the king and the faith. Only later, during the events leading up to the French Revolution of 1848, did he begin to rebel against his own Catholic royalist education and support republicanism and freethinking.
The young Victor fell in love and, against his mother's wishes, was secretly engaged to his childhood friend Adele Fouchet (1803-1868). Due to his close relationship with his mother, Hugo waited until her death (in 1821) to marry Adele in 1822.
Adele and Victor Hugo had their first child, Leopold, in 1823, but the boy died in infancy. The following year, on August 28, 1824, the couple's second child, Leopoldina, was born, followed by Charles on November 4, 1826, François-Victor on October 28, 1828, and Adele on August 24, 1830.
Hugo's eldest and favorite daughter, Leopoldina, died at the age of 19 in 1843, shortly after her marriage to Charles Vacri. On September 4, 1843, she drowned in the Seine at Villequier, her heavy skirts dragging her to the bottom when the boat capsized. Her young husband died trying to save her. This death left her father devastated; Hugo at this time was traveling with his mistress in the south of France, and learned about the death of Leopoldina from a newspaper that he read in a cafe.
He describes his shock and grief in the famous poem "Villequier":
After that he wrote many more poems about the life and death of his daughter, and at least one biographer claims that he never fully recovered from her death. In his probably most famous poem, Tomorrow at Dawn, he describes a visit to her grave.
Hugo decided to live in exile after Napoleon III's coup d'état in late 1851. After leaving France, Hugo lived briefly in Brussels in 1851 before moving to the Channel Islands, first to Jersey (1852-1855) and then to the smaller island of Guernsey in 1855, where he remained until Napoleon III left power in 1870. Although Napoleon III proclaimed a general amnesty in 1859, under which Hugo could safely return to France, the writer remained in exile, returning only when Napoleon III fell from power as a result of France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. After the siege of Paris from 1870 to 1871, Hugo again lived in Guernsey from 1872 to 1873 before finally returning to France for the rest of his life.
Hugo published his first novel the year after his marriage (Han d "Islande, 1823), and his second three years later (Bug-Jargal, 1826). From 1829 to 1840, he published five more poetry collections (Les Orientales, 1829, Les Feuilles d "automne, 1831, Les Chants du crépuscule, 1835 Les Voix intérieures, 1837; and others Les Rayons et les Ombres, 1840), securing the title of one of the greatest elegiac and lyric poets of his time.
Like many young writers of his generation, Hugo was heavily influenced by François René de Chateaubriand, a prominent figure of Romanticism and an outstanding French literary figure of the early 19th century. Hugo decided in his youth that he wanted to be "Chateaubriand or nothing" and there are many parallels in his life with the path of his predecessor. Like Chateaubriand, Hugo contributed to the development of Romanticism, was involved in politics (though mainly as a defender of republicanism), and was forced to leave the country because of his political views.
The passion and eloquence of Hugo's first works, unusual for his age, brought him early success and fame. His first collection of poetry (Odes et poésies diverses) was published in 1822, when Hugo was only 20 years old, and brought him an annual pension from King Louis XVIII. Although the poems were admired for their spontaneous ardor and fluidity, only a collection published four years later, in 1826, (Odes et Ballades) revealed in Hugo a great poet, a true master of the lyric poem.
Victor Hugo's first mature work of fiction appeared in 1829 and reflected a keen sense of social responsibility that was evident in his later work. Le Dernier jour d "un condamné ("The last day of the condemned to death") had a profound influence on later writers such as Albert Camus, Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Claude Gueux ("Claude Ge"), a documentary story about a real-life murderer , executed in France, appeared in 1834, and later Hugo himself considered him the predecessor of his famous work on social injustice - Les Misérables ("Les Misérables").
Hugo became the central figure of the Romantic movement in literature with his plays Cromwell (1827) and Hernani (1830).
Hugo's novel Notre Dame was published in 1831 and was soon translated into other European languages. One of the goals of writing the novel was to force the leadership of Paris to restore the neglected Notre Dame Cathedral, because it attracted thousands of tourists who read the famous novel. The book also revived interest in pre-Renaissance buildings that were later heavily guarded.
Hugo began planning a major novel about poverty and social injustice in the early 1830s, but it took 17 years for Les Misérables to be written and published. Hugo was well aware of the level of the novel and the right to publish went to the one who offered the highest price. The Belgian publisher Lacroix and Verboeckhoven ran an unusual marketing campaign for the time, with press releases about the novel being issued a full six months before publication. In addition, at first only the first part of the novel ("Fantine") was published, which was put on sale simultaneously in several large cities. This part of the book sold out within hours and had a huge impact on French society.
Critics were generally hostile to the novel; Taine found it insincere, Barbey d'Aureville complained of its vulgarity, Gustave Flaubert found "neither truth nor grandeur" in it, the Goncourt brothers criticized it for artificiality and Baudelaire - despite favorable reviews in the newspapers - criticized him privately as "tasteless and absurd." Les Misérables proved to be so popular among the people that the issues it covers were soon on the agenda of the French National Assembly. Today, the novel retains the status of Hugo's most popular work. It is famous all over the world and has been adapted for film, television and stage.
There are rumors that the shortest correspondence in history took place between Hugo and his publisher Hurst and Blackett in 1862. Hugo was on vacation when Les Misérables was published. He inquired about the reaction to the work by sending his publisher a single-character telegram: ?. The publisher responded with a single one: !, to show the success of the novel.
Hugo moved away from social and political issues in his next novel, Toilers of the Sea, published in 1866. The book was well received, perhaps due to the success of Les Misérables. Dedicated to the canal island of Guernsey, where he spent 15 years of exile, Hugo tells the story of a man who tries to get his father's love's approval by saving his ship, deliberately marooned by his captain, who hopes to escape with the treasure of money she is transporting through a grueling battle of human engineering against the forces of the sea and fighting against the almost mythical beast of the sea, the giant squid. A superficial adventure, one of Hugo's biographers calls it "a metaphor for 19th-century technological progress, creative genius and hard work, overcoming the immanent evils of the material world."
The word used in Guernsey for squid (pieuvre, also sometimes applied to octopuses) entered French because of what was used in the book. Hugo returned to political and social issues in his next novel, The Man Who Laughs, published in 1869, which portrayed a critical picture of the aristocracy. The novel was not as successful as his previous works, and Hugo himself began to note a growing chasm between himself and literary contemporaries such as Flaubert and Émile Zola, whose realistic and naturalistic novels at the time surpassed his work in popularity.
His last novel, Year 93, published in 1874, dealt with a subject that Hugo had previously avoided: the terror during the French Revolution. Although Hugo's popularity had already declined by the time of its publication, many now rank "The Ninety-Third Year" on a par with Hugo's more famous novels.
After three failed attempts, Hugo was finally elected to the Académie française in 1841, thereby cementing his position in the world of French art and literature. A group of French academics, including Étienne de Jouy, fought against "romantic evolution" and succeeded in delaying the election of Victor Hugo. After that, he became increasingly involved in French politics.
He was raised to the peerage by King Louis Philippe in 1845 and entered the High House as a Peer of France. There he spoke out against the death penalty and social injustice, as well as press freedom and self-government for Poland.
In 1848 Hugo was elected to Parliament as a Conservative. In 1849 he broke with the conservatives with a landmark speech calling for an end to misery and poverty. In other speeches, he called for the introduction of universal suffrage and free education for all children. Hugo's contribution to the abolition of the death penalty is recognized throughout the world.
When Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) seized power in 1851 and introduced an anti-parliamentary constitution, Hugo openly declared him a traitor to France. He moved to Brussels, then to Jersey, from where he was expelled for supporting a Jersey newspaper that was critical of Queen Victoria, and finally settled with his family at Hauteville House in St. Peter Port, Guernsey, where he lived in exile from October 1855. until 1870.
While in exile, Hugo published his famous political pamphlets against Napoleon III, "Napoleon the Lesser" and "The History of a Crime". The pamphlets were banned in France, but they were popular there nonetheless. He also wrote and published some of his finest work during his time in Guernsey, including Les Misérables, as well as three widely acclaimed collections of poetry (Retribution, 1853; Contemplations, 1856, and Legend of the Ages, 1859). ).
Like most of his contemporaries, Victor Hugo held a colonialist view of Africans. In a speech delivered on May 18, 1879, he stated that the Mediterranean was a natural gap between "ultimate civilization and complete barbarism," adding: "God offers Africa to Europe. Take it," to civilize the natives. This may partly explain why, despite his deep interest and involvement in political affairs, he remained strangely silent on the Algerian question. He was aware of the atrocities of the French army during the conquest of Algiers, as evidenced by his diaries, but he never publicly condemned the army. The modern reader may also be puzzled, to put it mildly, by the meaning of these lines from the conclusion to The Rhine, Letters to a Friend, Chapter 17, 1842 edition, twelve years after the French landings at Algiers.
What France lacks in Algiers is a bit of barbarism. The Turks knew how to cut heads better than we did. The first thing savages see is not intelligence, but strength. England has what France lacks; Russia too."
It should also be noted that before his exile, he never condemned slavery and there is no mention of its abolition in the entry dated April 27, 1848 in Hugo's detailed diaries.
On the other hand, Victor Hugo fought all his life for the abolition of the death penalty as a novelist, memoirist and member of Parliament. "The Last Day of the Condemned to Death", published in 1829, analyzes the suffering experienced by a person in anticipation of execution; several entries from What I Saw, a diary he kept between 1830 and 1885, express a strong condemnation of what he considered a barbaric sentence; on September 15, 1848, seven months after the revolution of 1848, he delivered a speech before the Assembly and concluded: “You have deposed the king. Now bring down the scaffold." His influence can be seen in the removal of articles on the death penalty from the constitutions of Geneva, Portugal and Colombia. He also urged Benito Juárez to spare the recently captured Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, but to no avail. His full archives (published by Pauvert) also show that he wrote a letter to the United States asking, for the sake of their own reputation in the future, that John Brown be spared, but the letter came after Brown had been executed.
Although Napoleon III granted an amnesty to all political exiles in 1859, Hugo refused it, as it meant he would have to limit his criticism of the government. Only after Napoleon III lost power and the Third Republic was proclaimed did Hugo finally return to his homeland (in 1870), where he was soon elected to the National Assembly and the Senate.
He was in Paris during the siege by the Prussian army in 1870, and is known to have fed on animals given to him by the Paris Zoo. As the siege continued and food became scarcer, he wrote in his diary that he was forced to "eat something incomprehensible."
Through his concern for artists' rights and copyright, he was a founding member of the International Society of Writers and Artists, which brought about the creation of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. However, in the published Pauvert archives, he emphatically states that “any work of art has two authors: people who vaguely feel something, an author who gives shape to these feelings, and again people who consecrate his vision of this feeling. When one of the authors dies, the rights must be completely given to the other, to the people."
Hugo's religious views changed dramatically during his lifetime. In his youth and under the influence of his mother, he considered himself a Catholic and preached respect for church hierarchy and authority. He then became a non-practicing Catholic, and increasingly expressed anti-Catholic and anti-clerical views. He practiced spiritualism frequently during his exile (where he also participated in many séances conducted by Madame Delphine de Girardin), and in later years he became entrenched in a rationalistic deism similar to that of Voltaire. A census taker asked Hugo in 1872 if he was a Catholic, and he replied: "No. A freethinker."
After 1872, Hugo never lost his antipathy towards the Catholic Church. He felt that the Church was indifferent to the plight of the working class under the yoke of the monarchy. Perhaps he was also frustrated by the frequency with which his work appeared on the list of books banned by the church. Hugo counted 740 attacks on Les Misérables in the Catholic press. When Hugo's sons Charles and François-Victor died, he insisted that they be buried without a cross or a priest. In his will, he expressed the same wishes regarding his own death and funeral.
Hugo's rationalism is reflected in his poems such as "Torquemada" (1869, about religious fanaticism), "The Pope" (1878, anti-clerical), "Fanatics and Religion" (1880, denying the usefulness of churches published posthumously, "The End of Satan" and " God" (1886 and 1891 respectively, where he depicts Christianity as a griffin and rationalism as an angel). Vincent van Gogh attributed the expression "Religions pass, but God remains" was actually uttered by Jules Michelet, Hugo.
Although Hugo's many talents do not include exceptional musical ability, he still had a great impact on the world of music due to the fact that his work inspired composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Hugo was very fond of the music of Gluck and Weber. In Les Misérables, he says that the choir of huntsmen in Weber's Euryant is "perhaps the most beautiful music ever written." In addition, he admired Beethoven, and, quite unusually for his time, also highly appreciated the works of composers of past centuries, such as Palestrina and Monteverdi.
Two famous musicians of the 19th century were friends of Hugo: Hector Berlioz and Franz Liszt. The latter played Beethoven in Hugo's house, and in one of his letters to friends Hugo joked that thanks to Liszt's piano lessons he had learned to play his favorite song on the piano with one finger. Hugo also worked with the composer Louise Bertin, he wrote the libretto for her 1836 opera La Esmeralda, based on a character from Notre Dame Cathedral. Although, for various reasons, the opera was dropped from the repertoire shortly after its fifth performance and is little known today, it has enjoyed a revival in modern times as both a concert version for voice and piano by Liszt at the Festival international Victor Hugo et Égaux 2007, and in the full orchestral version presented in July 2008 at Le Festival de Radio France et Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon.
Over a thousand pieces of music from the 19th century to the present day have been inspired by Hugo's work. In particular, Hugo's plays, where he rejected the rules of classical theater in favor of romantic drama, attracted the interest of many composers who turned them into operas. More than a hundred operas are based on Hugo's works, including Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia (1833), Verdi's Rigoletto and Hernani (1851), and Ponchielli's La Gioconda (1876).
Both Hugo's novels and plays have been a huge source of inspiration for musicians, driving them to create not only operas and ballets, but musical theater performances such as Notre Dame Cathedral and the ever-popular Les Misérables, London's longest-running West End musical. . In addition, Hugo's beautiful poems created additional interest on the part of musicians, numerous melodies were created based on his poems by such composers as Berlioz, Bizet, Fauré, Franck, Lalo, Liszt, Masnet, Saint-Saens, Rachmaninov and Wagner.
Today, Hugo's legacy continues to inspire musicians to create new compositions. For example, Hugo's anti-death penalty novel The Last Day of the Man Sentenced to Death became the basis for an opera by David Alagna, with a libretto by Frederico Alagna and input from their brother, tenor Roberto Alagna, in 2007. Guernsey hosts the Victor Hugo International Music Festival every two years, attracting a large number of musicians, where songs inspired by Hugo's poems from composers such as Guillaume Connesson, Richard Dubugnon, Oliver Caspar and Thierry Escache are performed for the first time.
It is noteworthy that not only literary works of Hugo were a source of inspiration for musical works. His political writings also received attention from musicians and were translated into the language of music. For example, in 2009, the Italian composer Matteo Sommakal received an order from the "Bagliori d" autore "festival and wrote a work for a reader and a chamber ensemble called "Deeds and Speeches", the text of which was developed by Chiara Piola Caselli based on Hugo's last political speech, addressed to the Legislative Assembly, "Sur la Revision de la Constitution" (July 18, 1851) premiered in Rome on November 19, 2009 in the Auditorium of the French Institute of the Center Saint Louis of the French Embassy to the Holy See.The work was performed by the Piccola Accademia degli Specchi with the participation of the composer Matthias Kadar.
When Hugo returned to Paris in 1870, the country hailed him as a national hero. Despite his popularity, Hugo was not re-elected to the National Assembly in 1872. Within a short time he suffered a minor stroke, his daughter Adele was placed in an insane asylum, and two of his sons died. (Adele's biography was the inspiration for the film The Story of Adele G.) His wife Adele died in 1868.
His faithful companion, Juliette Drouet, died in 1883, just two years before his death. Despite his personal loss, Hugo remains committed to the cause of political reform. January 30, 1876 Hugo was elected to the newly created Senate. This last phase of his political career was considered a failure. Hugo was an individualist and could do little in the Senate.
He suffered a minor stroke on June 27, 1878. On his 80th birthday, one of the greatest honors for living writers was held. The celebrations began on June 25, 1881, when Hugo was presented with the Sèvres vase, a traditional gift for monarchs. On June 27, one of the largest festivals in the history of France was held.
The demonstration stretched from Avenue Eylau, where the writer lived, to the Champs Elysees, and to the center of Paris. People walked for six hours past Hugo while he sat at the window in his house. Every detail of the event was in honor of Hugo; the official guides even wore cornflowers, a nod to Fantine's song in Les Misérables. On June 28, the leadership of Paris changed the name of Avenue Eylau to Avenue Victor Hugo. Letters addressed to the writer have since written: "To Monsieur Victor Hugo, on his avenue, Paris."
Two days before his death, he left a note with the last words: "To love means to act." The death of Victor Hugo from pneumonia on May 22, 1885, at the age of 83, was mourned by the whole country. He was revered not only as a significant figure in literature, he was a statesman who shaped the Third Republic and democracy in France. Over two million people joined the funeral procession in Paris from the Arc de Triomphe to the Pantheon, where he was buried. In the Pantheon, he is buried in the same crypt with Alexandre Dumas and Emile Zola. Most major French cities have a street named after him.
Hugo left five proposals for official publication as his last will:
Hugo created over 4,000 drawings. Initially only a casual hobby, drawing became more important to Hugo shortly before his exile, when he made the decision to stop writing in order to devote himself to politics. Graphics became his only creative outlet in the period 1848-1851.
Hugo worked only on paper, and on a small scale; usually pen and dark brown or black ink, sometimes interspersed with white, and rarely in color. The surviving drawings are surprisingly perfect and "modern" in style and execution, they foresee the experimental techniques of surrealism and abstract expressionism.
He did not hesitate to use his baby stencils, ink blots, puddles and smudges, lace prints, "pliage" or folding (i.e. Rorschach spots), scraping or prints, often using match charcoal or even fingers instead of a pen or brush. Sometimes he even splashed coffee or soot to get the effect he wanted. Hugo is known to have often painted with his left hand, either without looking at the pages or during séances to access his subconscious. This concept was later popularized by Sigmund Freud.
Hugo did not present his artistic work to the public, fearing that this would leave his literary works in the shadows. However, he enjoyed sharing his drawings with family and friends, often in the form of ornate handmade business cards, many of which were given as gifts to his visitors while he was in political exile. Some of his work has been shown and endorsed by contemporary artists such as Van Gogh and Delacroix; the latter opined that if Hugo had decided to become an artist rather than a writer, he would have eclipsed the artists of his age.
The people of Guernsey erected a statue created by the sculptor Jean Boucher at Candie Gardens (St. Peter Port) to commemorate Hugo's stay in the islands. The leadership of Paris has preserved his residences in Hauteville House (Guernsey) and at number 6, Place des Vosges (Paris) as museums. The house where he stayed in Vianden (Luxembourg) in 1871 has also become a museum.
Hugo is venerated as a saint in the Vietnamese Cao Dai religion, in the State Hall of the Holy See in Tain Ninh.
Avenue Victor Hugo in the 16th arrondissement of Paris bears the name of Hugo and stretches from the Etoile Palace to the surroundings of the Bologna Forest, crossing Place Victor Hugo. On this square is the station of the Paris Metro, also named after him. In the city of Beziers, the main street, school, hospital and several cafes are named after Hugo. Numerous streets and avenues throughout the country are named after him. The Lycée Victor Hugo school was founded in the city where he was born, Besançon (France). Avenue Vitor Hugo, located in Shawinigan, Quebec, was named to honor his memory.
In the city of Avellino (Italy), Victor Hugo stopped briefly during a meeting with his father, Leopold Sigisber Hugo, in 1808 at the place known today as Il Palazzo Culturale. Later, he recalled this place, quoting: "C" était un palais de marbre ..." ("It was a castle of marble ...").
There is a statue of Victor Hugo opposite the Museo Carlo Bilotti in Rome, Italy.
Victor Hugo is the namesake of the city of Hugoton, Kansas.
There is a park in Havana, Cuba named after him. There is a bust of Hugo at the entrance to the Old Summer Palace in Beijing.
A mosaic in honor of Victor Hugo is on the ceiling of the Thomas Jefferson Library of Congress building.
London and North Western Railways renamed "Prince of Wales" (class 4-6-0, no. 1134) in honor of Victor Hugo. British Railways commemorated Hugo by naming an electrical unit 92001 Class 92 after him.
Due to his contribution to the development of humanity, virtue and faith in God, he is revered as a saint in Cao Dai, a new religion established in Vietnam in 1926. According to religious records, he was ordained by God to carry out an external mission as part of the Divine hierarchy. He represented mankind, along with principal saints Sun Yat-sen and Nguyen Binh Khiem, to sign a religious pact with God promising to lead mankind to "love and justice".
