Victor Hugo Books

One of the most renowned French writers, Victor Marie Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, in Besancon in Eastern France. His father was Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo, a general in the Napoleonic army and his mother was Sophie Trébuchet. Due to military duty, Victor and his family had to move from place to place.

Hugo was concerned for the classical form of writing and much of his creations are sparked by the classical political literary texts. He was not only a poet or novelist but had expertise in a variety of literary genres from lyrics, satires, epics to epigrams, critical essays, political speeches, and so on. Hugo published his first book of poems, Odes et Poésies Diverses in 1822 that earned him a royalist pension from Louis XVIII. His first novel Han d’Islande in 1823 fetched him much success in the literary career.

Hugo was at the forefront of the French Romantic Movement and was deeply influenced by François-René de Chateaubriand, a famous figure of this Movement. Some of the famous literary creations of Hugo are Les Misérables (novel), The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (novel), Hernani (play), Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (novel), etc.

Though Hugo wrote several plays and novels, he is especially popular for his collection of poetry in France. These include Les Contemplations (The Contemplations) and La Légende des siècles (The Legend of the Ages). Hugo’s writings left an eternal mark in the history of French Literature as they dealt with the political as well as social issues of the contemporary period. He passed away on May 22, 1885.