The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

1st edition cover
Author	Victor Hugo
Original title	Notre-Dame de Paris
Translator	Frederic Shoberl (English)
Language	French
Genre	Romanticism, Gothic fiction
Set in	Paris, 1482
Publisher	Gosselin
Publication date	16 March 1831
Publication place	France
Published in English	1833
Media type	Hardback
Pages	940, in 3 volumes
Dewey Decimal	843.7
Followed by	La Esmeralda (libretto only)

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (French: Notre-Dame de Paris, lit. 'Our Lady of Paris', originally titled Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482) is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. The title refers to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which features prominently throughout the novel. It focuses on the unfortunate story of Quasimodo, the Roma street dancer Esmeralda and Quasimodo's guardian, the Archdeacon Claude Frollo, in 15th-century Paris. All its elements—the Renaissance setting, impossible love affairs, and marginalized characters—make the work a model of the literary themes of Romanticism.

The novel is considered a classic of French literature^[1] and has been adapted repeatedly for film, stage and television. Some prominent examples include a 1923 silent film with Lon Chaney, a 1939 sound film with Charles Laughton, a 1956 film with Anthony Quinn, and a 1996 Disney animated film with Tom Hulce.

Written during a time of cultural upheaval, the novel champions historical preservation. Hugo solidified Notre-Dame de Paris as a national icon, arguing for the preservation of Gothic architecture as an element of France's cultural heritage.^[2]