Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo
Portrait by Étienne Carjat, 1875
Born	Victor-Marie Hugo (1802-02-26)26 February 1802 Besançon, Franche-Comté, France
Died	22 May 1885(1885-05-22) (aged 83) Paris, France
Resting place	Panthéon, Paris
Occupations	Poet novelist dramatist essayist politician
Political party	Party of Order (1848–1851) Independent liberal (1871) Republican Union (1876–1885)
Spouse	Adèle Foucher ​ ​ (m. 1822; died 1868)​
Children	Léopold Hugo (died in infancy) Léopoldine Hugo Charles Hugo François-Victor Hugo Adèle Hugo
Parents	Joseph Léopold Hugo Sophie Trébuchet
Writing career
Genre	Novel poetry theatre
Literary movement	Romanticism
Years active	1829–1883
Notable works	Les Misérables Ruy Blas The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Signature
Offices held Senator for Seine In office 30 January 1876 – 22 May 1882 Constituency Paris Member of the National Assembly for Gironde In office 9 February 1871 – 1 March 1871 Constituency Bordeaux Member of the National Assembly for Seine In office 24 April 1848 – 3 December 1851 Constituency Paris 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 by Népomucène Lemercier Succeeded by Leconte de Lisle

Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo^[1] (French: [viktɔʁ maʁi yɡo] ^ⓘ; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, 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 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. 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.^[2]