February 26, 1881, the seventy-ninth birthday of Victor Hugo, Paris and all of France celebrated as National holiday. On Eylau Avenue erected triumphal arch. Through it, past Hugo's house, six hundred thousand Parisians and provincials marched. great person, standing with his grandchildren at the window, bowed and thanked his admirers. Six months later, Eylau Avenue was renamed Avenue Victor-Hugo. Hugo lived on his own street for another four years. On June 1, 1885, a huge crowd accompanied his coffin from Star Square to the Pantheon. Guard of honor at the black hearse, adorned with nothing but two wreaths of white roses, stood twelve young poets. In his will, Hugo wrote: “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".

He was born in Besancon, according to the French revolutionary calendar - 7 vantoses of the 10th year of the Republic. His parents were Napoleonic officer Joseph Leopold Siguisbert Hugo and Madame Hugo, born Sophie Françoise Trebuchet de la Renaudiere. Soon the Hugos began to live apart.
Victor Marie with two older brothers was either with his father or with his mother, moving from one city to another, from France to Italy and Spain. From the age of five, Victor was assigned to his father's regiment and considered himself a soldier. In fact, at such a tender age, he happened to see the phenomena of war and death - on the way to Madrid, through all of Spain, desperately resisting the Napoleonic invasion.
In adolescence, Victor Hugo filled ten notebooks with poems and translations of Latin poets, which he burned, in the next he made a note: "I'm fifteen years old, it's badly written, I could write better." At that time, he studied and was brought up in Paris, in a boarding house on St. Margaret Street, and dreamed of literary glory. One of his pastorals, inspired by the works of Chateaubriand, was called "The Indian Woman of Canada Hanging Her Child's Cradle from the Branches of a Palm Tree". However, at the competition announced by the French Academy, young Hugo received an honorary diploma for a poem of three hundred and thirty-four lines. The Toulouse Academy of Flower Games awarded him the Golden Lily for the ode "Restoration of the statue of Henry IV".
The Hugo brothers tried to publish a magazine - "Literary Conservative". For a year and a half, Victor published 112 articles and 22 poems in it under eleven pseudonyms. The eldest of the brothers, Abel, published Victor's first book, Odes and Other Poems, at his own expense. The twenty-year-old poet was convinced that poetry needed "a clear mind, pure heart noble and exalted soul."
In the third decade of his life, Hugo became the author of the poetry collections Oriental Motifs and Autumn leaves”, the novel “Gan the Icelander” (in the manner of W. Scott and under the influence of the English Gothic novel), the story “The Last Day of the Condemned to Death”, the dramas “Cromwell” (the preface to it is considered a manifesto of romanticism), “Marion Delorme” (forbidden to staged by the censors) and “Ernani” (its premiere turned into a battle between romantics and classicists).
Hugo explained the essence of romanticism as "a strange confusion of the soul, never knowing peace, now jubilant, now groaning." At the beginning of 1831 he completed the novel The Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris". Hugo said that this book was, first of all, “a fruit of the imagination, whims and fantasies,” although he collected materials about Paris in the 15th century for three years. He handed over the manuscript of the novel to the publisher on the deadline. Hugo already had a house and a family and hoped to earn literary work at least fifteen thousand francs a year. Soon he began to earn much more, but every evening he steadily counted all expenses, up to a centime.
Between the two French revolutions - July 1830 and February 1848 - Hugo wrote several new poetic cycles, a drama in verse "The King Amuses himself", three dramas in prose, a book of essays about Germany ("The Rhine") and set about creating the novel "Poverty" , later renamed "Les Misérables".
On January 7, 1841, Victor Hugo was elected to the Academy of the Immortals, and by royal ordinance of April 13, 1845, he was raised to the peerage of France.
In 1848, after the February events, this title was abolished. Hugo became mayor of the VIII Parisian arrondissement. In the Legislative Assembly, he delivered a speech against the President of the Republic, Prince Louis Bonaparte. When Louis Bonaparte staged a coup d'état to seize imperial power, Hugo, under threat of arrest, left Paris for Brussels with someone else's passport, and then went into long-term exile.
“If there are charming places of exile in the world, then Jersey must be attributed to their number ... I settled here in a white hut on the seashore. From my window I see France, ”Hugo lived for three years in Jersey, an island in the Norman archipelago, at the Villa Marine Terrace, figuratively referred to in this letter as a hut. Having been expelled from Jersey along with other French emigrants, he settled on the neighboring island of Guernsey, where he bought, rebuilt and furnished to his liking a house, Hauteville House, for the amount of the fee for the poetry collection "Contemplations".
Hugo adhered to a strict daily routine: he got up at dawn, poured himself ice water drinking black coffee sunlight he worked on manuscripts in a glass belvedere, had breakfast at noon, then walked around the island, worked until dusk, dined with family and guests, and went to bed at ten in the evening. Every Monday he invited forty children of the local poor to dinner.
In Hauteville House, Hugo finished the novel Les Misérables, wrote many poems and poems for the planned grandiose epic Legend of the Ages and two new novels - Toilers of the Sea (about the fishermen of Guernsey) and The Man Who Laughs (drama and history simultaneously").
On September 5, 1870, as soon as the Republic was proclaimed in France, Hugo left for Paris. At the Gare du Nord, he was greeted by a crowd singing the Marseillaise and shouting “Long live France! Long live Hugo! He was elected to the National Assembly and stood for the Republic and Civilization, but against the Commune and revolutionary terror.
Mine last novel- “The ninety-third year” - he still wrote in the “crystal room”, returning to Guernsey for this, and after the publication of the novel, he rented an apartment in Paris for himself, his daughter-in-law and grandchildren. By this time he had outlived his wife, sons and eldest daughter. Him youngest daughter was in a mental hospital. Hugo was very gentle with his grandchildren - Georges and Jeanne - and dedicated to them a collection of poems, The Art of Being a Grandfather.
According to the testimony of relatives, lying on his deathbed, he said:
“There is a struggle between the light of day and the darkness of the night,” and just before the end: “I see a black light.”

Svetlana Malaya

WORKS V.HUGO

COLLECTED WORKS: In 15 volumes - M .: Goslitizdat, 1953-1956.
In addition to well-known novels, the collection of works includes eight dramas and journalistic works; two and a half volumes are dedicated to poems.

COLLECTED WORKS: In 6 volumes / [Under. ed. N. Lyubimova; Il. P. Pinkisevich]. - M .: Pravda, 1988. - (B-ka "Spark").
This collection of works consists of the novels Notre Dame Cathedral, Les Misérables, The Man Who Laughs, Year 93, and selected poems.

NINETY-THREE YEAR: Novel / [Trans. from fr. N. Zharkova; Il. I. Kuskova]. - M.: Pravda, 1988. - 396 p.: ill. - (B-ka zarubezh. classics).
A novel from the history of the Great French Revolution, more precisely - from the history civil war in Brittany, when the motto of the Vendean rebels was: "Give no mercy" - and the motto of the Republicans: "No mercy."

MISSED: [Novel]: In 2 volumes: Per. from fr. / Entry. Art. L.Andreeva. - M.: Artist. lit., 1988. - (B-ka classics: Foreign lit.).
A novel of one and a half thousand pages is the story of the life of Jean Valjean, who was first a tree trimmer, then a convict, the mayor of the city of Montreil-Maritime, again a convict and, finally, the generous foster father of the orphan Cosette. The surname Valjean, writes Hugo, comes from the words "voila Jean" - "here is Jean." Here is Jean, here is Cosette, here is Marius, here is Gavroche - here they are all and many more people, dramatic stories which, intertwined, create a wide and harsh canvas of the novel. In the first preface to it, Hugo explained: “This book from beginning to end, as a whole and in detail, represents the movement from evil to good, from unjust to just, from false to true, from darkness to light, from greed to conscientiousness, from putrefaction to life, from bestiality to a sense of duty, from hell to heaven, from insignificance to God.

CATHEDRAL OF NOTHER DOMEN OF PARIS: [Novel] / Per. from fr. [N.Kogan; Il. Brion; Grav. De Jona, Perricho]. - M.: SP "Lexicon", 1992. - 429 p.: ill. - (The Book of Generations: Library of Selected Artistic Works of World Literature: In 55 volumes).
It's hard to imagine two people less similar friend friend than the archdeacon of Notre Dame Cathedral, Claude Frollo, and the bell ringer of the same cathedral, the hunchback Quasimodo. The first fell in love with him in the Cathedral hidden meaning, the second himself did not really understand why, but he loved the Cathedral reverently. And another feeling struck both: love for the gypsy dancer Esmeralda. But fate weighed on each.

This word, deeply embedded in stone and as if once seen by the author of the novel on the wall in one of the towers of the Notre Dame Cathedral, "gave birth to a real book."

POEMS: Per. from fr. / Comp., ed. foreword and comment. S. Zenkin. - M.: Det. lit., 1990. - 223 p.: ill.

The abyss is insidious, the rock is hard, the wave is crafty,
But you take birth from stormy waters, Slava!

V. Hugo. Rivers and poets (per. Vs.Rozhdestvensky)

Victor Hugo is known to the Russian reader primarily as a great novelist, to the French reader as great poet, author of the poetic cycles "Oriental motifs", "Autumn leaves", " Inner voices”, “Contemplations”, “Legend of the Ages”, “Terrible Year”, “Songs of the Streets and Forests”, “The Art of Being a Grandfather”. Hugo's poetry is precise and sublime.

WORKERS OF THE SEA: Novel / [Trans. from fr. A. Khudadova; Il. N. Krivova]. - M.: Pravda, 1982. - 464 p.: ill.
The novel “Toilers of the Sea”, first named after the protagonist “The Sailor Gillyat”, was dedicated by Hugo to the island of Guernsey, its small and proud seaside people: “The sea is a great danger, great work, a great need. You give him everything, and from him you get painful anxiety - the disappearance of the shores: after all, every time you set sail, a sad question arises in front of you: “Will I see again those whom I love?”

THE MAN WHO LAUGHS: Novel / [Trans. from fr. B. Livshits; Artistic V. Frolov]. - L.: Lenizdat, 1992. - 589 p.: ill.
Comprachicos is a Spanish word almost forgotten already in the 18th century, meaning "buyers of children." Comprachikos bought children, made freaks out of them and sold them to those who needed such fun. So they did with the main character of this novel, after which his whole life turned into a gloomy mockery of fate.

The novels of V. Hugo, or chapters from his novels, have been repeatedly published in transcriptions for children:

Hugo V. Gavroche: [Excerpt from Les Misérables] / [Trans. from fr. and processing for children N.Kasatkina]; Rice. D. Dubinsky. - [Reprint] - M.: Det. lit., 1983. - 46 p.

Hugo V. Ninety-third year: Novel / [Trans. from fr. M. Shishmareva]. - [abbr. ed.]. - St. Petersburg: Lenizdat, 1992. - 226 p.: ill.

Hugo V. Cosette: Excerpt from Les Misérables / Per. from fr. [and rev. for children N. Sher]; Rice. V. and L. Petrovs. - Reissue. - M.: Det. lit., 1984. - 32 p.: ill. - (School library).

Hugo V. Les Misérables / [Abbreviated and ed. per. E.Vygodskoy]. - [L.]: Lenizdat, 1949. - 768 p.: ill.

Hugo V. Les Misérables: Novel / Retelling from French. ed. A. Vinogradova; Artistic L.Tokmakov. - M.: BIMPA, 1995. - 487 p.: ill.

Hugo V. Workers of the Sea: A novel by V. Hugo adapted for children by M. Stebnitsky. - St. Petersburg. - M.: M.O. Wolf, . - 441 p.

Tolstoy L.N. Bishop Miriel: According to V. Hugo: [Trans. excerpt from the novel "Les Misérables"]. - [M.]: Intermediary,. - 16 s.

Svetlana Malaya

LITERATURE ABOUT THE LIFE AND WORKS OF V. HUGO

Hugo, Adele. Victor Hugo and his time, according to his notes, memoirs and stories of close witnesses of his life. - M.: K. Odarchenko and N.K ...... y, 1887. - 638 p.
(This book was written by V. Hugo's wife in 1863)

Morua A. Olympio, or the Life of Victor Hugo / Per. from fr. N. Nemchinova, M. Treskunova. - M.: Russia: TPO "Cyrillic", 1993. - 526 p.
Muravieva N.I. Hugo. - M.: Mol. guard, 1961. - 383 p.: ill. - (Life is noticed by people).
Rolland R. "Old Orpheus" - Victor Hugo // Rolland R. Sobr. cit.: In 14 volumes - M .: Khudozh. lit., 1958. - T.14. pp.580-597.
Safronova N.N. Victor Hugo: Book. for students. - M.: Enlightenment, 1989. - 175 p.: ill. - (Biography of the writer).
Sergeant J. Drawings by Victor Hugo / Abbr. per. from fr. V.Finikova. - M.: Art, 1970. - 71 p.: ill.
Tolmachev M. Witness of the century Victor Hugo (1802-1885) // Hugo V. Sobr. cit.: In 6 vols. - M.: Pravda, 1988. - Vol. 1. - S. 3-52.

CM.

SCREENINGS OF V.HUGO'S WORKS

- MOVIES -

Hunchback of the Cathedral of Our Lady. Dir. V. Dieterle. USA, 1939. In the role of Quasimodo - C. Lawton.

Life of Jean Valjean. Dir. L. Milestone. USA, 1952.

Outcasts. Dir. R. Boleslavsky. USA, 1935. In the role of Jean Valjean - C. Lawton.

Outcasts. Dir. J.P. Le Chanois. France-Italy-GDR, 1958. In the role of Jean Valjean - Jean Gabin; in other roles: S. Montfort, F. Ledoux, Bourvil and others.

Outcasts. Dir. R. Hossein. TV and film version. France. 1982. In the role of Jean Valjean - Lino Ventura.

Outcasts. Dir. B. August. Comp. B.Poledouris. USA, 1998. Cast: L. Neeson, J. Rush, W. Thurman and others.

Ruy Blas (in the domestic box office - "A Dangerous Similarity"). Scene. J. Cocteau. France, 1948. In Ch. Cast: J. Mare, D. Darier.

Notre Dame Cathedral. Dir. J. Delannoy. France. 1956.

The man who laughs. Dir. P. Leni. USA. 1928. In Ch. roles - K. Veidt.

- THEATER PERFORMANCES -

Mary Tudor. Dir. J. Vilar. Folk National Theater(TNP). IX Avignon Festival, 1955. In Ch. roles - M.Kazares.

Ruy Blas. Dir. J. Vilar. TNP. Avignon, 1953/1954. In ch. roles - J. Philip.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) - famous French 19th writer century, poet, playwright, author of books in the genre of classical prose.

Victor Hugo was born in Besancon on February 26, 1802, in the family of General Leopold Hugo, who made his career in the Bonaparte era, and then for many years was governor, first in Italy, then in Madrid. The poet's mother was a staunch royalist. Hugo studied for the longest time in Madrid at a noble institute and after graduation he was enrolled in the pages of King Joseph.

When the boy was 11 years old, it became dangerous to live in Spain: anti-French sentiments among the population intensified. The mother took her three sons with her to Paris, where Hugo began to go to private school. Victor s early years wanted to become famous writer. "I want to be Chateaubriand or nothing," he declared at the age of fourteen.

In 1819, together with his brothers, Victor began publishing the Literary Conservative magazine, which was supposed to be a continuation of Chateaubriand's Conservative magazine.

In 1821, Hugo gave a reading of his poems at a meeting of the Royal literary society, which were written under the influence of maternal views, and in 1822 his first collection of poems, Odes and Ballads, was published, which immediately brought him fame and a government pension of 2,000 francs. In the same year, Hugo married a childhood friend and began to engage in literary work: he participated in newspapers, wrote novels, plays and poems, in which he appeared as an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon.

From 1824 Victor Hugo became a regular literary salon, in which Charles Nodier united young romantics. A monarchist and Catholic in his youth, Hugo became a liberal and head of Romanticism in the mid-twenties.

In 1827, the drama "Cromwell" appeared in print, in which Hugo declared war on classic tragedy, replacing the trinity with the drama of passion, and recitation with the lively speech of the heroes. This served as a signal for a fierce struggle between the romantics and representatives of classicism. In later years, Hugo wrote dramas, poems and novels. ("Ernani or Castilian honor", "Notre Dame Cathedral", etc.)

In 1830, the community of romantics broke up, literature began to turn to social topics. The poet, according to Hugo, had to carry "a national mission, a social mission, a human mission."

Already in the "Notre Dame Cathedral", published in 1832, the life of the "outcast" is described. Social issues sounds both in the poetry collection "Rays and Shadows" (1840) and in the novel "Ruy Blas" (1838). Since 1843, Hugo begins an active political life advocating the abolition death penalty and in defense of Poland's independence. Since 1851, after the coup d'état, Hugo went into exile for 18 years. The emperor gave him an amnesty, but Hugo did not want to take advantage of it. "I'll be back with freedom!" he wrote in response to the amnesty. In exile, Hugo wrote pamphlets against Napoleon III. During these years he also wrote several collections of poetry and two novels, Les Misérables and The Man Who Laughs (1869). Returning to Paris in 1870, Hugo donated the entire income from the publication of Les Misérables to the national defense. Two cannons were cast with the proceeds. While Paris was in the hands of the Communards, Hugo lived in Brussels. In 1876, the writer, after returning to Paris, was elected a senator, but almost did not take part in the debate.

On May 22, 1885, a member of the French Academy, a peer of France, Victor Marie Hugo, at the age of eighty-three, died of pneumonia and was buried in the Paris Pantheon.

The works of the writer, as well as adaptations and productions based on them, are still popular to this day - for example, in 2012, the sensational musical Les Misérables, directed by Tom Gooper and based on novel of the same name Hugo with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Ann Hataway starring.

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 in general terms. Meanwhile, without which it is impossible to imagine French literature 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. Poet, playwright, prose writer, and literary critic, and a publicist - all this is Victor Hugo. Interesting biography it is brought to your attention.

Origin and childhood of Victor

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.

First works

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.

The development of romanticism in the work of Hugo

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 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. His biography future years marked by development in this direction. In the work "Bug Jargal" Victor described the uprising of Negro slaves.

"Odes and Ballads"

Hugo's reform in the field of poetic style consisted in an attempt to replace language human feelings 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 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.

Hugo's first dramatic works

Romantics in the late 1820s began to pay great attention theater, which at that time remained under the rule of the 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 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.

"Orientals"

At this time, the multifaceted Victor reaches an unprecedented intensity. The collection "Orientalia", which appeared in 1829, became especially 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.

New dramas

As for the drama of this author, her ideological content dates back to the battle of ideologies of the late 1820s, as well as to the July Revolution that took place in 1830. romantic drama 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.

"Notre Dame Cathedral" (Victor Hugo)

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 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.

Works of the late 1820s-1840s

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.

Period of exile

Victor Hugo decided to leave France after an accident occurred in 1848. February Revolution, 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 high level emotional stress. 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, main theme all these works is the theme of the people.

Social and political activity

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. It's a kind of poetic chronicle tragic events 1870-71, when France participated in the Franco-Prussian War.

last years of life

Before recent years life did not fade the activity of this author. AT last period The following poetry collections and poems appeared in his work: in 1877 - "The Art of Being a Grandfather", in 1878 - "Daddy", 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 in last way became a grand demonstration. Thousands of people took part in it.

firmly entered the French and world literature works created by Victor Hugo. Biography, summary 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 Hugo was the youngest in the family of General Joseph Hugo and the royalist daughter of a wealthy shipowner, Sophie Trebouchet. He was born in 1802 in Besancon, and for the next 9 years he moved with his parents from place to place. In 1811 the family returned to Paris. In 1813, Victor's parents divorced, and younger son stayed with his mother.

According to short biography Victor Hugo, from 1814 to 1818 the boy was educated at the prestigious Lyceum of Louis the Great in Paris. At this time, he began to write: he created several tragedies, translated into French Virgil, wrote dozens of poems, poems and even an ode, for which he received a medal from the Paris Academy and several other prestigious awards.

The beginning of professional literary activity

In 1819, Victor Hugo began to engage in publishing work. He was published in several magazines, and then began to publish his own. The contents of the magazine showed that the young Hugo was an ardent supporter of the monarchy and adhered to ultra-royalist views.

In 1823 Hugo published his first novel, which was critically acclaimed. The writer was not upset, but rather began to work more and more carefully on his works. He even made friends with critics, for example, with Charles Nodier, who, in turn, had a great influence on the writer's work. Until 1830, Hugo adhered to classical school, but after the novel "Cromwell" decided to finally "leave" in romanticism. It was Hugo who laid the foundations for the so-called romantic drama.

Pinnacle of a writing career

Despite problems with critics, Hugo had enough famous writer and moved in appropriate circles. Such people were invited to the house for holidays famous figures art like Lamartine, Merimee, Delacroix. Hugo supported a good relationship with Liszt, Chateaubriand, Berlioz.

In the novels of 1829-1834, Hugo showed himself not only as a writer, but also as a politician. He openly spoke out against the practice of the death penalty, which was especially true for post-revolutionary France.

From 1834 to 1843 the writer worked mainly for theaters. His tragedies and comedies caused a great public outcry - scandals in French literary world, but, at the same time, they were staged in the best Parisian theaters. His plays "Ernani" and "The King is having fun" were even withdrawn from the screenings for some time, but then they were again included in the repertoire, and they were a resounding success.

Last years

In 1841 Victor Hugo became a member of the French Academy, and in 1845 began political career, which was by no means simple, although it was in 1845 that he received the title of peer of France.

In 1848 he was elected to the National Assembly, where he remained until 1851. Not supporting new revolution and the accession to the throne of Napoleon III, Hugo went into exile and returned to France only in 1870. In 1876 he became a senator.

The writer died in 1885. France has declared mourning for 10 days. Victor Hugo is buried in the Pantheon.

Family

In 1822 Hugo married Adele Fouche. In this marriage, five children were born, of which only the youngest daughter Adele Hugo gained some fame.

Other biography options

• Such great works of the author as the epic novel "Les Misérables", the novel "The Last Day of a Man Sentenced to Execution", the novel "The Man Who Laughs" caused a great public outcry. Figures of world art and culture, such as F. Dostoevsky, A. Camus, C. Dickens, highly appreciated Hugo's literary talent, and Dostoevsky generally believed that his "Crime and Punishment" was in many ways inferior to Hugo's novels.
• It is known that about a million people came to the funeral of the writer to say goodbye to him.

Biography score

New Feature! The average rating this biography received. Show rating

Great French writer Victor Hugo entered the history of world literature both as a poet, and as a playwright, and as a prose writer. He was at the origin French romanticism, immortalized his name as a true fighter for freedom, for humanistic ideals. Maxim Gorky wrote about Hugo:"A tribune and a poet, he thundered over the world like a hurricane, bringing to life everything that is beautiful in the human soul" . On February 26, on the occasion of the 212th anniversary of the writer's birth, we will scroll through his creative path.

Victor Hugo was born in the family of General Joseph Hugo of the Napoleonic army in 1802, the mother of the future writer Sophia adhered to royalist views. Victor was the youngest in the family, besides him there were also two sons Abel (b. 1798) and Eugene (b. 1800).
Previously, Victor spent his childhood in Marseille, then in Corsica, then on the Elba, in Italy and Madrid - at his father's place of work. Relations between the spouses finally went wrong, and in 1813 they parted. Victor stays with his mother, who has settled in Paris. From 1814 to 1818 Hugo studied at the Lyceum, and the first literary experiments refer to adolescence. Victor wrote his first poems dedicated to his mother at the age of 14, then the tragedies “Irtamena” and “Athelie ou les scan” come out from under his pen.

At the age of 17, Victor receives two prizes in the competition for the poems “The Maidens of Verdun” and the ode “On the restoration of the statue of Henry IV”, which marked the beginning of his “Legend of the Ages”, and the satire “Telegraph” was published in print, which first drew the attention of readers to the young writer . Criticism immediately characterized his manner: "Prose, in which verses are wormed", newspapers publish articles one after another about a miracle child with literary talent. And how the mother rejoiced that her child had an excellent command of the literary style! In 1819, Hugo wrote the ode "The Fate of the Vendée", dedicating it to Chateaubriand. They started talking about the young writer even more.

In 1822, Hugo married his admirer Adele Fouche, to whom he dedicated the poem First Breaths. Brought up in strict morals, a 17-year-old girl even considered love correspondence a sin. The young people got married in 1922. The couple had five children: sons Leopold (1823, died in infancy), Charles (1826), François-Fictor (1828) and daughters Leopoldina (1824) and Adele (1830).

The young husband writes the novel "Gan the Icelander", trying to publish it in a thousand copies. However, the publisher not only deceived him with a fee, but also slandered him. The novel was published in four issues, with a gray cover, on rough paper, and without the name of the author."This is a kind of writing. - according to the publisher, -is the first prose work young writer, already known for his brilliant success in poetry" .

From 1826 to 1829, Hugo wrote Odes and Ballads (end of 1826), the drama Cromwell (1827), and the poetry collection Oriental Motives (1829). From the pen of Victor Hugo come novels, such as The Last Day of the Condemned to Death (1829), Notre Dame Cathedral (1831), Claude Gay (1934).

Hugo devoted 13 years of his work to theater and lyrics: Autumn Leaves (1831), Twilight Songs (1835), Inner Voices (1837), Rays and Shadows (1840). The favorite plot of the drama was for Hugo the defense of the disadvantaged from the oppressors. And the theater for him is a platform from which bold ideas can be said publicly. The first play staged at the theatre, The King Amuses himself (1832), was coolly received by the public. Especially the Parisian beau monde did not like the frivolous statements of the jester about morality:“Didn’t your mother give birth to you? Or did she lie in bed with the groom? Answer, freaks! The drama was banned from showing.

However, the failure of the drama did not prevent Hugo from becoming a member of the French Academy (1841), and in 1845 to receive a peerage.
Victor Hugo was opposed to the coup d'état of 1851, trampling french freedoms and ideals. After the accession of Napoleon III, Hugo left for Brussels. And although Victor wrote encouraging letters to his wife in Paris, next to him was the beauty Juliette, who showed miracles heroic devotion, bringing his beloved all his manuscripts.

Hugo's novel Les Misérables was written in 1862 in exile (for about thirty years the writer hatched plans, made sketches of characters, collected documentary materials and built chapters and storylines). Hugo revived historical events: the era of the empire, the Restoration, the revolution of 1830, his heroes will fight for the republic, against poverty and violence.

“Depict the ascension of the soul ... to show in all tragic reality the social bottom from which it rises, so that society realizes what kind of hell it is based on, and so that it finally understands that it is time to kindle the dawn over this darkness; to warn, which is the humblest form of advice, is the purpose of this book." , - writes Hugo in one of the preliminary drafts of the preface. An overwhelming task, at first glance, - to reconcile the irreconcilable and combine the incompatible, was solved with a bang, otherwise, how to explain the wild success of the novel. Despite enthusiastic responses, censorship banned the novel for publication.

The next novel written in exile was The Man Who Laughs (1869). He continues the theme of protecting the disadvantaged. The hero of the novel, Gwynplaine, disfigured in childhood by comprachicos by order of the king, is a symbol of a suffering, persecuted, mutilated people. But an ugly shell hides an almost holy soul:"You think I'm a freak! No. I am a symbol. O all-powerful fools, open your eyes! I embody everything. I represent mankind, mutilated by the rulers. The man is crippled. What has been done to me has been done to the whole human race: they have mutilated its right, justice, truth, reason, thinking, just as they have mutilated my eyes, nostrils and ears ... "

Only in 1870 did Hugo return to France. In 1874, he published the novel "The Ninety-Third Year" about the defeat of the Paris Commune, about the problems of revolutionary violence, about the moral rebirth of man.

In 1876 she returned to Hugo former glory. He becomes a senator, but Victor is already seriously ill. In 1878 he suffers a stroke. On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the writer, his play "Ernani" was staged with applause in the theater. In May 1885 great writer died.

Funeral of a great writer

France was declared national mourning. Hugo is buried in the Pantheon.