Victor-Marie Hugo 

(French: [viktɔʁ maʁi yɡo] ( listen); 7 Ventôse year X [26 February 1802] – 22

May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. During a literary
career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote abundantly in an exceptional variety of genres:
lyrics, satires, epics, philosophical poems, epigrams, novels, history, critical essays, political
speeches, funeral orations, diaries, letters public and private, as well as dramas in verse and prose.

Hugo is considered to be one of the greatest and best-known French writers. Outside France, his
most famous works are the novels Les Misérables, 1862, and The Hunchback of Notre-
Dame (French: Notre-Dame de Paris), 1831. In France, Hugo is renowned for his poetry collections,
such as Les Contemplations (The 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. Many of his works have inspired music, both during his lifetime and after his death,
including 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.

Though a committed royalist when he was 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 colossal literary achievement established him as a national hero. He
was honoured by interment in the Panthéon.