Alexiah Brown
Basley-Dees
English III
23 February 2015
Victor Hugo
Hugo is considered one of the leaders of the Romantic movement in French literature as well as one of its most prolific and versatile authors. Although generally known outside France for his two world famous novels Notre Dame de Paris (1831) and Les Misérables (1862), he is renowned in France predominantly for his contributions to the Romantic Movement of the 19th century. Victor Hugo was an exceptional author, poet, artist and political ideologist in France during his time. He was eminent in the politics of France during his time, had a vast amount of works, and also deeply influenced French Romanticism with his unique writing style. Victor-Marie Hugo was born on February…show more content… By 1825, Hugo was so important in the French society that he received an invitation to the coronation of Charles X in Reims. He accepted the invite even though he had already started to shift towards republicanism. In 1829, Victor Hugo published Les Orientales, the poems “received great acclaim, but also represented a significant shift in his political views” (McCray 2). For the first time, Victor Hugo “came directly in confrontation with the monarchy” when Charles X censored his play, Madame de Lorme, in 1830 (McCray 3). When Charles refused to have the ban removed, Hugo replied by writing Hermani, which was a success. He showed extreme interest in the politics of France and became an open supporter of Republic form of government. That same year, King Philippe promoted him “to the higher rake of the society and made a part of the Higher Chamber as a pair de France” (“Victor Hugo Biography” 3). Following the 1848 revolution, with the formation of the Second Republic, Hugo was appointed to the Constitutional Assembly and to the Legislative Assembly. Hugo supported Napoleon III for presidency, but when Napoleon III seized power and established an anti-parliamentary constitution, Hugo becane to openly attack him. Hugo was exiled and fled. Napoleon III granted amnesty to all political exiles in 1859, but Hugo refused to come back “until the return of liberty and the reconstitution of the republic,” which was not…show more content… He was “inspired by Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand, “the leading figure in the Romantic Movement in literature and resolved to follow him in his fame” (“Victor Hugo Biography” 2). At seventeen, Hugo won two awards from the “prestigious Academy of Toulouse” for two of his poems, “Les Vierges de Verdum” and “Le Retablissement de la statue de Henri IV” (McCray 2). With the encouragement from his mother, Hugo founded a review, Conservateur Litteraire, Hugo “came in touch with liberal writers, but his political stand wavered from side to side,” in the 1820’s. (Luikkonen 2). Victor Hugo published his first volume of poetry, Nouvelles Odes et Poesies Diverses, in 1824, which gained him a royal pension from Louis XVIII. When Hugo published his play, Cromwell (1829), the foreword “started a debate between French Classicism and Romanticism” (Luikkonen 2). When Charles X was exiled, it inspired Hugo to write a novel, Notre Dame de Paris (1831), which was a commercial success. He gained ample fame from this novel, even though he had gained his early eminence from his plays. His literary achievement as “recognized in 1841 by his election, after three unsuccessful attempts, to the French Academy and by his nomination in 1845 to the Chamber of Peers” (Barrère 2). When Hugo was exiled in 1851, he began working a number of