New Releases by Victor HUGO

Les Mis rables Volume III delves into the harsh realities of poverty and the stark contrast between innocence and societal oppression. The story introduces the figure of the gamin, a Parisian street child, symbolizing the vibrant yet troubled underbelly of the city. Through this character, the narrative paints a vivid picture of the resilience and spirit of the city's impoverished youth. The book explores the gap between childhood joy and the challenges of urban life, emphasizing the disparity in social classes and the injustices that shape the lives of those at the bottom. It shifts focus to the life of a young man navigating the complexities of love, identity, and moral choices amidst a backdrop of political unrest and societal upheaval. Through this exploration, the novel examines broader social issues, including the struggle for personal dignity and justice in a world marked by inequality and hardship. The narrative offers a poignant reflection on the human condition, illustrating both the hope and despair that coexist within a fractured society.

Flames light the horizon; the year is 1793. In Ninety-Three, Victor Hugo’s last novel, the French Revolution’s most tumultuous year becomes an arena where human ideals clash with human imperfections. Published in 1874, when Hugo was in his seventies, this work stands as a grand and grave epilogue to his career – a novel of war and conscience that distills a lifetime of thought about revolution, heroism, and the price of fanatical righteousness. As Victor Hugo’s valedictory novel, Ninety-Three holds a special place. It is at once a thrilling yarn of escape, siege, and battle, and a meditation on the revolution that forged modern France. In it, the grand homme of letters funneled his decades of insight into a story that is leaner but no less potent than his earlier works. To read Ninety-Three is to witness a literary giant grappling with the eternal question of how to reconcile liberty, equality, and fraternity when the cannon smoke rolls in. In the end, Hugo leaves us not with an easy answer but with an image – a young idealist sacrificing himself on the altar of principle, and an old zealot realizing too late that principle without pity can destroy even what it seeks to save. This powerful conclusion ensures that Ninety-Three, Hugo’s final gift to literature, remains both a stirring historical epic and a poignant warning that echoes across the ages. Upon its publication, Quatrevingt-treize (as the title reads in French) was met with great interest and respect. Hugo had only recently returned to France after long years in exile; the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune (both in the early 1870s) had convulsed the nation, and readers understood that Hugo was now looking further back in history to shed light on those contemporary scars. He chose 1793 – the year of the guillotine’s frenzy, of the Vendée uprising, of the Republic fighting for its life – as a mirror to examine the cycle of violence and idealism that France seemed destined to repeat. Critics noted Hugo’s even-handed approach: unlike earlier writers who vilified one side or the other, Hugo strove to portray both royalists and republicans with empathy and tragic nuance. Some observers in 1874 were surprised that the ardent republican Hugo could humanize a monarchist insurgent, but he did exactly that. The novel’s nuanced perspective earned it acclaim as a mature work of insight. Though Ninety-Three did not achieve the blockbuster popularity of Les Misérables, it was praised for its intense drama and its poetic gravitas, and it quickly found a place in the canon of French literature as the closing chapter of Hugo’s epic vision of humanity. This critical reader's edition presents a modern translation of the original manuscript, crafted to help the armchair philosopher engage deeply with Hugo's works through clean, contemporary language and streamlined syntax that clarifies his expansive ideas. Additonal material enriches the text with autobiographical, historical, and linguistic context, including an afterword by the translator on Hugo’s history, impact, and intellectual legacy, an index of the themes and philosophical concepts he employs—emphasizing Romanticism, social justice, and moral idealism—a comprehensive chronological list of his published writings, and a detailed timeline of his life, highlighting the personal relationships (including his relationship with Dickens) and political commitments that shaped his vision.

A vast historical drama unfolds in Cromwell, where the fate of 17th-century England is staged with Shakespearean richness. In this sweeping five-act play, Victor Hugo paints the rise and inner torment of Oliver Cromwell – regicide, ruler, and restless giant of history – in lines of verse that leap from lofty to earthy, from palace intrigue to haunted midnight soliloquy. In 1827, Hugo boldly published Cromwell as a closet drama of unprecedented scope, a play so epic in length (nearly 7,000 lines) that no theater could realistically perform it in full at the time. The play’s preface, however, achieved its own immortality: a fiery manifesto that shattered the old rules of French classicism and heralded the Romantic revolution on stage. Hugo’s declaration that drama must mingle the sublime and the grotesque – just as life does – stunned the literary establishment and electrified young writers across Europe. Though the play itself went largely unperformed (its frequent scene changes and colossal cast made it impractical to stage), the ideas in its introduction spread like wildfire, challenging censors and captivating a generation yearning for new creative freedom. Written under a repressive French monarchy, the play uses England’s past to comment obliquely on Hugo’s present – celebrating republican ideals while warning of power’s corruptions. Its famous preface explicitly argues that art must break free of artificial constraints, reflecting the full range of human experience. That document became a cornerstone of French Romanticism, cited for decades as the moment the “modern drama” was born. Although Cromwell the play remained largely a literary experience (an “unstageable” epic read more often than seen), its legacy lived on in every Romantic triumph that followed – from Hugo’s own Hernani to the works of Dumas and Musset. Ambitious, unwieldy, but intellectually exhilarating, Cromwell stands as a testament to Victor Hugo’s conviction that the theater of ideas could transform culture, even if the physical stage was not quite ready for his vision. This critical reader's edition presents a modern translation of the original manuscript, crafted to help the armchair philosopher engage deeply with Victor Hugo's works through clean, contemporary language and streamlined syntax that clarifies his expansive ideas. Supplementary material enriches the text with autobiographical, historical, and linguistic context, including an afterword by the translator on Hugo’s history, impact, and intellectual legacy, an index of the themes and philosophical concepts he employs—emphasizing Romanticism, social justice, and moral idealism—a comprehensive chronological list of his published writings, and a detailed timeline of his life, highlighting the personal relationships (including his relationship with Charles Dickens) and political commitments that shaped his vision.

In "The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Illustrated Edition)," Victor Hugo masterfully intertwines the themes of love, fate, and the quest for acceptance against the vibrant backdrop of medieval Paris. This richly illustrated edition enhances Hugo's exquisite prose, further immersing readers in the evocative imagery of the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral and its surrounding urban landscape. The narrative unfolds through the poignant lives of its tragic characters, such as the deformed bell-ringer Quasimodo and the beautiful Esmeralda, encapsulating the dichotomy between societal judgment and innate compassion while embracing the Romantic literary style that characterized Hugo's work during the 19th century. Victor Hugo, a towering figure in French literature, was deeply influenced by his tumultuous surroundings, including the socio-political upheaval of his time, which instilled in him a profound empathy for the marginalized. His experiences as a political exile and his unwavering commitment to social justice resonate throughout "Hunchback," amplifying its themes of human dignity and compassion amidst societal neglect. An advocate for the downtrodden, Hugo's own life journey shaped his narrative approach, lending authenticity and depth to the characters he crafted. This illustrated edition of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is not only a captivating tale of love and tragedy but also a profound commentary on the human condition. I recommend this book to all readers who seek both aesthetic pleasure and meaningful reflection within literature, as it remains a timeless exploration of beauty, conflict, and redemption in contemporary society. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes. - The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists. - A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing. - An Author Biography reveals milestones in the author's life, illuminating the personal insights behind the text. - A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings. - Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life. - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (French: Notre-Dame de Paris) is an 1831 French novel written by Victor Hugo. It is set in 1482 in Paris, in and around the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. The book tells the story of a poor barefoot Gypsy girl (La Esmeralda) and a misshapen bell-ringer (Quasimodo) who was raised by the Archdeacon (Claude Frollo). The book was written as a statement to preserve the Notre Dame cathedral and not to 'modernize' it, as Hugo was thoroughly against this. The story begins during the Renaissance in 1482, the day of the Festival of Fools in Paris. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer, is introduced by his crowning as Pope of Fools. Esméralda, a beautiful 16-year-old gypsy with a kind and generous heart, captures the hearts of many men but especially Quasimodo's adopted father, Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his lust and the rules of the church. He orders Quasimodo to get her. Quasimodo is caught and whipped and ordered to be tied down in the heat. Esméralda seeing his thirst, offers him water. It saves her, for she captures the heart of the hunchback.

The Last Day of a Condemned Man (1829) is a short novel by Victor Hugo. Having witnessed several executions by guillotine as a young man, Hugo devoted himself in his art and political life to opposing the death penalty in France. Praised by Dostoevsky as "absolutely the most real and truthful of everything that Hugo wrote," The Last Day of a Condemned Man is a powerful story from an author who defined nineteenth century French literature. If you knew when and where you would die, how would you spend your final moments? For Hugo''s unnamed narrator, such an existential question is made reality. Sentenced to death for an unspecified crime, he reflects on his life as its last seconds wane in the shadows of a cramped prison cell. Recording his emotional state, observations, and conversations with a priest and fellow prisoner, the condemned man forces us to not only recognize his humanity, but question our own. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Victor Hugo''s The Last Day of a Condemned Man is a classic work of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, historical novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in French in 1831 as Notre-Dame de Paris ("Our Lady of Paris").

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame (French: Notre-Dame de Paris) is an 1831 French novel written by Victor Hugo. It is set in 1482 in Paris, in and around the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. The book tells the story of a poor barefoot Gypsy girl (La Esmeralda) and a misshapen bell-ringer (Quasimodo) who was raised by the Archdeacon (Claude Frollo). The book was written as a statement to preserve the Notre Dame cathedral and not to ''modernize'' it, as Hugo was thoroughly against this.The story begins during the Renaissance in 1482, the day of the Festival of Fools in Paris. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer, is introduced by his crowning as Pope of Fools.Esméralda, a beautiful 16-year-old gypsy with a kind and generous heart, captures the hearts of many men but especially Quasimodo''s adopted father, Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his lust and the rules of the church. He orders Quasimodo to get her. Quasimodo is caught and whipped and ordered to be tied down in the heat. Esméralda seeing his thirst, offers him water. It saves her, for she captures the heart of the hunchback."

More commonly known as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Victor Hugo's Romantic novel of dark passions and unrequited love.In the vaulted Gothic towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral lives Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bellringer. Mocked and shunned for his appearance, he is pitied only by Esmerelda, a beautiful gypsy dancer to whom he becomes completely devoted. Esmerelda, however, has also attracted the attention of the sinister archdeacon Claude Frollo, and when she rejects his lecherous approaches, Frollo hatches a plot to destroy her, that only Quasimodo can prevent. Victor Hugo's sensational, evocative novel brings life to the medieval Paris he loved, and mourns its passing in one of the greatest historical romances of the nineteenth century.

Set in medieval Paris, Victor Hugo's powerful historical romance The Hunchback of Notre-Dame has resonated with succeeding generations ever since its publication in 1837. It tells the story of the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda, condemned as a witch by the tormented archdeacon Claude Frollo, who lusts after her. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer of Notre-Dame Cathedral, having fallen in love with the kindhearted Esmeralda, tries to save her by hiding her in the cathedral's tower. When a crowd of Parisian peasants, misunderstanding Quasimodo's motives, attacks the church in an attempt to liberate her, the story ends in tragedy.The sixth of January, 1482, is not, however, a day of which history has preserved the memory. There was nothing notable in the event which thus set the bells and the bourgeois of Paris in a ferment from early morning. It was neither an assault by the Picards nor the Burgundians, nor a hunt led along in procession, nor a revolt of scholars in the town of Laas, nor an entry of "our much dread lord, monsieur the king," nor even a pretty hanging of male and female thieves by the courts of Paris. Neither was it the arrival, so frequent in the fifteenth century, of some plumed and bedizened embassy. It was barely two days since the last cavalcade of that nature, that of the Flemish ambassadors charged with concluding the marriage between the dauphin and Marguerite of Flanders, had made its entry into Paris, to the great annoyance of M. le Cardinal de Bourbon, who, for the sake of pleasing the king, had been obliged to assume an amiable mien towards this whole rustic rabble of Flemish burgomasters, and to regale them at his Hôtel de Bourbon, with a very "pretty morality, allegorical satire, and farce," while a driving rain drenched the magnificent tapestries at his door.

Ninety-Three (Quatrevingt-treize) is the last novel by the French writer Victor Hugo. Published in 1874, shortly after the bloody upheaval of the Paris Commune, the novel concerns the Revolt in the Vendée and Chouannerie – the counter-revolutionary revolts in 1793 during the French Revolution. It is divided into three parts, but not chronologically; each part tells a different story, offering a different view of historical general events. The action mainly takes place in Brittany and in Paris. Ayn Rand greatly praised this book (and Hugo''s writing in general), acknowledged it as a source of inspiration, and even wrote an introduction to one of its English-language editions.

Rare edition with unique illustrations. Set in medieval Paris, Victor Hugo''s powerful historical romance The Hunchback of Notre-Dame has resonated with succeeding generations ever since its publication in 1837. It tells the story of the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda, condemned as a witch by the tormented archdeacon Claude Frollo, who lusts a fter her. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer of Notre-Dame Cathedral, having fallen in love with the kindhearted Esmeralda, tries to save her by hiding her in the cathedral''s tower. When a crowd of Parisian peasants, misunderstanding Quasimodo''s motives, attacks the church in an attempt to liberate her.

Les Misérables is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original French title. However, several alternatives have been used, including The Miserables, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims and The Dispossessed.Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, the novel follows the lives and interactions of several characters, particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Quatrevingt-Treize by Victor Hugo

Bilingual classic in French and English.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (French: Notre-Dame de Paris) is an 1831 French novel written by Victor Hugo. It is set in 1482 in Paris, in and around the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. The book tells the story of a poor barefoot Gypsy girl (La Esmeralda) and a misshapen bell-ringer (Quasimodo) who was raised by the Archdeacon (Claude Frollo). The book was written as a statement to preserve the Notre Dame cathedral and not to 'modernize' it, as Hugo was thoroughly against this.The story begins during the Renaissance in 1482, the day of the Festival of Fools in Paris. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer, is introduced by his crowning as Pope of Fools.Esm�ralda, a beautiful 16-year-old gypsy with a kind and generous heart, captures the hearts of many men but especially Quasimodo's adopted father, Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his lust and the rules of the church. He orders Quasimodo to get her. Quasimodo is caught and whipped and ordered to be tied down in the heat. Esm�ralda seeing his thirst, offers him water. It saves her, for she captures the heart of the hunchback.

Three hundred and forty-eight years, six months, and nineteen days ago to-day, the Parisians awoke to the sound of all the bells in the triple circuit of the city, the university, and the town ringing a full peal.The sixth of January, 1482, is not, however, a day of which history has preserved the memory. There was nothing notable in the event which thus set the bells and the bourgeois of Paris in a ferment from early morning. It was neither an assault by the Picards nor the Burgundians, nor a hunt led along in procession, nor a revolt of scholars in the town of Laas, nor an entry of "our much dread lord, monsieur the king," nor even a pretty hanging of male and female thieves by the courts of Paris. Neither was it the arrival, so frequent in the fifteenth century, of some plumed and bedizened embassy. It was barely two days since the last cavalcade of that nature, that of the Flemish ambassadors charged with concluding the marriage between the dauphin and Marguerite of Flanders, had made its entry into Paris, to the great annoyance of M. le Cardinal de Bourbon, who, for the sake of pleasing the king, had been obliged to assume an amiable mien towards this whole rustic rabble of Flemish burgomasters, and to regale them at his Hôtel de Bourbon, with a very "pretty morality, allegorical satire, and farce," while a driving rain drenched the magnificent tapestries at his door.What put the "whole population of Paris in commotion," as Jehan de Troyes expresses it, on the sixth of January, was the double solemnity, united from time immemorial, of the Epiphany and the Feast of Fools.On that day, there was to be a bonfire on the Place de Grève, a maypole at the Chapelle de Braque, and a mystery at the Palais de Justice. It had been cried, to the sound of the trumpet, the preceding evening at all the cross roads, by the provost''s men, clad in handsome, short, sleeveless coats of violet camelot, with large white crosses upon their breasts.So the crowd of citizens, male and female, having closed their houses and shops, thronged from every direction, at early morn, towards some one of the three spots designated.Each had made his choice; one, the bonfire; another, the maypole; another, the mystery play. It must be stated, in honor of the good sense of the loungers of Paris, that the greater part of this crowd directed their steps towards the bonfire, which was quite in season, or towards the mystery play, which was to be presented in the grand hall of the Palais de Justice (the courts of law), which was well roofed and walled; and that the curious left the poor, scantily flowered maypole to shiver all alone beneath the sky of January, in the cemetery of the Chapel of Braque.The populace thronged the avenues of the law courts in particular, because they knew that the Flemish ambassadors, who had arrived two days previously, intended to be present at the representation of the mystery, and at the election of the Pope of the Fools, which was also to take place in the grand hall.It was no easy matter on that day, to force one''s way into that grand hall, although it was then reputed to be the largest covered enclosure in the world (it is true that Sauval had not yet measured the grand hall of the Château of Montargis). The palace place, encumbered with people, offered to the curious gazers at the windows the aspect of a sea; into which five or six streets, like so many mouths of rivers, discharged every moment fresh floods of heads. The waves of this crowd, augmented incessantly, dashed against the angles of the houses which projected here and there, like so many promontories, into the irregular basin of the place. In the centre of the lofty Gothic façade of the palace, the grand staircase, incessantly ascended and descended by a double current, which, after parting on the intermediate landing-place, flowed in broad waves along its lateral slopes,-the grand staircase, I say, trickled incessantly into the place, like a cascade into a lake.

PREFACE Notre-Dame de Paris Also known as: The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo A few years ago, while visiting or, rather, rummaging about Notre-Dame, the author of this book found, in an obscure nook of one of the towers, the following word, engraved by hand upon the wall:-- ~ANArKH~. These Greek capitals, black with age, and quite deeply graven in the stone, with I know not what signs peculiar to Gothic caligraphy imprinted upon their forms and upon their attitudes, as though with the purpose of revealing that it had been a hand of the Middle Ages which had inscribed them there, and especially the fatal and melancholy meaning contained in them, struck the author deeply. He questioned himself; he sought to divine who could have been that soul in torment which had not been willing to quit this world without leaving this stigma of crime or unhappiness upon the brow of the ancient church. Afterwards, the wall was whitewashed or scraped down, I know not which, and the inscription disappeared. For it is thus that people have been in the habit of proceeding with the marvellous churches of the Middle Ages for the last two hundred years. Mutilations come to them from every quarter, from within as well as from without. The priest whitewashes them, the archdeacon scrapes them down; then the populace arrives and demolishes them. Thus, with the exception of the fragile memory which the author of this book here consecrates to it, there remains to-day nothing whatever of the mysterious word engraved within the gloomy tower of Notre-Dame,--nothing of the destiny which it so sadly summed up. The man who wrote that word upon the wall disappeared from the midst of the generations of man many centuries ago; the word, in its turn, has been effaced from the wall of the church; the church will, perhaps, itself soon disappear from the face of the earth. It is upon this word that this book is founded. March, 1831.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

"Les Miserables - Volume I" from Victor Hugo. French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist and statesman (1802-1885)."

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Victor Hugo's first novel, Hans of Iceland , is a northern romance, in which the youthful writer has turned to great account the savage wilds, gloomy lakes, stormy seas, pathless caves, and ruined fortresses of Scandinavia. A savage being, and as savage as the scenery around him, - human in his birth, but more akin to the brute in his nature; diminutive, but with a giant's strength; whose hobby is assassination, who lives literally as well as metaphorically on blood, - is the hero; and around this monster are grouped some of the strangest, ghastliest, and yet not wholly unnatural beings which it is possible for the imagination to conceive,- Spiagudry, the keeper of the dead-house or Morgue of Drontheim, and Orugex, the state executioner; - while gentler forms, the noble and persecuted Schumacher, and the devoted and innocent Ethel, relieve the pastimes of crime and horror.

Victor-Marie Hugo, in full Victor-Marie Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist who was the most important of the French Romantic writers. Though regarded in France as one of that country's greatest poets, he is better known abroad for such novels as Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem, and Hugo is sometimes identified as the greatest French poet. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (also known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame).Though a committed royalist when he was young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed; he became a passionate supporter of republicanism, and his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He is buried in the Panthéon.-wikipedia

The French title of the novel emphasizes Notre Dame's (A French memorial) role as a symbol of Paris. Primarily novel is concerned with the theme of revolution and social strife. Hugo was profoundly concerned by the class differences that set the 1789 French Revolution in motion. Hugo acknowledges that fate plays a powerful role, but implies that free will is also possible.

Encompassing a multitude of plots, the narrative is bounded by the character of the protagonist, Jean Valjean. Expressing the author's ideas about society, religion and politics, it is in the backdrop of Napoleonic Wars and ensuing years that the story unravels. Grace, moral philosophy, law and history of France are discussed.

Although best known as the author of Notre Dame de Paris and Les Misérables, Victor Hugo was primarily a poet—one of the most important and prolific in French history. Despite his renown, however, there are few comprehensive collections of his verse available and even fewer translated editions. Translators E. H. and A. M. Blackmore have collected Victor Hugo's essential verse into a single, bilingual volume that showcases all the facets of Hugo's oeuvre, including intimate love poems, satires against the political establishment, serene meditations, religious verse, and narrative poems illustrating his mastery of the art of storytelling and his abiding concern for the social issues of his time. More than half of this volume's eight thousand lines of verse appear here for the first time in English, providing readers with a new perspective on each of the fascinating periods of Hugo's career and aspects of his style. Introductions to each section guide the reader through the stages of Hugo's writing, while notes on individual poems provide information not found in even the most detailed French-language editions. Illustrated with Hugo's own paintings and drawings, this lucid translation—available on the eve of Hugo's bicentenary—pays homage to this towering figure of nineteenth-century literature by capturing the energy of his poetry, the drama and satirical force of his language, and the visionary beauty of his writing as a whole.