Victor Hugo

Legacy: the Artists Behind the Legends

Victor Marie Hugo was a novelist, poet, and dramatist of the Romantic Movement, known most notably for writing Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He is considered to be one of the greatest French writers of all time, and while Le Mis and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are his best-known works, Hugo is primarily remembered in France for his poetry, such as The Contemplations and The Legend of the Ages. He was also an incredibly talented artist and fervent political activist, standing firm in his fight against numerous social causes including the abolition of capital punishment. Though he was a committed royalist in his youth, as he grew older, Hugo became a staunch supporter of Republicanism, and even spent some time in exile because of these ideals when Louis Napoleon (aka Napoleon the III) took over in 1851. But…like those before him, Hugo had some very interesting habits. Despite loving his wife, he had an incredible amount of mistresses throughout his life, and his sexual tastes centered greatly around…feet. Yep, that’s right, full on 19th century foot fetish. On top of that, he wrote in the nude…poems, novels, everything...Hugo apparently didn’t want to feel restricted while he worked. And there’s more…way more. So let’s get started after our two-week recess and dissect the life of none other than Victor Hugo.