Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most recognized French writers, Victor Hugo was the son of a general in Napoleon’s army. As such, he spent a significant portion of his childhood travelling Italy and Spain before joining his mother in Paris at the age of eleven. It was there that he developed his love affair with books and poetry.
Hugo experimented with many different genres of literature, however, it was his plays that proved the most successful. The July 1830 Revolution is credited as the driving force for many of Hugo’s best works, most remarkably, the literary masterpiece The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831). Not long after, Hugo developed a keen interest in politics and was awarded a seat on France’s National Assembly. Taking a predominately leftist stance, Hugo found himself outcast from France in the early 1850’s after voicing his disapproval of the monarch Napoleon. Hugo did not return to his homeland for nearly two decades and continued to be active in the literary world up until his passing in 1885. To date, Hugo is recognized as not only a literary genius, but also a French national hero.
Even now, nearly a century and a half later, the writings of Victor Hugo are at the foundation of popular culture, having spawned many movies and inspired countless other books. Hugo is thought to be a leader of the Romantic Movement and the creator of a unique brand of literature that combines imaginative realism with exaggerated symbolism and realistic elements. The characters in his stories serve the purpose of highlighting significant social issues, as Hugo’s fondness for politics compelled him to bring light to issues like universal suffrage and the availability of affordable education. Hugo firmly believed that it was his duty to stand up for those less fortunate than himself, a quality that drew him widespread appreciation.
Interestingly enough, Les Miserables was conceptualized two decades before being published in 1862. Les Miserables is viewed as a prolific example of humanitarian efforts that compel compassion and inspire hope in the face of social injustice and adversity. Even more so, it is a piece of history that paints a very clear picture of French politics and society during the nineteenth century. In writing Les Miserables, Hugo hoped that he would inspire a more democratic future.
Hugo’s fondness for imaginative realism is evident in Les Miserables. The novel takes places in an artificially crafted ‘hell on earth’ that boldly stresses the three primary issues of the nineteen century. Each of the three primary characters are used to symbolize these issues:
- Jean Valjean signifies the deprivation of man in the proletariat
- Fantine signifies the oppression of women through starvation
- Cossette signifies the atrophy of children in darkness
It is widely argued that Hugo created each character to symbolically represent much larger social issues without minimizing any of the other.