V

Victor Hugo

France

About

French poet, novelist, and dramatist (1802–1885) and one of the most important figures in French Romanticism. A committed political activist, he spent nineteen years in exile for opposing Napoleon III.

Books on TheBookRoads

Les Misérables

Former convict Jean Valjean's decades-long pursuit by the relentless Inspector Javert frames a sweeping panorama of French society, poverty, and revolutionary struggle. One of the longest and most translated novels in French literature.

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

In 15th-century Paris, the deformed bell-ringer Quasimodo falls in love with the gypsy dancer Esmeralda, who is pursued by the corrupt archdeacon Frollo. Hugo used the novel partly to draw attention to the neglect of Gothic architecture.

The Red and the Black

Ambitious young Julien Sorel, the son of a carpenter in Restoration France, rises through society by means of his intelligence and hypocrisy, only to destroy himself through passion. One of the first great psychological novels.

Country

Also from France

Gustave Flaubert

Jean-Paul Sartre