第1章 Authors Biography

Victor Hugo was born on the 26th of February，1802，at Besanon，where his father，an officer in Moreau's army，was commanding a battalion.His first three years were spent in Corsica；in 1805 his mother took her family to Paris，but rejoined her husband，at Avellino，in South Italy，in 1807.General Hugo，as the father presently became，was appointed a governor in Spain，from which the English under Wellington dislodged himself and his family in 1812.Returning to Paris，Victor was put to school until 1818，when he made up his mind that literature should be his profession.That he was still under classical influences was proved by his first volume，the'Odes et Poésies'of 1822.It gained him a pension from Louis XVIII，and was followed next year by his earliest novel，'Han d'Islande.'The romantic movement now spread to France，and Hugo was one of its earliest adherents；he took the lead in revolt by publishing his'Odes'in 1826 and his'Cromwell'in 1827.It was in the preface to the latter that his famous formula of the Romantic faith was issued.He first took a place，however，among the leading lyric poets of Europe with his'Orientales'of 1829.This was a crowning year in Victor Hugo's career；it saw the production of'Hernani'and the composition of'Marion Delorme'and'Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné.'From this time forth his plays，novels，and lyrical poems were poured forth in three parallel and continuous streams.'Notre-Dame de Paris'was published on the 13th of February，1831.For the next ten years the life of Victor Hugo was one of continual prosperity and ever-ascending fame.Among his dramas，'Ruy Blas'belongs to 1838，and among the collections of his poems'Les Voix Intérieures'to 1837.He was elected to the French Academy in 1841 and created a peer of France in 1845.He had been in sympathy with the Government，but when the Royalists fell and Napoleon arrived on the scene，Victor Hugo became a violent radical.As a member of the Legislative Assembly he opposed the Coup d'état，and was exiled at the close of 1851，taking up his residence in Brussels.Here the violence of his attacks on Napoleon III led to his expulsion from Belgium，and in the summer of 1852 he settled at St.Héliers，in Jersey，whence he sent out the fierce sheaf of'Les Chatiments'in the following year.Jersey，in its turn，became too hot to hold him，and in the autumn of 1855 he took up his abode at Hauteville House，Guernsey，where he resided for fifteen years.His occupation during the earlier part of his stay at Guernsey was the composition of'La Légende des Siècles，'the first portion of which appeared in 1859.Victor Hugo's huge novel，'Les Misérables，'was published in 1862，and his fantastic work on Shakespeare in 1864.Two grotesquely romantic novels，'Les Travailleurs de la Mer'and'L'Homme Qui Rit，'belong respectively to 1866 and 1869.The Napoleon dynasty having fallen，Hugo immediately reappeared in France（September 5，1870）and endured his share of the sufferings of the siege of Paris.After somewhat unsuccessfully acting a part in the politics of reconstruction，Hugo withdrew to Brussels，from which town he was driven in May，1871，for his expressed sympathy with the Paris Commune.He now retired from the feuds of politics and devoted himself mainly to poetry，only one novel，'Quatre-vingt-treize，'1874，belonging to this latest period of his career.From December，1871，the residence of Hugo was Paris，where he lived with his widowed daughter-in-law and her children；in 1875 he was elected a perpetual senator.For fourteen years he enjoyed，in full serenity and strength，the splendours of an old age of extreme celebrity；it was said that he entered，during his lifetime，into immortality.In the spring of 1885 he took a chill while riding，as he loved to do，on the outside of an omnibus.His heart gradually gave way，and he died on the 22d of May.He received from the city of Paris a funeral of extreme pomp，and the Panthéon was prepared for his reception，after the coffin had been lying in public state，for twenty-four hours，under the Arc de Triomphe.

E.G.