The famous writer Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802 in Paris, France, 220 years ago. He was the third son of Joseph-Leopold-Sigisbert Hugo, a general in Napoleon’s army.
He graduated in law from Paris, but had little ambition of practising law. He was more interested in writing poetry, tragedies, plays and essays. He published his first novel ‘Han d’Islande’ in 1823, which appeared in English as ‘Hans of Iceland’. In 1824 he published a collection of poems called ‘Nouvelles Odes’.
Victor Hugo powerfully depicted the joys and sorrows of the common people in his writing. He is remembered as a beloved son of France who captured the essence of the human experience amidst all its misery and triumphs.
In a literary career spanning more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres, namely – lyrics, satires, epics, philosophical poems, epigrams, novels, history, critical essays, political speeches, funeral orations, diaries, letters public and private, as well as dramas in verse and prose.
He is regarded as one of France’s greatest poets, but is better known outside France for novels such as ‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ published in 1831 and ‘Les Miserables’ published in 1862.
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