Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights campaigner, and perhaps the most influential exponent of the Romantic movement in France.

In France, Hugo's literary reputation rests primarily on his poetic and dramatic output and only secondarily on his novels. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem, and Hugo is sometimes identified as the greatest French poet. In the English-speaking world, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. His other novels include The Last Days of a Condemned Man, Toilers of the Sea, and The Man Who Laughs.