Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo was born in Besançon, France in 1802. His family traveled frequently because his father was a senior officer in Napoleon’s army. Hugo attained success at a young age, publishing his first novel in 1823 at age 21 and his second in 1826. Hugo also published five volumes of poetry between 1829 and 1840, garnering him the reputation as one of the greatest poets of the day. His 1831 novel Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) brought Hugo tremendous success outside of France. Hugo began working on his historical novel on social injustice, Les Misérables, in the 1830s, though it wasn’t fully realized and published until 1862. Hugo was exiled from France after calling Napoleon III a traitor, but returned in 1870 after the leader fell from power.