Les Contemplations: Tome I, Volume 1

Victor Marie Hugo, Born in Besancon, France and lived there most of his life. He decided to live in exile as a result of Napolean III’s coup at the end of 1851 where Victor openly declared Napolean a traitor to France and did not return until Napolean was forced from power in the Franco-Prussian War in 1873. After the death of his mother in 1821 Victor married his childhood sweetheart, Adele Foucher, and they had five children. He published his first novel in 1823, followed by five volumes of poetry between 1829 and 1840. Hunchback of Notre Dame was published in 1831, his first full length novel and quickly translated into numerous languages. Victor describes his shock and grief at the death of this daughter in 1843 in a poem called A Villequier. Victor started LesMiserables on social injustices and it would take 17 years to be published in 1862. When he was in his seventies, Victor suffered a mild stroke, his daughter Adele’s admittance to an insane asylum, and the death of his two sons. He celebrated his 80th birthday with a celebration and was presented with the Sevres vase, a gift for sovereigns. He died in 1885 and it generated national morning.