Victor Hugo: A Realistic Biography of the Great Romantic

by Matthew Josephson

With trenchant realism and profound understanding, Matthew Josephson presents in VICTOR HUGO the realistic biography of a great romantic who wrote Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Name, among others. Of tremendous sweep and scope, it is a penetrating analysis of a literary titan, who as a political pamphleteer, playwright, novelist, and romantic lover, dominated his time, influenced his peers, and moved the hearts of men. Matthew Josephson, whose Stendhal, Zola, The Robber Barons, and Rousseau defined him as a master of the art of biography, has given us in VICTOR HUGO a highly readable account of this vigorous, zestful, and fruitful career. VICTOR HUGO is the final and definitive work on "France's prince of poets and lord of language." EARLIER BOOK REVIEWS "Matthew Joseph's third full-blown biography of a great French writer.is the best. There is more color and drive in it .because the materials are so rich." New York Times Book Review (1942) "Victor Hugo's varied and colorful career offered Josephson a perfect opportunity to display again his gift for spirited narrative and keen characterization. He skillfully traces Hugo's conversion from literary great to political hero. Along the way he adds texture to his portrait by interweaving the fascinating components of Hugo's personal life -his marriage to Adèle Foucher, his fifty-year liaison with Juliette Drouet, and his friendship and betrayal by Sainte-Beuve.Victor Hugo's life was a success story without parallel, and it provided an apotheosis of Josephson's point about the duty of writers in times of social and political crisis. The critics again praised Josephson's talents as a biographer." - David E. Shi, Matthew Bourgeois Bohemian, Yale University Press, 1981

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 2006

Reviews

[Ann Otto · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 1942 biography of Victor Hugo (1802-1885) author of Les Miserables and Notre-Dame de Paris (source of The Hunchback of Notre Dame) among other plays and novels. The book reveals that more of his works are based on his personal life experiences than one might think. He was to France what Dickens was to England and Tolstoy to Russia.

[Shirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to this because I loved The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. Reading this biography was like opening Pandora's box. My knowledge of Victor Hugo was nil compared to what I learned from Josephson's account. Hugo was so much more than a novelist. His life was Parisian and French politics;protesting,writing poems and plays,living in exile in Britain, Brussels, Luxemburg. He fought for democracy with his pen and his voice.