The Tragic Story of Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo’s life was full of sad tragic events and political affairs. Hugo once said, “To die is nothing; but it is terrible not to live.” And living is exactly what Hugo accomplished. He wrote numerous stories and essays, lived a vivacious love life and had heated opinions about the government in France. In the end of it all though, Hugo was a great romantic author who still lives on today in his works of literature.

Before Victor Hugo there was Joseph Lēopold-Sigsbert Hugo and Sophie Trēbuchet. Mr. Hugo was a soldier for Napoleon’s army in France, while Sophie was an orphan living with her aunt. Mr. Hugo believed himself to be a hero because he survived being shot through the neck, thought this fact did not impress Sophie when they met in a field. Mr. Hugo was more interested in her but moved to Paris to take a desk job and waited for Sophie. She eventually came and they were wed on November 15, 1797 without a Chaplin.

Victor-Marie Hugo was the third of three children born to his parents. He had 2 brothers, Abel and Eugēne. Hugo was born on February 26, 1802 and thought not to live because he was “No longer than a knife” (Robb 10). It is thought Hugo may have been born premature. Marie appears to be a strange name for a boy, but at this time period it was a common boy’s name and Sophie was expecting a girl.

Over the next eight year’s of Hugo’s life the family would move about five times while Mr. Hugo worked in Italy for Napoleon. At one point the children were shipped to live with their father, but during this time Sophie had an affair with General La Horie. The children were sent back to live with Sophie where they lived with the general. They lived with the general for about seven years when, in 1810, the general wa...

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... death though his famous works including Les Misérable's. During his lifetime, he “produced at least eight novels, nine plays, twenty-five collections of poetry and over 3,000 sketches and paintings, not to mention a torrent of critical and aesthetic essays” (Bradely 2009). Hugo’s life was full of tragedy and politics, yet he was able to produce some of the world’s most well known pieces of literature. “What is history? An echo of the past in the future; a reflex from the future on the past.” – Victor Hugo

Works Cited

Frey, John. “Chronology.” A Victor Hugo Encyclopedia. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1999

Josephson, Matthew. Victor Hugo: A Realistic Biography of the Great Romantic. Garden City: Doublenday, Doran & Co., Inc., 1942

Robb, Grahm. Victor Hugo. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997

Stephens, Bradley. “Victor Hugo”. Oxford Journals 2009: 66-74