(1802-1885) Leader of the romantic movement in France; author of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables.
(Marie) French poet, novelist, and dramatist. The Odes et poésies diverses appeared 1822, and his verse play Hernani 1830 established him as the leader of French Romanticism. More volumes of verse followed between his series of dramatic novels, which included Notre-Dame de Paris 1831, later filmed as The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1924, 1939, and Les Misérables 1862, adapted as a musical 1980.
Born at Besançon, Hugo was the son of one of Napoleon's generals. Originally a monarchist, his support of republican ideals in the 1840s led to his banishment 1851 for opposing Louis Napoleon's coup d'état. He lived in exile in Guernsey until the fall of the empire 1870, later becoming a senator under the Third Republic.
He died a national hero and is buried in the Panthéon, Paris.