Victor Hugo- Styles and Themes
Victor Hugo Many critics would go as far as to say that Victor Hugo was and remains the Charles Dickens of France. Hugo is most well known for the writing of the famous Broadway show and book Les Misérables as well as what became the Disney Hit Hunchback of Notre Dame. A brilliant author, artist, and poet, Hugo is most recognized for his writing of government and revolution. But these themes that are common for many authors to write of have actually deemed Hugo quite unique, so much so that critics have deemed his writing “above any comprehendible human standards.” Edward Rothstein illustrates this in his essay Victor Hugo: A Theme of Good and Evil? Not So Fast. “We keep returning to the French romantic writer even as our films and entertainments keep trying to remake him in our own image, reduce him to our own size,” (par 6) he says. Rothstein describes just how powerful the writing of Hugo is. So powerful, that his readers have to reduce the writing’s power so that we can understand its significance. Prior to understanding Hugo’s writing, one must first put it into context. Hugo lived from 1802 to 1885, meaning that he witnessed a period of oppression and war throughout his lifetime. Both oppression and war leave a permanent mark in a witness’s head, just as it did for Hugo. For Hugo however, the permanent mark was that of death. In his review Victor Hugo on the Universe within the Poet, Michael Riffaterre explores many of Hugo’s themes, especially death.
"Death is ever present to his [Hugo’s] mind, hence a veritable fixation on the obvious symbol of the death's head : even objects only remotely similar, like a ruined tower or a submarine cave, will remind him of a skull-an inhabited one, so to say. Some poets see the inside of the head as a diminutive sky; Hugo sees the sky as a giant skull. (Par 2)" Other than the common theme of death, switching sides is common in many of Hugo’s works. In Les Miserables, the most famous of Hugo’s works, the protagonist is
"Death is ever present to his [Hugo’s] mind, hence a veritable fixation on the obvious symbol of the death's head : even objects only remotely similar, like a ruined tower or a submarine cave, will remind him of a skull-an inhabited one, so to say. Some poets see the inside of the head as a diminutive sky; Hugo sees the sky as a giant skull. (Par 2)" Other than the common theme of death, switching sides is common in many of Hugo’s works. In Les Miserables, the most famous of Hugo’s works, the protagonist is
Bibliography: Riffaterre, Michael. "Victor Hugo’s Poetics.” Romanic Review 93.1/2 (2002): 151-160 93.1/2 (2002): 161-171. Discovery. ProQuest. 4 Feb. 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=548883361&sid=2&Fmt=4&clientId=7877&RQT=309&VName=PQD Raser, Timothy. "Victor Hugo 's politics and aesthetics of race in Bug-Jargal.” Romanic Review 89.3 (1998): 307-319 Affron, Charles “Victor Hugo- French Dramatist” (1997) New York University. 12 February