The Memoirs of Victor Hugo

by Victor Hugo

The Memoirs of Victor Hugo (1899) is an autobiographical work by Victor Hugo. Assembled from diaries and manuscripts left behind by the author following his death in 1895, the Memoirs are as much a record of a life as they are a portrait of nineteenth century France. Told from the perspective of a supremely gifted artist whose command of language is matched only by his commitment to morality, The Memoirs of Victor Hugo is an invaluable text for scholars and fans alike--there is no shortage of interesting details and brilliant reflections within. For a writer of Hugo's stature, whose poems, plays, novels, and essays earned him a reputation on an international scale as one of the nineteenth century's premier artists, there is always the chance that the myth will outlast the man, and that the work will fall victim to idolization. For Hugo, despite his immense success both during his life and in the twentieth century as his stories formed the basis for beloved films and musicals, this would very much have been the case if not for his understated Memoirs, which carefully place his life in context of the time in which he lived. Beginning with his youth, which coincided with the coronation of Charles X, Hugo moves through the passages of his memory while stopping to remember the literary heroes, such as Shakespeare, who influenced his vision of the world. As France descends into war and hunger, Hugo is there to guide us through the chaos, to show us the light that waits on the other side, distant but never too far out of reach. His story is the story of France, a personal history interwoven with meditations on faith, politics, and philosophy that remain essential to his legacy as one of France's greatest literary figures. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Victor Hugo's The Memoirs of Victor Hugo is a classic work of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

Genres: Classics, Biography, Nonfiction, France, French Literature, History

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1899

About the author

After Napoleon III seized power in 1851, French writer Victor Marie Hugo went into exile and in 1870 returned to France; his novels include The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).

This poet, playwright, novelist, dramatist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, and perhaps the most influential, important exponent of the Romantic movement in France, campaigned for human rights. People in France regard him as one of greatest poets of that country and know him better abroad.

Reviews

[Bettie]

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2523

[Emily Paxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good way to get to know who Victor Hugo was as a person. This edition, however, isn't very well annotated, and as a result if you aren't intimately familiar with French history and the more or less obscure French politicians of the time, then you'll have to rely on Wikipedia to keep up with what's going on. Just a warning!

[Laura]

Free download available at Project Gutenberg.

[Rachel Pollock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as research for a novel i'm working on in which the Paris revolution of 1848 figures in peripherally, and Victor Hugo was there in the streets and wrote about it in a section of this book. So, i didn't read it for fun but i am glad that i did read it, and i wound up reading the whole thing even beyond the chapters i needed to for the research.

It's interesting to see how this collection was put together, in contrast with contemporary memoirs. The chapters are disparate, random, and the narrative tone varies from didactic to informal. Some of them are selections from Hugo's diaries, and some are more formal essays. There is no connecting theme, beyond the author himself. I found the first-person diary sections regarding politically volatile periods in Paris history to be the most compelling. I expect this kind of disconnectedness was not uncommon with 19th century memoirs, but from the POV of an age in which memoirs are so planned and focused and expressly written with a narrative structure in mind, this book reads more like surfing sidebar tags in a blog. Which, fine.

And, i feel conflicted about Hugo himself when he writes about women, period. It's clear that he would probably have been considered very sympathetic to women at the time, but from a 21st century perspective, he's still such a creature of his times and his views so hidebound by the blind sexism of the age.

But anyway, useful for research, and otherwise interesting as well.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of this is taken from his personal journals. Sometimes moving, sometimes fascinating, occasionally a bit dull, with a periodic touch of confusion for a reader without detail & intimate knowledge of 19th Century France. Certainly, it is nice to have a look at the human side of history with this personal recounting from an often articulate and interesting writer. There is one rather ugly chapter that is insultingly racist about an uprising of black people in some French colony or something. That really brings the book down for a modern reader and is a shame to see from such an otherwise seemingly level-headed supporter of democracy, peace, and fairness. The rest of the book is worthwhile.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A read of famous history

Easy to read and understand, interesting snippets of history, instead of needing to read a whole book on a fact you can read a chapter to get the same result.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating read but you really need to be up on your mid-1800s French political history.

Some of the book is just character sketches, edited and polished bits from his journal. But the majority of the book is about his participation in the legislative and parliamentary processes before the 1848 Republic, during the ascent of the Second Empire and the fall of the same, and the Franco Prussian war and siege of Paris.

If that interests you this is a first hand account. IF it doesn't, I'd give the book a miss.

[Velvetink]

epub version

[Heather Holmes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care for the style of this memoir. It was very disjointed and every anecdote seemed to start in the middle. I read 20% of it and I consider myself done with it. It just didn't hook me.