Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) was a French poet, novelist, and playwright, and a leader of the French Romantic literary movement. His work spans poetry, fiction, and drama, and is known for grand narrative, intense emotion, and deep concern for social suffering. Notre-Dame de Paris, set in medieval Paris, dramatizes the sharp contrast between beauty and ugliness, good and evil. Les Misérables is vast in scope, centering on the fate of the poor and touching on themes of poverty, law, and redemption; Chinese editions include two-volume and three-volume versions. He also wrote Ninety-Three and a large body of poetry and plays, represented by Selected Poems of Hugo. He died in 1885 and was buried in the Panthéon in Paris. His works have had a lasting influence worldwide and are often classed among world classics and foreign literature.