Alfred Barbou was himself a famous writer at that time as well as an intimate friend of Victor Hugo. This book was approved by Victor Hugo and his wife, was translated into several languages, and is generally considered to be the best life of Victor Hugo. The book was published just before the death of Victor Hugo, and is here presented in its original form, with a chapter upon the closing years and death of Victor Hugo having been added by the editor to bring the narrative to completion.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1882.

Compiled from reports published in 1881 when France held special celebrations to honor Victor Hugo on his 80th birthday. The 27th of December, 1880, was a fête day at Besançon. The houses in the picturesque old town, which dates further back than the Roman conquest, were hung with flags, and the echoes of music came back from the surrounding hills. On the banks of the river, in the streets, and in the squares, a well-dressed crowd was awaiting a ceremonial of honor. One name was upon every lip -- that name was Victor Hugo. The object in the following pages, which are dedicated to Victor Hugo and his century (for the century must ever be associated with his name), to testify our admiration for a man whose every action commands our respect; for the writer who has infused new life into the antiquated diction of our language; for the poet whose verses purify while they fascinate the soul; for the dramatist whose plays exhibit his sympathy with the unrenowned classes; for the historian who has branded with ignominy the tyranny of oppressors; for the satirist who has avenged the outrages of conscience; for the orator who had defended every noble and righteous cause; for the exile who has stood up undaunted to vindicate justice; and finally for the master-mind whose genius has shed a halo of glory over France. Victor Hugo (1802-85) was a French poet, novelist, and playwright, whose voluminous works provided the single greatest impetus to the Romantic Movement. Hugo was France's favorite son, but more than that, for years he had been her champion, her conscience and her spirit. The most abiding picture of Hugo is that of the exile: the "Guernsey Tribunal" dispensing judgement and truth across Europe, his patriarchal image enhanced by the beard he grew to protect his weak throat. It is true that he had the vices of his virtues: he was proud, egocentric, sometimes mean, and often unfaithful. But he was a great man, recognized as such and loved as such by his countrymen.

This meticulously edited collection is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents: Introduction: Victor Hugo: His Life and Work Novels & Novellas: Les Misérables The Hunchback of Notre-Dame The Man Who Laughs Toilers of the Sea Hans of Iceland Bug-Jargal The Last Day of a Condemned Man; or, A Criminal's Last Hours Ninety-Three Claude Gueux (A Crime Story) A Fight with a Cannon Plays: Cromwell Hernani Marion De Lorme The King Amuses Himself Mary Tudor Esmeralda Ruy Blas Poetry: The Legend of the Alps "My Daughter, Hence and Pray! See, Night is Stealing o'er us" The Tomb and the Rose Miscellaneous Poems Essays & Speeches: Medley of Philosophy and Literature Napoleon the Little William Shakespeare The History of a Crime "In Defense of His Son" Address to the Workman's Congress at Marseille Oration on Voltaire Memoirs & Letters: The Memoirs of Victor Hugo Juliette Drouet's Love- Letters to Victor Hugo Letter to the London News Regarding John Brown Letter to Mrs. Maria Weston Chapman on American Slavery

'To the English, I am "shocking"...What's more, French, which is disgusting; republican, which is abominable; exiled, which is repulsive; defeated, which is infamous. To top it all off, a poet...' Victor Hugo dominated literary life in France for over half a century, pouring forth novels, poems, plays, and other writings with unflagging zest and vitality. Here, for the first time in English, all aspects of his work are represented within a single volume. Famous scenes from the novels Notre-Dame, Les Misérables, and The Toilers of the Sea are included, as well as excerpts from his intimate diaries, poems of love and loss, and scathing denunciations of the political establishment. All the chosen passages are self-contained and can be enjoyed without any previous knowledge of Hugo's work. Much of the material is appearing in English for the first time, and most of it has never before been annotated thoroughly in any language.