Victor Hugo, writer, poet and dramatist (1802-1885)

Victor Hugo was born on the 26th of February 1802 in Besançon but spent only 6 weeks of his existence in the Franche-Comté. His father, one of Napoleon's generals, took him away with him at this early age, on his campaigns in Italy and Spain. Once settled in Paris with his mother in 1813, the young boy threw himself into literature. His precocious talent was equalled only by his ambition and, at the age of 14, he wrote « Je veux être Chateaubriand ou rien » (I will be Chateaubriand or nobody at all). At the age of 20 he published Odes, his first collection of poems and, at 25, Cromwell, the play which would reveal him to the public. Thus was the most famous French writer, playwright and poet, author of Les Misérables and Notre-dame de Paris, born to the world of literature. Writer and also politician, he was a passionate supporter of the universal right to vote and of the abolition of the death penalty. Today this great man is laid to rest in the Pantheon.