Victor Hugo

This is a detailed study dealing with Victor Hugo's verse in its totality. It shows how each work was composed, how the themes evolved, and how strategic considerations, as well as the events of the author's life, dictated the sequence of his publications. This book should be of equal value to those who want to follow the stages by which his pre-eminence was established in all categories of poetry, and to those seeking a closer reading of individual works. The book also shows the importance of the European dimension in Hugo's writings.Table of ContentPart I 1815-1843: ambitions; a poetic vocation: Cahiers de vers francais; other early verse; odes; ballades; les orientales; early plays: irtamene; athelie ou les Scandinaves; A.Q.C.H.E.B.; Inez de Castro; early novels of conflict: bug-jargal; Han d'Islande; Le Dernier Jour d'un condamne; an experiment in synthesis: Notre-Dame de Paris; theory and practice of the drame: Amy Robsart; Cromwell; Marion de Lorme; Hernani; Le Roi s'amuse; three melodramas: Lucrece Borgia; Marie Tudor; Angelo, Tyran de Padoue; the end of a campaign: Ruy Blas; Les Jumeaux; the search for a poetic identity: Les Feuilles d'automne; Les Chants du crepuscule; Les Voix interieures; Les Rayons et les ombres; a dramatic aftermath: Les Burgraves. Part II 1844-1870: dominance; the guardian of political values: Ch timents; a metaphysical interlude: Les tables tournantes de Jersey; epic and religion: La Fin de Satan; Dieu; the spectrum of a life: Les Contemplations; shifts of perspective: L'Ane; La R'evolution; Le Verso de la page; La Piti 'e supr me; figurations of progress: La Legende des siecles; Premiere serie; art for society's sake: Les Miserables; a treatise on genius: William Shakespeare; pegasus in the paddock: Les Chansons des rues et des bois; destructive forces: Les Travailleurs de la mer; a multiple theatre: Theatre en liberte; Mille francs de recompense; L'Intervention; Les Deux Trouvailles de Gallus (Margarita, Esca); Torquemada; scepticism and Faith: Religions et Religion; towards a Political Trilogy I: L'Homme qui rit; waiting for nemesis: Les Annees funestes; Paris. Part III 1870-1885: witness; the Return of Olympio (1870); poetry of two wars: L'Annee terrible; towards a political trilogy II: Quatrevingt-treize; papalism revalued: Mes fils; Paris et Rome; Le Pape; an insubstantial pageant: La Legende des siecles (Nouvelle s 'erie); full circle: L'Art tre grand-pere; a final variation: La Legende des siecles (Derniere serie).