Victor Hugo studied law between 1815 and 1818, though he never committed himself to legal practice. Encouraged by his mother, Hugo embarked on a career in literature. After training as a lawyer, Hugo embarked on the literary career. He became one of the most important French Romantic poets, novelists and dramatists of his time, having assembled a massive body of work while living in Paris, Brussels and the Channel …show more content…
He was eventually elected in 1841 in a victory that began his political career. In 1845, King Louis-Philippe gave him peerage and a platform to speak against the death penalty and social injustice. He was a strong advocate of press freedom and self-government for Poland. Three years later he was elected to the National Assembly.
A prolific writer, Hugo was established as one of the most celebrated literary figures in France by the 1840s. In 1841, he was elected to the French Academy and nominated for the Chamber of Peers. He stepped back from publishing his work following the accidental drowning of his daughter and her husband in 1843. In private, he began work on a piece of writing that would become Les Misérables. Taking him seventeen years to write, Les Miserables is one of the longest novels ever written. It comes number 20 on the list with 655,478 words.
Though Hugo returned to France after 1870 as a symbol of republican triumph, his later years were largely sad. He lost two sons between 1871 and 1873. Victor Hugo died in Paris on May 22, 1885. He received a hero's funeral. Hugo remains one of the giants of French literature. Although French audiences celebrate him primarily as a poet, he is better known as a novelist in English-speaking