Considered the greatest and best known French writer of all times, Victor Marie-Hugo was born in France on February 26, 1802.
From an early stage, he showed a commitment to raising social justice issues and giving voice to the oppressed, he also stood against capital punishment.
Hugo was born three years after Napoleon Bonaparte had seized power, and two years before he declared France an empire.
He studied law, though he never committed to legal practice. Encouraged by his family, he embarked on a career in literature.
Coming of age after Napoleon's defeat, Hugo began his life as a poet and a writer and soon became a key figure in the development of French Romanticism.
One of his very famous works is the novel Les Miserables, first published in 1862, and considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century.
Today a Google Doodle was created in his honour.
Les Miserables
Through Les Miserables, Victor Hugo examined the history of France, poverty, politics, moral philosophy, justice, religion, and for many he captured the humanity of those who were condemned to marginality.
On June 5, 1832, the death of General Lamarque sparked a rebellion against the monarchy which was quickly and brutally repressed.
This would provide the inspiration for the student revolt at the centre of Les Miserables. "We shall have a republic one day," he argued, "and when it comes of its own free will, it will be good. But, let us not harvest in May fruit which will not be ripe until July; let us learn to wait. . .. We cannot suffer boors to bespatter our flag with red."
Politically influential
As a public figure, he was politically influential.
He was elevated to the peerage by King Louis and entered the Higher Chamber as a pair de France, a designation of high distinction applied to a small number of the French nobility.
He spoke against death penalty and social injustice. Hugo raised to political fame after the February revolution and was ultimately elected as a representative of Paris.
When Napoleon III took complete power in 1851, Hugo openly declared him a traitor to France.
He moved to Brussels, then Jersey, from which he was expelled for supporting a newspaper that criticised Queen Victoria. He settled in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, where he would live in exile from October 1855 until 1870.
Lasting impact
While in exile, he published his political pamphlets against Napoleon III. They were banned in France but they had a strong impact there.
His work had also a lasting impact on writers such as Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Albert Camus.
He died in 1885, more than two million people attended his funeral, one of the largest mass mobilisations ever seen in Paris, and more than the city's total population at the time.
