The History of a Crime by Victor Hugo Fiction Historical Classics Literary

<p><strong>Though the great French novelist poet and dramatist Victor Hugo's work has gone in and out of favor since his death in 1885 few have ever forgotten his masterpiece Les Miserables nor that he is the author to have created the Hunchback of Notre Dame.</strong> The collected works of Victor Hugo encompass eighteen 1500 page manuscripts -- almost more than any one reader could possibly encompass. Victor Hugo's life spanned the 19th century in France from Napoleon Bonaparte to the Republics to revolution and coup 'd etat. When Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (later to become Napoleon III) was elected President of France in 1849 Victor Hugo was originally elected a deputy to the new regime. But le petit Napoleon's ambitions soon led to Hugo's firm opposition. He left France for an nineteen-year exile during which time he wrote Histoire d'un Crime or The History of a Crime which tells the story of Napoleon III's accession to power -- the book was first published in 1877 following Hugo's eventual return to France from his two-decade exile.</p>