Victor Hugo

1802 – 1885 · died at about 83^[1][2]

Literature

Fun Facts About Victor Hugo

• Victor Hugo asked for a pauper's funeral, but he got a state funeral instead. More than two million people joined the procession in Paris, the largest funeral in French history.^[1]
• According to an apocryphal tale, Hugo asked his publisher how Les Misérables was doing with a one-character telegram, "?", and the publisher replied with an exclamation mark.^[1]
• The Hunchback of Notre-Dame shamed Paris into restoring the neglected Notre Dame cathedral, which was drawing thousands of tourists who had read the novel.^[1]
• Hugo was also a prolific artist who produced more than 4,000 drawings, about 3,000 of which still exist.^[1]
• Hugo's novel Toilers of the Sea brought the Guernsey word for squid, pieuvre, into the French language.^[1]
• Hugo refused Napoleon III's 1859 amnesty for exiles and stayed on Guernsey until the emperor fell in 1870, because returning would have meant curbing his criticism.^[1]
• Victor Hugo was alive at the same time as Harry S. Truman — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1884–1885).^[1][2][3][4]
• Victor Hugo shares a birthday with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: both were born on February 26.^[1][2][5][6]

Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo was a French Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.^[1]

Contemporaries

Ralph Waldo Emerson

79 yr overlap

Franz Liszt

74 yr overlap

Charles Darwin

73 yr overlap

Giuseppe Verdi

72 yr overlap

George Sand

72 yr overlap

Hans Christian Andersen

70 yr overlap

Richard Wagner

70 yr overlap

Otto von Bismarck

70 yr overlap

Charles Babbage

69 yr overlap

Alexandre Dumas

68 yr overlap

Frederick Douglass

67 yr overlap

Herman Melville

66 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Victor Hugo

When was Victor Hugo born?

Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, and died on May 22, 1885.

How old was Victor Hugo at death?

Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, and died on May 22, 1885, at age 83.

What was Victor Hugo known for?

Victor Hugo was known for: Les Misérables, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo was a French Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.

Who was alive at the same time as Victor Hugo?

Victor Hugo's closest contemporary was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Their lives overlapped for 79 years.