Conference Programme Guernsey 28-30 June 2019 Organised by the Victor Hugo in Guernsey Society

IN GUERNSEY CONFERENCE 2019 Conference Programme Guernsey 28-30 June 2019 Organised by The Victor Hugo in Guernsey Society Supported by the Guernsey Arts André Gill illustration for L’Eclipse, 25 April 1869, from the Gérard Pouchain collection. from the Gérard Pouchain April 1869, 25 L’Eclipse, André Gill illustration for Commission About The Victor Hugo In Guernsey Society Welcome from The Victor Hugo In Guernsey Society Victor Hugo wrote many of his greatest works on The Victor Hugo in Guernsey Society welcomes you to its 3rd In~ a letter to his publisher, Lacroix, in December the island of Guernsey, a small British dependency Victor Hugo in Guernsey conference. This weekend in the 1868, after he had announced the publication of 20 miles off the coast of France. Hugo was in exile, but island of Hugo’s exile will focus on the novel Hugo published a new work by Hugo which he characterised as a Roman despite his grief for his family and his homeland he was 150 years ago in 1869, L’Homme qui rit, (The Man who Laughs), historique, the famous novelist wrote: inspired by the beauty of the rocky landscape and seas written on Guernsey and set in England. Our sister island of “When I paint history I make my historical characters that surrounded him to produce magnificent novels – Alderney plays a pivotal part in the narrative, and even our old do only what they have done or could do, their characters including Les Misérables, and Les Travailleurs de la mer – Norman law finds its way into the text. being given, and I let so-called invention interfere as little artworks, poetry, and theatre. ‘The mutilation of a child’s face is a thing unbearable for as possible. My way is to paint true things with invented thought to rest on; but have we not seen first the face of a people. “By Order of the King” shall then be England It was the 150th anniversary of Les Travailleurs in 2016 heroic soul?’ [A. C. Swinburne, L’Homme qui rit, 1869.] truly, painted by imaginary characters. that inspired Gregory Stevens Cox and Roy Bisson to The historical figures, Anne, for example, shall be seen only found ‘The Victor Hugo In Guernsey Society’ and In early 1869 newspapers claimed the ‘anxiously awaited novel’ in profile. The interest shall be as in ‘Ruy Blas’ and ‘Les with the help of friends from Guernsey and France, was to be published simultaneously in a dozen languages, but Miserables’ only in the historical characters resulting from organise a celebratory week-long Festival. There were the English translators were in a quandary. ‘The Laughing Man’ the historical or aristocratic surroundings of the times, exhibitions, performances, lectures, stamps, tours and was apparently an absurd title, and Hugo himself refused but created by the author.” to change it, suggesting instead they retained the French, as ~ visits with Islanders and guests spreading the word about Hugo’s creative exile in our island. had been done with Les Misérables. The translators preferred ‘By Order of the King,’ as Hugo had first styled it. Legal problems Since then, the Society has organised visits, lectures, with the publication of both the French and English editions performances, exhibitions and new publications. made the launch less than auspicious. Hugo fell out with Particularly popular has been the Victor Hugo Map of his editor. Guernsey which combines a modern map of the island Hugo was to be disappointed in the general reception of and another of St. Peter Port (kindly donated by L’Homme qui rit; the French thought it over the top and DigiMap) with linked descriptions of the many places grotesque, while the British were mostly fixated on his unusual visited by Hugo and mentioned in his notebooks and interpretation of their history – and attributed it for the most used in his writing – especially Les Travailleurs de la mer. part to what they saw as his wilful ignorance. He was paid a The text for the map and the recently published great deal of money for it, and it had its eminent admirers; Victor Hugo’s Guide to Guernsey was written by Society but it was deemed a failure. Victor Hugo himself had, he Honorary Président Gérard Pouchain. Both said, ‘abused the novel’ by trying to make it bear too heavy a publications are in French and English and are sold philosophical and political burden. He wrote, famously, that at cost price to allow the facts about Hugo’s exile to ‘J’ai voulu forcer le lecteur à penser à chaque ligne. De là une become widely known and understood. sorte de colère du public contre moi,’ ‘I wanted to force the reader to think over every line. As a result a kind of anger In spring 2017 twenty Islanders visited Paris - including has grown up against me amongst the public.’ But no jewel as the Victor Hugo Museum, la Bibliothèque nationale de brilliant and vivid as L’Homme qui rit will stay unappreciated for France, and Le Sénat where private collections were ever. Nowadays the novel is enjoying a renaissance; its intensity, opened to members. its themes and treatment of sometimes difficult subjects, its Written by PublishedGérard by Pouchain darkness, its theatricality, and its sombre mood speak to and Victor Hugo et l’Exil Victor Hugo and Exile The Victor HugoVictor Hugo is a figure of global importance. Guernsey In Guernsey Society En 1848, la carrière littéraire In 1848, Victor Hugo, undisputed head of the English translation by de Victor Hugo, chef incon- Romantic School, was already at the height of his testé de l’école romantique, literary output, with the publication of novels, Jill SproulePainting & Gregory of Fermain Bay Stevens by Cox are acceptable to modern sensibilities; its political message is est déjà des plus fécondes, collections of poetry and productions of avec la publication de his plays. Victor Hugo’s Edwin EarpPrivate Collection- (1851is - 1945) already a place of pilgrimage for those interested in romans, de recueils poé- Elected Paris deputy on 4th June tiques et les représenta- TOR HUGO’S THOUGHTS 1848 as a supporter of Louis tions de ses drames. VIC ON GUERNSEYBonaparte who was voted President of received loud and clear. Its complex and vastly rich narrative Élu député de Paris le 4 the Republic, he distanced himself progressively juin 1848 en soutenant from the Order Party and identified as ‘liberal, him, but work remains to be done. Since 2018, then, • Guernsey’s air is just what you need: the breath of socialist, democrat and republican’. He voted GUERNESEYLouis Bonaparte VU PARqui the ocean and of flowers. devient président de la with the Left increasingly often and delivered • In Guernsey, vigorous growth in spring is marvellous: VICTORRépublique, HUGO il s’éloigne progressivement du great speeches, notably on the subject of poverty, magnolias, myrtles, daphnes, oleanders, blue freedom of education, the Press, the theatre means that our speakers this weekend can treat subjects as Parti de l’Ordre et se définit désormais comme hortensias; the fuchsias are extraordinary, there are big and universal suffrage. He was one of the few • L’air« libéral-socialiste-démocrate-républicain de Guernesey est ce qu’il te faut, le souffle de ». Il walls of geraniums, camellias grow into trees, there, in the Society has been pressing the Government of l’océanvote etde le plussouffle en des plus fleurs. souvent avec la gauche et someone’sdeputies garden, who is an aloestood higher against than aLouis house. Bonaparte’s coup d’État (2 December 1851) and incited the • prononceÀ Guernesey, ses la sèvegrands fait merveille discours, : magnolias, notamment sur • Granite in the south and sand in the north; now army and workers’ unions to pursue combat as myrtes,la misère, daphnés, sur lauriers-roses, la liberté de hortensias l’enseignement, bleus ; de cliffs, now dunes. Sloping meadows and gently rising barricades went up in the streets of Paris. lales presse,fuchsias sontdu théâtre,excessifs ; suril y a le des suffrage murailles universel.de hills with rocky outcrops. The edges of this green diverse as disability and disfigurement, the novel’s view of Ilgéraniums est l’un ; desles camélias rares députéssont arbres qui ; on s’opposent voit dans les au pleatedHe carpetsoon arehad fringed to withadmit the defeat,foamy ocean however: the jardins la fleur de l’aloès plus haute qu’une maison. lace. This is Guernsey. Guernsey to help us facilitate the creation of a state-of- coup d’État de Louis Bonaparte (2 décembre insurrection was most brutally put down, and 1851),• Granit et auil sud,incite sable l’armée au nord ; etici, lesdes associations • heGuernsey owed ishis home safety to both to histypes faithful of old French lover, Juliette ouvrièresescarpements, à poursuivre là, des dunes. le combat Un plan inclinéalors quede les farm:Drouet, Norman who in theprocured East and Bretonfor himin the West.a passport barricadesprairies avec se multiplient des ondulations dans de collinesParis. et des allowing• This isle ofhim Guernsey to take so hospitablerefuge in to Brussels the where Guernsey to Guide justice, human and divine – or lack of it, the novel’s reception, reliefs de roches ; pour frange à ce tapis vert froncé heflowers. stayed until August 1852: fearing expulsion Mais de ilplis, doitl’écume vite de l’océan. constater Voilà Guernesey. son échec: the-art Victor Hugo Centre in St Peter Port where his on the publication of Napoléon-le-Petit, he left l’insurrection• Les deux est variétés très debrutalement la vieille ferme brisée, française et il • I like little places with spectacular Belgium and arrived on Jersey on 5th August. doit sonsont salut visibles à sa à Guernesey.fidèle amie, À l’est, Juliette c’est la fermeDrouet, surroundings: Guernsey is like a Swiss canton.

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