’ THE ESSENTIAL VICTOR HUGO V H was born in Besançon in , the youngest of three sons of an officer (eventually a general), who took his family with him from posting to posting, as far as Italy and Spain. Victor’s prolific literary career began with publication of poems (), a novel (), and a drama, Cromwell (), the preface of which remains a major manifesto of French Romanticism. The riot occasioned at the first performance of his drama Hernani () established him as a leading figure among the Romantics, and Notre- Dame () added to his prestige at home and abroad. Favoured by Louis-Philippe (–), he chose exile rather than live under Napoleon III. In exile in Brussels (), Jersey (), and Guernsey () he published some of his finest works, notably the satirical poems Les Châtiments (), the lyrical poems Les Contemplations (), the first series of epic poems La Légende des siècles (), and the lengthy novel Les Misérables (). Only with Napoleon III’s defeat and replacement by the Third Republic did Hugo return, to be elected deputy, and later senator. His opposition to tyranny and continuing immense literary output established him as a national hero. When he died in he was honoured by interment in the Panthéon. E. H. B and A. M. B are freelance writers and translators. Their previous Hugo translations have appeared in Six French Poets of the Nineteenth Century (Oxford World’s Classics), Selected Poems of Victor Hugo (winner of the American Literary Translators’ Association Prize and the Modern Language Association Scaglione Prize for Literary Translation), The Major Epics of Victor Hugo, and Contemplations, Lyrics, and Dramatic Monologues by Victor Hugo. They are currently preparing a bilingual edition of the poems of Stéphane Mallarmé for Oxford World’s Classics. ’ For over years Oxford World’s Classics have brought readers closer to the world’s great literature. Now with over titles––from the ,-year-old myths of Mesopotamia to the twentieth century’s greatest novels––the series makes available lesser-known as well as celebrated writing. The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained introductions by Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene, and other literary figures which enriched the experience of reading. Today the series is recognized for its fine scholarship and reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry, religion, philosophy and politics. Each edition includes perceptive commentary and essential background information to meet the changing needs of readers. OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS The Essential Victor Hugo New translations with an Introduction and Notes by E. H. and A. M. BLACKMORE 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © E. H. and A. M. Blackmore 2004 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as an Oxford World’s Classics paperback 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 0–19–280363–8 13579108642 Typeset in Ehrhardt by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc CONTENTS Introduction xi Note on the Text and Translation xxii Select Bibliography xxiv A Chronology of Victor Hugo xxviii THE ESSENTIAL VICTOR HUGO BEFORE THE EXILE I: 1824–1843 from Odes and Ballads The Song of the Circus To a Traveller from Orientalia Zara Bathing from Cromwell Preface from Things Seen Joanny from A Blend of Literature and Philosophy from Journal of the Ideas and Opinions of a Revolutionary of from Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame An Impartial Peep at the Magistrates of Old from Autumn Leaves Heard on the Mountain ‘Sometimes, beneath the clouds’ deceptive twists . .’ from Songs of the Half-Light A Ball at the Hôtel de Ville vi Contents ‘O that I could fill your deep reverie . .’ ‘The rest of them drift any way at all . .’ from Sunlight and Shadows A Popular Man ‘Indian caverns! tombs! monumental arrays . .’ The Shadow from Contemplations Thérèse’s Party For Dust Thou Art Written on the Plinth of an Ancient Bas-Relief ‘The child saw Grandma busy spinning . .’ from Last Gleanings ‘Life, dear sir, is a comedy . .’ from The Four Winds of the Spirit Near Avranches from Things Seen Talleyrand from Alps and Pyrenees Bayonne BEFORE THE EXILE II: 1843–1851 from Things Seen King Louis-Philippe Villemain from Les Misérables A Righteous Man The Fall from Things Seen The Living Pictures The Princes Contents vii from Contemplations Uttered in the Shadows While Looking at the Heavens One Evening ‘At first, oh! I was like a maniac . .’ ‘While mariners, who estimate and doubt . .’ Veni, Vidi, Vixi ‘Tomorrow, when the fields grow light . .’ from Things Seen At the Académie française The Death of Balzac from Deeds and Words Balzac’s Funeral from Things Seen Pius IX and Louis Bonaparte from Deeds and Words Proposed Grant to Monsieur Bonaparte from The Whole Lyre Postscript DURING THE EXILE: 1851–1870 from History of a Crime Paris Sleeps; the Doorbell Rings How Dark the Crime Was from Napoleon the Little Biography April The Littleness of the Master from Things Seen Writing to France Charles II from The Empire in the Pillory ‘When, France, you are mere prostrate slaves . .’ viii Contents ‘Night––dark night, deep, and full of drowsy things . .’ Apotheosis The Man Has Laughed The Joint Commissions The Black Hunter ‘I was in Brussels; it was June . .’ The Last Word from Contemplations The Birds Unity Wayside Pause ‘I was reading. Reading what? The timeless poem . .’ The Beggar Lowing of Oxen Apparition Cerigo ‘The poet’s verse-form used to pillage April’s basket . .’ The Weather Clears ‘The soul dives in the chasm . .’ from The Four Winds of the Spirit Storm from God from The Threshold of the Abyss from The Eagle from the reliquat of God ‘What do you think of death, you vain philosopher? . .’ ‘The depths of the I AM are swathed in cloud . .’ from The Legend of the Ages The Consecration of Woman Boaz Asleep Christ’s First Encounter with the Tomb Contents ix from Songs of Street and Wood Connubial Bliss ‘Nature? she’s amorous everywhere . .’ From Woman to Heaven An Alcove in the Sunrise During an Illness from Les Misérables Waterloo Grandeur among the Middle Classes The House in the Rue Plumet Leviathan’s Intestine from The Toilers of the Sea A Turbulent Life and a Tranquil Conscience The Old Old Story of Utopia The Story of Utopia, Continued A Quirk of Lethierry’s Character A Contradiction from Deeds and Words Emily de Putron from Things Seen The Death of Madame Victor Hugo AFTER THE EXILE I: 1870–1878 from Things Seen The Return to France A Prayer from The Legend of the Ages The Vanished City Orpheus ‘I knew Firdausi in Mysore, long since . .’ After the Caudine Forks from The Art of Being a Grandfather For Georges x Contents The Immaculate Conception Revisited Jeanne Asleep, iv from The Whole Lyre Letter Waking Impressions Hail, Goddess, Hail from One about to Die from Religions and Religion ‘Dante wrote two lines . .’ from History of a Crime The Rue Tiquetonne from Things Seen The Emperor of Brazil from Deeds and Words The Hernani Dinner AFTER THE EXILE II: 1878–1885 ‘Suddenly the door opened . .’ Last Wishes Last Line Appendix: The Structure of the Contemplations, The Legend of the Ages, and God Explanatory Notes INTRODUCTION Victor-Marie Hugo was born in , at Besançon, and died in . During an active literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote prolifically in an unparalleled variety of genres: lyrics, satires, epics, philosophical poems, epigrams, novels, history books, critical essays, travel writings, political speeches, funeral orations, diaries, letters public and private, and dramas in verse and prose. When, late in his career, he gathered his occasional prose writings under the title Deeds and Words (–), he divided the work into three sections: ‘Before the Exile’, ‘During the Exile’, and ‘After the Exile’. The ‘Exile’ had been the most conspicuous public event in his eventful life. On December , the President of the French Republic, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, seized absolute power in a coup d’état. According to the new government’s own statistics, people (many of them uninvolved civilians) were killed; , were imprisoned, and , of those were deported to the notorious penal colonies in Algeria and French Guiana. Hugo, who had been one of Louis-Napoléon’s most outspoken opponents, escaped into exile, first in Belgium, and then on the Channel Islands, where he remained for almost twenty years, vowing never to return to France as long as the dictator remained in power.