The Last Day of a Condemned Man; Claude Gueux
By Victor Hugo
2007
First Published
3.84
Average Rating
157
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Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was a celebrated French novelist, poet, playwright, dramatist, essayist and statesman whose work ushered in the Romantic literary movement in France, one of the most influential movements in French and all European literary history. Like many of his time, Hugo promoted the virtues of liberty, individualism, spirit and nature in rebellion of the conservative political and religious establishments of Imperial France, and eventually became known as one of the most gifted and influential writers of his time. "The Last Day of a Condemned Man" is one of Hugo's first mature works of fiction, written in 1829, and recounts the thoughts of a condemned man as he prepares for death. The short novel would later have profound influence on writers like Albert Camus, Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoevsky. "Claude Gueux" is a short story, written in 1834. It contains Hugo's early thoughts on society injustice, which would be refined and fleshed out over the course of a few decades, resulting in the publication of "Les Misérables" in 1862.
Avg Rating
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Author
Victor Hugo
Author · 77 books
After Napoleon III seized power in 1851, French writer Victor Marie Hugo went into exile and in 1870 returned to France; his novels include The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862). This poet, playwright, novelist, dramatist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, and perhaps the most influential, important exponent of the Romantic movement in France, campaigned for human rights. People in France regard him as one of greatest poets of that country and know him better abroad.
