\paperw4260 \margr0\margl0 \plain \qj\li105\ri195 \f1 \b Victor Hugo\par
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\b0 Born to a general in the imperial army at Besanτon in 1802, Victor Hugo decided on a literary
career at a very early age. A poet and playwright, he established a reputation as the young head of the Romantic school and in 1830 his play \i Hernani\i0 caused a terrible scandal. Over the years, he produced an immense and sometimes unrivaled body of
work, including such masterpieces as \i Notre Dame de Paris\i0 . Elected to the Chamber of Deputies in \b \ATXul1024 \cf4 \ATXht290 1848\b0 \ATXul0 \cf0 \ATXht0 as a committed republican, he opposed Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte's \i coup d'Θtat\i0 and went
into exile on Guernsey, where he mounted a fierce opposition to the Second Empire. While on the island he wrote, among other works, \i Les ChΓtiments \i0 (\i Punishments\i0 ), \i La LΘgende des siΦcles \i0 (\i The Legend of the Ages\i0 ), and\b \cf4 \ATXht476 \b0 \i \cf0 \ATXht0 Les MisΘrables\i0 (1862). Returning to Paris in 1870, he continued his literary work. He became a senator in 1876 and was regarded as the writer who best symbolized the Third Republic, which staged nationwide ceremonies of mour
