VICTOR HUGO

"To love another person is to see the face of God."
- Les Miserables

'Love' was the only religion he had faith in. He spoke of love and humanity and he followed this maxim in life too. Hugo was a die-hard Bonapartist influenced by the ups and downs of the French Empire. A revolutionary poet and politician, he was rather cut out to be the former. He lacked the party intrigues to withstand the contemporary political scenario. His fiery speeches only fetched him a 15-year-long exile during which he wrote Les Miserables. It was a literary blockbuster with unforgettable depictions of the underbelly of Paris. It ultimately documents one's quest for true justice.

Victor Hugo always kept a pace with the changing times and regimes. The contemporary political scenario did not spare this poet of the turbulent period. Victor still relished life fully.

He himself admitted that his tastes were aristocratic and actions, democratic.