Victor-Marie Hugo (26 February 26 1802 -- 22 May 1885) is recognised as the most influential Romantic writer of the 19th century and is often identified as the greatest French poet. His best-known works are the novels "Les Misérables" and "Notre-Dame de Paris" (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). Poetry was another of his vocations: among many volumes, "Les Contemplations" and "La Légende des siècles" stand particularly high in critical esteem. Victor Hugos long and chequered life was filled with experiences of the most diverse character -- literature and politics, the court and the street, parliament and the theatre, labour, struggles, disappointments, exile and triumphs. This is a completely retyped and indexed version of the 1899 book with the same title.