These are some photos of the Victor Hugo House in Guernsey, Channel Islands - St. Peter Port, where Hugo and His family was exiled to from France. This is the only house he ever owned and lived here for all 19 years of his exile. It was so fascinating. Every wall and every decoration was layered with significance - his entire home littered with etchings and engravings in the wall - latin and french - referencing political views, religion, etc. He decorated his own home and used a multitude of cultures, symbols and languages to do so.
Pretty interesting place. Thanks Autumn for being so thoughtful and sharing.
I did some quick research in wikipedia and this is what I found out:
"When Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) seized complete power in 1851, establishing an anti-parliamentary constitution, Hugo openly declared him a traitor of France. He fled to Brussels, then Jersey, and finally settled with his family on the channel island of Guernsey at Hauteville House, where he would live in exile until 1870."
As Autumn stated, he was exiled for 19 years. His masterpiece Les Miserables, was published in 1862 while he was in Guernsey. He must of written much of it there!
"Hugo began planning a major novel about social misery and injustice as early as the 1830s, but it would take a full 17 years for his most enduringly popular work, Les Misérables, to be realized and finally published in 1862.
The shortest correspondence in history is between Hugo and his publisher Hurst & Blackett in 1862. It is said Hugo was on vacation when Les Misérables (which is over 1200 pages) was published. He telegraphed the single-character message '?' to his publisher, who replied with a single '!'."
Thanks for indulging me this little moment to think about my favorite work of fiction!
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