Customer Reviews

Victor Hugo

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Graham Robb is one of that rare breed of scholars, who write what they want to, unfettered by institutional constraints, and write to an intelligent, literate audience that genuinely wants to learn. Much of Victor's Hugo's work is inaccessable to the English language audience. Robb's presentation and interpretation of many different aspects of his literary career show how much he enjoyed the Hugo's work, and his enthusiasm excited this reader. He did a masterful job of integrating history, the stange personal life of Hugo, and his massive literary output. This will become a classic source of information about Victor Hugo.

Graham Robb's magnificent bio of Victor Hugo has won numerous awards, and deservedly so; Robb has steeped himself in Hugo's works and life. It's all there - Hugo's greatness, his megalomania, his politics, his poetics, his personal life - stripped of the many false accretions of previous biographies. Robb sees Hugo clear, and he sees him whole. My only reservation - and I think it is a fairly significant one - is that Robb assumes that his readers are already familiar with Hugo's immense literary output (not just Notre-Dame de Paris and Les Miserables, but dozens and dozens of other books of poetry, novels, biography, politics, etc.). And Robb also assumes that his readers know something about the tortuous and very complicated course of 19th century French politics, from the Revolution to the Third Republic. This is a lot of background to assume of the general reader, and so - by all means get the book, it's the best existing biography of Victor Hugo, but be prepared to do some additional reading if necessary, to fill in the background that Robb takes for granted.

This is the most enjoyable biography I've ever read, portraying someone who truly was larger than life. It's as complex, entertaining, and riveting as the man himself. Bravo! Now, how can we get Hugo's complete works translated into English?

I spent a week in Paris last year, and returned home wanting to know more about this Victor Hugo whom Parisians still revere as a God. And Robb's book did the trick! Since reading it I've tried to find an American to equate him with, but fall short: I must make do with a composite of Thomas Jefferson (for statesmanship in opposition to the crown), Henry David Thoreau (for drawing strength from nature for his writing) and William Jeferson Clinton (for his sexual appetite).

I couldn't disagree more with the reviewer who feels Robb patronizes Hugo. To me, Robb is relentlessly, tiresomely positive about a deeply, deeply flawed man. Every single transgression or potential embarrassment is breezily explained away in terms universally positive for Hugo. Plagiarized his brother? No problem! Hugo was experimenting with citation. Ruined the lives of countless maids he slept with (many of whom were certainly victims of sexual harassment at best and rape at worst)? No problem! He was giving expression to a pervasive curiosity. And so on. Robb is certainly a gifted writer, but he really does tie himself into pretzels in order to excuse Hugo of everything. In addition, Robb is unbelievably crude about prior biographies and he never passes up the opportunity to judge prior work on Hugo. Whatever their merit of his critiques, Robb's snarky, superior tone grew unpleasant in a hurry. Still, Robb's talents as a writer kept me reading through the end.

Well-researched biography, maybe; however, I found Robb's patronizing tone towards his subject to be distasteful, offensive. A more objective account--without a lurking sneer behind it--is in order.