In the spring of 1864 appeared Hugo's book entitled "William Shakespeare"—a book, that throws more light on the greatest genius of his own century than on the greatest genius of the age of Shakespeare. And in good sooth the light it throws on the latter is scarcely blinding. But it shows what Victor Hugo himself had come to regard as the poet's mission. The poet, as he tells us, "for a truth, is a priest. There is but one pontiff here below,—genius." Whereupon, if we ask by what signs we are to recognise our spiritual pastors and masters, we are told that they are "the men who represent the total sum of the absolute realisable by man," that they attain to the "highest summit of the human spirit," " the ideal," where " they occupy thrones," and that their thoughts plunge into the abyss of the infinite.
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William Shakespeare
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Duration:
- 246 pages
Language:
English
Categories:
- 745 books
Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo, a major leader of the French Romantic Movement, was one of the most influential figures in nineteenth-century literature. By the age of thirty, he had established himself as a master in every domain of literature--drama, fiction, and lyric poetry. Hugo's private life was as unconventional and exuberant as his literary creations. At twenty, he married after a long, idealistic courtship; but later in life was infamous for his scandalous escapades. In 1851, he was exiled for his passionate opposition to Napoleon III. Hugo's rich, emotional novels, Notre Dame de Paris and Les Miserables, have made him one of the most widely read authors of all time.
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