Have you ever wondered what inspired your favorite classic novelist to write their stories? What was happening in their lives to inspire their famous works? What was happening in the world at the time that they wrote those stories you love?
Join Host Bree Carlile while she helps to answer some of the questions you have always had about your favorite classic novelists.
For the next few days, we will be talking about the life of Victor Hugo. What inspired him to write his novels? What else was happening in the world at the time?
Come with us as we release new episode to go along with each new author on the Bite at a Time Books podcast.
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Information for today's episode came from Wikipedia, don't judge us, we just want to give you a brief glimpse into the life. You can search the episode name in Wikipedia if you want to read for yourself. Thanks!
Transcripts
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Welcome to Bite at a time books behind the story, where we answer the questions you have about your favorite classic authors, what inspired your favorite author to write their novels?
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What was going on in the world at the time?
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Follow along with us as we tell you what was happening in the world while your favorite authors wrote your favorite classics.
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My name is Brie Carlisle and I love to read and wanted to share my passion with listeners like you.
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If you want to know what's coming next and vote on upcoming books, sign up for our newsletter at byte edittimebooks.com.
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You can find most of our links in the show notes, but also our website, byteattimebooks.com includes all of the links for our show, including to our Patreon to support the show, and YouTube where we have special behind the narration of the episodes.
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We're part of the bite at a Time Books productions network.
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If you'd also like to hear a book by the author, check out the byte at a Time books podcast.
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Wherever you listen to podcasts today, well.
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Be talking about the early life of Victor Hugo Victor Marie was born on the 26 February 1802 in Besancon in eastern France.
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He was the youngest son of Joseph Leopold sixe Bert Hugo, 1774 to 1828, a general in the napoleonic army and Sophie Trebuchet, 1772 to 1821.
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The couple had two other sons, Abel Joseph, 1798 to 1855, and Eugene.
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The Hugo family came from Nancy in Lorraine, where Victor Hugos grandfather was a wood merchant.
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Leopold enlisted in the army of revolutionary France at 14.
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He was an atheist and an ardent supporter of the republic.
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Victors mother, Sophie, was loyal to the deposed dynasty, but would declare her children to be Protestants.
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They met in Chateaubriand in 1796 and married the following year.
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Since Hugos father was an officer in Napoleons army, the family moved frequently from posting to posting.
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Leopold Hugo wrote to his son that he had been conceived on one of the highest peaks in the Vasquez mountains, on a journey from Luneville to Bessantcon.
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This elevated origin, he went on, seems to have had effects on you, so that your muse is now continually sublime.
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Hugo believed himself to have been conceived on the 24 June 1801, which is the origin of Jean Valjeans prisoner number two 4601.
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In 1810, Hugos father was made count Hugo de Caglioudo y Siguenza by then king of Spain, Joseph Bonaparte, though it seems that the spanish title was not legally recognized in France.
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Hugo later titled himself Viscount, and it was as vicomte Victor Hugo, that he was appointed a peer of France on the 13 April 1845.
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Weary of the constant moving required by military life, Sophie separated temporarily from Leopold and settled in Paris in 1803 with her sons.
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There she began seeing General Victor Fenu de la Riore Hugos godfather, who had been a comrade of General Hugos during the campaign in Vendi.
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In October 1807, the family rejoined Leopold, now Colonel Hugo, governor of the province of Avellino.
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There Victor was taught mathematics by Giuseppe de Samuel Cagnazzi, elder brother of italian scientist Luca de Samiel Cagnazi.
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Sophie found out that Leopold had been living in secret with an Englishwoman called Catherine Thomas.
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Soon Hugos father was called to Spain to fight the Peninsular War.
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Madame Hugo Anders children were sent back to Paris in 1808, where they moved to an old convent, twelve empasse des Fesulentines, an isolated mansion in a deserted quarter of the left bank of the Seine.
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Hiding in a chapel at the back of the garden was de la Horie, who had conspired to restore the Bourbons and been condemned to death a few years earlier.
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He became a mentor to Victor and his brothers.
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In 1811, the family joined their father in Spain.
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Victor and his brothers were sent to school in Madrid at the Rio Collegio de San Antonio de Abad, while Sophie returned to Paris on her own, now officially separated from her husband.
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In 1812, as the peninsular war was turning against France, de la Horie was arrested and executed.
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In February 1815, Victor and Eugene were taken away from their mother and placed by their father in the pension cordier, a private boarding school in Paris, where Victor and Eugene remained for three years while also attending lectures at La Cie Louis de la Grande.
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On the 10 July 1816, Hugo wrote in his diary, I shall be chateaubriand or nothing.
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In 1817, he wrote a poem for a competition organized by the Academie Francaise, for which he received an honorable mention.
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The academicians refused to believe that he was only 15.
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Victor moved in with his mother to 18 rue des petits Augustins the following year and began attending law school.
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Victor fell in love and secretly became engaged against his mothers wishes to his childhood friend Adele Fauchet.
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In June 1821, Sophie Trebuchet died and Leopold married his longtime mistress, Catherine Thomas.
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A month later, Victor married Adele.
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The following year.
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In 1819, Victor and his brothers began publishing a periodical called Les Conservateurs litteraire.
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Thank you for joining Byte at a time books behind the story today while we answered some of the questions you have about one of your favorite classic authors.
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Again, my name is Bree Carlisle and I hope you come back next time when we answer more questions about one of your favorite classic authors.
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Dont forget to sign up for our newsletter@byteaditimebooks.com, dot check out the show notes or our website, byteedimebooks.com, for the links for our show.
