Victor Hugo to Juliette Drouet

The Lovers
Victor-Marie Hugo (1802-85) was born in Besançon, France, the third son of an army general. He was a sickly infant and was not expected to live, but grew more robust from the age of two when he went to live with his mother in Paris--"the birthplace of my soul." As a teenager he began to fill notebooks with poetry. In maturity he was a prolific and very successful poet, dramatist, and novelist, and the most celebrated author of his generation. His most famous works include The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831), Les Chants du Crepuscule (1835) and Les Misérables (1862). Victor Hugo had an enormous appetite for women, work, food, and wine. He was also passionately interested in politics, an anti-Bonapartist, and an international spokesman for liberty in 19th century Europe. He is buried beside voltaire and Rousseau in the Panthéon in Paris.	Juliette Drouet (1806-83) was born Julienne Josephine Gauvain in Brest, France, and took her uncle's name Drouet as a child when he adopted her after her parents died. Though literacy among women was rare in her day, she could read and write at the age of 5, and by the age of 10 she showed a great aptitude for literature and poetry. At 16 she became a painter's model and an aspiring actress, taking the stage name Juliette. For a while she was supported by a succession of rich and talented lovers. At 19 she had a daughter by the distinguished sculptor James Pradier. Meeting Victor Hugo transformed her life. She devoted herself to him for 50 years, without the security of being married to him. During the last six weeks of her life, when she was dying of cancer, Hugo never left her side. She died in his arms at the age of 77, while he was kissing her.

The Lovers

Victor-Marie Hugo
(1802-85)
was born in Besançon, France, the third son of an army general. He was a sickly infant and was not expected to live, but grew more robust from the age of two when he went to live with his mother in Paris--"the birthplace of my soul." As a teenager he began to fill notebooks with poetry. In maturity he was a prolific and very successful poet, dramatist, and novelist, and the most celebrated author of his generation. His most famous works include The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831), Les Chants du Crepuscule (1835) and Les Misérables (1862). Victor Hugo had an enormous appetite for women, work, food, and wine. He was also passionately interested in politics, an anti-Bonapartist, and an international spokesman for liberty in 19th century Europe. He is buried beside voltaire and Rousseau in the Panthéon in Paris.

Juliette Drouet
(1806-83)
was born Julienne Josephine Gauvain in Brest, France, and took her uncle's name Drouet as a child when he adopted her after her parents died. Though literacy among women was rare in her day, she could read and write at the age of 5, and by the age of 10 she showed a great aptitude for literature and poetry. At 16 she became a painter's model and an aspiring actress, taking the stage name Juliette. For a while she was supported by a succession of rich and talented lovers. At 19 she had a daughter by the distinguished sculptor James Pradier. Meeting Victor Hugo transformed her life. She devoted herself to him for 50 years, without the security of being married to him. During the last six weeks of her life, when she was dying of cancer, Hugo never left her side. She died in his arms at the age of 77, while he was kissing her.

December 31st, 1851

You have been wonderful, my Juliette, all through these dark and violet days. If I needed love, you brought it to me, bless you! When, in my hiding places, always dangerous, after a night of waiting, I heard the key of my door trembling in your fingers, peril and darkness were no longer round me--what entered then was light! We must never forget those terrible, but so sweet, hours when you were close to me in the intervals of fighting. Let us remember all our lives that dark little room, the ancient hangings, the two armchairs, side by side, the meal we ate off the corner of the table, the cold chicken you had brought; our sweet converse, your caresses, your anxieties, your devotion. You were surprised to find me calm and serene. Do you know whence came both calmness and serenity? From you...

Their Story

Text from
Famous Love Letters
Messages of Intimacy and Passion
Edited by Ronald Tamplin