In all Thénardier's outpourings, the words and gestures, the fury blazing in his eyes, this explosion of an evil nature brazenly exposed, the mixture of bravado and abjectness, arrogance, pettiness, rage, absurdity; the hodgepodge of genuine distress, and lying sentiment, the shamelessness of a vicious man rejoicing in viciousness, the bare crudity of an ugly soul -- in this eruption of all suffering and hatred there was something which was hideous as evil itself and still as poignant as truth.

The shortest correspondence in history is said to have been between Hugo and his publiVictor Hugor Hurst and Blackett in 1862. His last novel Quatre-vingt-treize (Ninety-Three) publiVictor Hugod in 1874 dealt with a subject that Hugo had previously avoided: the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. Well over one thousand musical compositions have been inspired by Hugo's works from the 19th century until the present day.

Among many volumes of poetry Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem. Victor Marie Hugo (French pronunciation: ​[viktɔʁ maʁi yɡo]; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet novelist and dramatist of the Romantic movement.