Victor Hugo in exile : from historical representations to utopian vistas by VanderWolk, William, 1949- instant download

Victor Hugo in exile : from historical representations to utopian vistas by VanderWolk, William, 1949- instant download

235 pages ; 24 cm, \"In late 1851, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte launched a bloody coup d'etat that would pave the way for his establishment of the Second Empire (1852-70). Playing on the nation's reverence for his uncle, he crowned himself Napoleon III and set up an authoritarian regime. Republican politicians, including Victor Hugo, fled. Hugo remained abroad for eighteen years, returning to Paris triumphantly in 1870 after Louis' defeat by the Prussians.\" \"From the island of Guernsey off the Normandy coast, Hugo wrote, and clandestinely published, a series of scathing critiques of the new regime. Each portrayed the empire as the antithesis of the republican values the French had come to hold dear since the revolution of 1789. Each represented an alternative to the empire's official propaganda machine, exemplified by state-run newspapers as well as public attempts to create and control the emperor's image, including museums, ceremonies, and even the remaking of the city of Paris. Today, Hugo's works such as Les Chatiments and Les Miserables remain cherished texts that over time have helped form the French collective memory of the era. This book, examining these two works and the nonfictional Napoleon le petit, argues that through such texts Hugo can be seen as an important historian of his time, a polemicist and prophet whose version of past events and vision of the future proved to be more lasting than those accepted during the empire.\"--BOOK JACKET, Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-232) and index