This volume provides a biographical essay and alphabetically arranged entries on the life and writing of 19th-century French author Victor Hugo. It covers his early years, his maturation and his political exile, during which he wrote some of his finest poetry. The alphabetically arranged entries that follow this short biography discuss his works, characters, themes and ideas, as well as historical persons and places that figured prominently in his life and writings. Many of the entries cite sources of additional information, and the volume closes with a selected, general bibliography.