In an age full of great French writers like Honore Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Emile Zola, and others, Victor-Marie Hugo (1802 -1885) may have been the most renowned in his time. Hugo was a poet, playwright, novelist, artist, and human rights activist at the height of the Romantic movement in France. Hugo initially courted fame through his poetry, but now his novels and other lifetime achievements are best known. In particular, Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are read the world over.