WHO WAS THE GREATEST FRENCH POET of the nineteenth century? André Gide’s immortal comment—”Victor Hugo, alas!”—is as true today as it was when Gide wrote it in a letter to Paul Valéry almost a century ...

France is beginning its year of celebrations in honour of author Victor Hugo, who was born 200 years ago on 26 February, 1802. When he died in 1885, he was given a state funeral that was attended by ...