Page:Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (tr. Shoberl, 1833).djvu/22

xiv startling to our continental neighbours, would offend the severer taste of the English reader.

Since the publication of this work, which has placed Victor Hugo indisputably at the head of the romance-writers of his country, he has chiefly directed his attention to the drama. Two pieces, Le Roi s'amuse and Lucrèce Borgia, have been the result, but of these it has been observed, that they partake too largely of the besetting sin of the modern French school of imaginative literature, and that in them scarcely any humane or generous emotion leavens the mass of licentiousness, incest, and murder, in which they deal. The former was nevertheless brought out at the Théâtre Français, but the representation was forbidden by the minister Argout, on account of passages which were supposed to contain allusions to the Orleans family. In consequence of this interdict, the directors of the theatre refused to fulfil their contract with the author, who therefore instituted legal proceedings against them, but, we believe, without accomplishing his object.

Victor Hugo's reading lies chiefly among English, Spanish, and Italian authors. His acquaintance with English literature, indeed, is apparent both in his poetry and his romance; it has been asserted, that in the characters and incidents of this work in particular, a strong likeness to the inventions of English writers may frequently be traced; but we doubt whether any unbiassed reader of this volume will discover in it sufficient evidence to justify the charge of imitation alleged against the author.