William Shakespeare

by Victor Hugo

"William Shakespeare" by Victor Hugo is a work of literary criticism written in 1864 during his thirteenth year of exile. Originally intended as an introduction to his son's Shakespeare translations, it expanded into a sweeping examination of history's greatest literary geniuses—from Homer and Dante to Cervantes and Shakespeare himself. Hugo's passionate, idiosyncratic study became more self-revelation than literary analysis, prompting French critics to suggest he should have titled it "Myself." The work includes Hugo's influential argument for a "vast public literary domain."