William Shakespeare

Translated by A. Baillot

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"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."

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