ABSTRACT

Few writers committed themselves as energetically to the question of liberty as Victor Hugo and Jean-Paul Sartre. Both men cast large shadows, across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries respectively, through two equally massive bodies of writing which obsessively wrestled with the demands of human freedom. At first glance, the two men have much in common in the light of these reputations as defenders and promoters of libertarian values. Hugo struck a chord with Restoration France after the fall of the Empire by demanding that French culture free itself from the constraints of Classicism and respect human individuality. In fighting these struggles, neither man was hesitant to defy the political status quo in the name of democratic principles. Even the most introductory comparison of Hugo's and Sartre's eminence as writers can therefore account for why they are frequently mentioned in the same breath.