I first gave a public reading of texts and poems by Victor Hugo in June 2021, in the gardens of the Maison de Chateaubriand. Contrary to André Gide’s remark, from an otherwise keen critic, “Who is the greatest French poet? Victor Hugo, alas,” there are in Hugo’s writings moments of brilliance that go beyond the work of a gifted craftsman, and moments of sheer joy in writing that emerge from his extraordinarily fertile creativity.

In parallel with the stage performance on La Fontaine and lockdown that I have been presenting since 2022, I felt the desire to return to this more austere exercise, offering the audience a pure reading of texts, including the sublime Booz Endormi, which Marcel Proust described as the most beautiful poem of the 19th century, poems on the death of his daughter, and reflections by writers such as Charles Baudelaire and Charles Péguy on Victor Hugo. The reading begins with his exile in Jersey and Guernsey, and notably evokes the death of his daughter Léopoldine.

I dedicate this reading to the filmmaker Sophie Fillières, who passed away in the summer of 2023, and with whom I had the immense pleasure of preparing a film on Victor Hugo.

Fabrice Luchini.

Texts and poems.
Victor Hugo as seen by Charles Péguy and Charles Baudelaire.

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