What are the characteristics of Hugo:
Hugo was a master of language and an outstanding litterateur, but he was never an original writer, or rather, he was not A writer renowned for his originality. Hugo was a skilled master of symbolism and poetic form, and he was able to accurately shout out the voice of his ever-changing era.
Hugo's works are also characterized by lengthyness. In his huge works, some are digressive, repetitive and useless. For example, "Les Misérables" was expected to write six volumes, but ended up writing ten volumes. Comprehensive consideration is also his characteristic. In language, adjectives are often surprising, or Hugo combines concrete adjectives with abstract nouns, or vice versa, or adjectives take on new meanings, but people are the creators of this meaning. The noun takes on a new role, which detracts from that of the verb: abstract nouns serve to describe; in turn, ideas and concepts are expressed through the mediation of comparisons and concrete images. From this emerge new double words and unheard connections. Such words become entangled as they form the basis of a writer's vocabulary and are used over and over again.
Hugo's creative life lasted for sixty years. He was a prolific writer and a prolific poet. His early creations were basically based on a bourgeois humanitarian standpoint, sympathizing with the people's sufferings and hoping to resolve conflicts through social improvement. There are certain elements of realism in later creations.
What are the characteristics of Hugo's works:
One of the characteristics of Hugo's artistic techniques: the description of exaggerated, extraordinary characters and extraordinary plots. His protagonist either performed an extremely heroic act, or performed an extremely cruel and despicable act. Their character traits are all exaggerated. The plot is also extraordinary. Contradictions come one after another, and full use of coincidence, chance encounters and other techniques are twists and turns and fascinating. Hugo's creations are the practice of his aesthetic insights on contrast. He likes dramatic contrasts. The environmental description of the work is inseparable from this principle.
Hugo was good at skillfully combining the two methods of realism and romanticism. In his vast romantic masterpieces, there are real typical characters, and sometimes he uses both realism and romanticism methods to create a character.
Hugo used superb and beautiful artistic techniques to paint fascinating pictures in his works. He strictly divided artistic reality and natural reality, emphasizing the role of the writer's subjective thoughts in creation. He proposed the principle of contrast and advocated absolute exaggeration. He arranges intense plots and creates extraordinary characters in his works. His contrast principle does not amount to explaining the contradictions of reality. His idea of ??responsiveness was also guided by his Romantic program.
Nevertheless, his principle of contrast reflects the requirement of positive romantic literature to expand the scope of expression. This requirement swept away the old dogma of classicism.
Extension: Creative career
Hugo’s creative career can be divided into four periods:
Hugo’s early creation was first affected by negative romanticism. Later gradually got rid of it. Hugo completed a qualitative change in his thinking in 1827 - turning to democracy and raising the banner of positive romanticism.
"Cromwell's Preface" is a sign that Hugo's creation has entered the second period. In this preface, he officially broke with negative romanticism. Before and after the July Revolution of 1830, Hugo's democratic thoughts gradually grew. On the other hand, this idea is incomplete. In the late 1930s, Hugo's thoughts and creations began to experience a crisis. The crisis did not end until the February Revolution in 1848.
In Hugo's third creative period, realism became more obvious, and it was also the period when the author's critical nature reached its peak.
In Hugo's last period, patriotism and humanitarianism were still the dominant ideas in creation. On the one hand, they played a certain role in the revolutionary cause, but on the other hand, their negativity became more obvious. .