Victor Hugo
... I am very pleased to be standing in front of you today to inform you about one of the greatest figures of the 19th century to whom the quote I started with is attributed: Victor Hugo. To think of French Romanticism is to naturally think of Victor Hugo, who was a novelist, a poet, and a politician. To start with, Victor Hugo the novelist touched the hearts and lives of millions of people through his unique style and use of words. More than any French writer of the 19th century, Hugo liberated the imagination, stressed the importance of the freedom of thought and expression, and idealized nature.