While the world celebrated the bicentenary of the birth of the remarkable French novelist and poet Victor Hugo, his great-great granddaughter Adele Hugo visited Taiwan recently for a conference held in honor of the French literary giant.
Adele Hugo sat down with the Taipei Times in an interview yesterday to share her understanding about Victor Hugo and his great literary accomplishments.
Speaking of her kinship with the revered author, Adele Hugo said "It just feels natural that I am part of this family. Pressure is inevitable but I try to look at the good things that comes with this big name."
Adele Hugo said that she was honored to have been invited to Taiwan, as it was rare that French were invited to Asia because of their ancestors.
"I'm very glad to know that many students here are interested in studying Hugo's works. They asked autographs of me, and some even asked me to sign on their skin as a symbol of Hugo's blood," she noted.
"Hugo was born in a little French town 200 years ago, and he is still remembered. It is as if Victor Hugo is an ancestor to everyone in the world," Hugo's great-great granddaughter said. "He was a very down-to-earth man, and had an ardent care for poor people, especially those who suffered from social injustice."
This is also one of the most important universal values penetrating Hugo's works: speaking out for the poor, and a sense of humanity that touches upon people's hearts and transcends cultural differences.
"Hugo's books were not written for his time only. They are for the time after him," said Arnaud Laster, an academic at the University of Paris specializing in Victor Hugo's literary works. Laster joined Adele Hugo on her trip to Taiwan for the conference.
Not only a humanitarian who was candid about France's social problems, Hugo was also a political thinker who hoped that one day the world could be united, Laster said.
Victor Hugo played a major role in France's political evolution into a democracy. He held a political post in the government of King Louis Philippe in 1845, and later in 1848 served as a representative of the people after Louis Napoleon became president of the Second Republic. However, after Napoleon abolished the Republic and reestablished the empire three years later, Hugo was sent into exile because of his republican beliefs.
Adele Hugo also recalled her childhood memories in connection with Victor Hugo.
"There was a library in our house where Hugo used to work. It was where he stored all of his books and works. It was considered a sacred place for me and the other children in our family; our parents would not allow us to touch anything in that library. We were in awe of him," Adele Hugo said.
"Those feelings made me disinclined to read Hugo's books when I was little, but my father was very patient with me. This gradually improved my understanding of Hugo, and eventually I learned to love his works," she said.
"Hugo's blood also runs in my veins. I respect the greatness of my great-great grandfather, but I also feel how little and insignificant I am compared with his magnificent accomplishments."
Asked about the frequent use of her first name in the Hugo family -- Victor Hugo's wife and daughter both were called Adele -- she said that it was a tradition in her family to use names of ancestors. "So actually, I am Adele [the] third."
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