In effect, if the tragedy is reduced to the cursed love of the Archdeacon of Notre-Dame, Claude Frollo, for the Roma dancer Esmeralda, the episodes of the key characters counterbalance each other, guiding them all toward an inevitable outcome. Indeed, the plot itself is remarkable for its simplicity and guiding principle: inexorable fate, the ἀνάγκη which the author saw written in graffiti, inspiring both the story and the way its various protagonists are chiselled out and intertwine to move the story forward. Its great length, extended by costly engravings, would lead to a demand for abridged versions that focused more specifically on the novel’s plot. Referring to maps from the era and often paraphrasing historical accounts, he depicted in myriad details the streets and quarters of 15th-century Paris, as well as the socio-religious life of the time, in a sweeping novel enriched by boundless descriptions. As such, two years went by before he finally set about drafting Notre-Dame de Paris, which he broached from the perspective of a historian advocating against improvements to Paris’ timeless monuments. Enticed by the offer of reissuing previous works and of future publications, Hugo hastened to accept but balked at complying his time was already consumed by more ambitious projects: his play Hernani, his novel Le Dernier Jour d’un condamné and his collection of poems Les Orientales. Thus, beginning in 1828, the publisher Gosselin commissioned a historical saga from a successful young writer, Victor Hugo, to be set in Paris at the time of Louis XI. It followed a trend in France for historical novels inspired by the popular Ivanhoe and Quentin Durward of Sir Walter Scott. The first edition of Notre-Dame de Paris appeared in 1831, titled Notre-Dame de Paris.

Notre dame de paris hugo