Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the greatest American Architects and much of the populous viewed him as close to a god. As brilliant and genius as he was in creating a new concept of space, he was no more godly than any other mortal man. Like all of us he had experiences that impacted his character. This paper will discuss how the nineteenth century French poet, Victor Hugo, impacted the great American Architect. In order to make the connections Victor Hugo himself must first be understood, then comparisons can be made between the two men, and lastly and analysis of how this translated into Frank Lloyd Wrights designs.In order to fully understand who Victor Hugo was we have to start the story from the beginning. Victor Hugo was born in Beascon, France in 1802 to Joseph Leopold Sigisbert Hugo and Sophie Trebuchet. His parents were completely different people. Joseph was from Eastern France and Sophie was from Western France ("The literature network"). This caused a lot of turmoil that their three children were forced to be a part of. Their mother lived in Paris and the children spent most of their childhood traipsing back and forth across Europe to visit their father who was a general in Napoleon's army and naturally moved around a lot. Victor's father was also the governor of the Italian province of Avellino (Barrer, 2010). Victor's Education began when he was twelve years old. He and his two brothers Eugene and Abel were sent off to the Pension Cordier school of science and art (Barrer, 2010). Victor's education was also enhanced by several visits to the Louvre as a boy where he studied the art. Victor Hugo showed a great aptitude for writing poems and dramas. At the age of fifteen he won the poetry contest held by the Academie Franciase and the following year won the at the Academie des Juex Florax (Barrer, 2010). His brother's were also great writers but were overshadowed by the accomplishments of their younger brother. Victor Hugo's professional career as a poet first began in 1822 when he received a royal salary for the publication of his first volume of poetry. Victor Hugo's adult life also began in that year of 1822 when he married his childhood sweetheart Adele Foucher. Victor and Adele had four children together; Leopoldine, Charles, Francois-Victor and Adele. The three brothers also began their careers in that year by starting a journal article called The Literary Conservative (Barrer, 2010).About a decade after they were married in 1830 Adele starts a romantic relationship with a literary critic and friend of Victor Hugo's Sainte Beauve. This abandonment of a sexual relationship between them caused a lot of strife in their marriage. A few years later, in 1833, Victor Hugo finds another romantic partner in Juliette Drouet who was an actress in his play Lucretia Borgia (Barrer, 2010). The marriage between Adele and Victor never ended, it developed a new level of complexity and actually gained strength, even though they had each found a different lover. He writes three collections of poetry about the two women of his life and each one fills a different role. His new found love, Juliette, becomes completely devoted to Victor and becomes his closest friend and literary adviser.Nearing the middle of his professional career Victor is finally elected to the Academie Franciase. He had applied three times previously before finally being admitted in 1841 (Barrer, 2010). The Academie Franciase is a chapter of officials who preside over the standards of language and they hold the power to change the language as they saw necessary.In February of 1843 his daughter is married to Charles Vacquerie. In September of that same year they are both involved in a horrific boating accident and both drown. This is a catastrophic event in Victor's life. All elements of the event lead this to be understood. He wasn't contacted directly about the accident and only found out by reading about it in a local paper five days later. He was never able to see the body of his daughter and he never attended the funeral because he was traveling on business. He began to contemplate suicide and he quit writing he had been deeply involved in work prior to the incident. It was as if he had also died when he was exiled from his beloved country of France in 1851.Victor Hugo's writing dry spell lasted for two and a half years. During that time he was on a quest for answers about life, death and the afterlife(Blackmore, & Blackmore, 2001). He never found answers no matter which religion he turned to. Victor Hugo became involved in politics during the later years of his life. His belief in a cyclical and constant change gave him the perspective that a revolution was needed to bring social change to the forefront. In his early adulthood Victor believed in the ideals of the conservative Royalists which he had grown up with (Thompson, 1970). As he got older he began to see the truth of the world and shifted his ideals strongly in line with the liberal democrats. As a member of the constitutional assembly and National Assembly Victor Hugo fought vigorously to right the wrongs of social injustice. He was also a strong advocate against capital punishment. His attitudes towards these social issues are evident in his written works long before his ascention into political circles and becomes even more prolific in his later works.As Louis Napoleon became president of the French Democracy Hugo was a strong supporter. After a period of time Louis Napoleon showed signs of change while he was in office and Victor noticed this and began to oppose him as president. Soon afterward, Louis Napoleon seized power over the government and initiated martial law to protect himself from anyone who might rise against him. He crowned himself Emperor Napoleon III and disbanded the National Assembly and most of its members where arrested. In the end of the change of power there were thousands that had been killed in order to suppress any defensive efforts against the new emperor of France. Victor Hugo's life was in danger during this intense political time because he had attempted to organized a resistance against the emperor and the attempt failed. A price had been put on his head as he was warned by a friend, Alexander Dumas(Barrer, 2010). He and his family including Juliette fled the country first stopping in Belgium and then moving to the French speaking but English ruled Channel Islands. Victor Hugo was then officially banned from all French colonies under the rule of Emperor Napoleon III.During his exile his writing continues and he focuses it on Napoleon III. His collection of Poetry Emperor in the Pillory is a collection of seven thousand lines that make personal attacks at the new emperor. He uses his technique of portraying the same idea with different imagery to make Napoleon; a cheap entertainer, an ancient tyrant, a famous criminal, and a mindless animal(Blackmore, & Blackmore, 2001).While on the islands he continues his search for his lost daughter in attempts to find a sense of closure. He gains interest in communicating with the otherworldly after not finding any answers elsewhere. He attends a few table turning meetings on the island(Barrer, 2010). At first Hugo is skeptical of the idea of being able to talk with spirits that are not from this world. He later gets deeply involved and actually has a chance to communicate with the spirit of Leopoldine. He also communicates with several other spirits and continues his search for answers to the questions of life and death. They can not answer these questions, however he claims that they were able to predict the fall of Napoleon III(Barrer, 2010).The Franco-Prussian war brought an end to the terrible reign of Napoleon III in 1870. Victor Hugo returns to Paris after almost twenty years in exile on the Channel Islands. He marches triumphantly back into the town were people welcome him with open arms and he is viewed as a demi-god. He again assumes a position as a political leader. The joy is short lived however as a series of unfortunate events make the following year The Year of Horrors as he portrays the events in his collection of poetry. The rise of the French Commune, followed shortly after its collapse, ending with a bloody riot in the streets of Paris. Victor's son Charles dies. Victor travels to Brussels after his son's funeral to take care of his estate and the wife and two children. He becomes the official guardian of his grandchildren Georges and Jeanne until their mother is remarried seven years later(Blackmore, & Blackmore, 2001). His experiences with the children influence him to write a collection of poetry, The Art of Being a Grandfather. While in Belgium he also tries to be a humanitarian and opens up his son's home to shelter political refugees. He makes public doctrine to all those who seek care and shelter from persecution. Then one night an angry mob of people storm the house in the night and stone the house with the intent of killing all who are inside. Shortly after that incident Victor Hugo is expelled from Belgium and he returns to Paris(Barrer, 2010). Disaster again strikes Hugo's life as his second son dies two years later. A few years later in 1878 Victor Hugo is almost felled after suffering from a cerebrovascular stroke. His abilities to focus and the intensity of his work have been taken away. His involvement in politics is also diminished after this tragic event(Blackmore, & Blackmore, 2001). The majority of his works that are published after the stroke are not new creations. Instead they are a selection of the works that Hugo had in his possession from previous publications that just didn't make it into the publications. This backlog of work was so vast that collections of his poetry were still being published after his death in 1885 by his literary executor, Paul Merice. Victor had instructed him that all of his work was to be published and made available to the public. Victor's main reasoning for this was that he believed the collection of his entire works would form an indivisible whole and that any piece can only truly be appreciated in the context of his other works. He believed he was creating a bible, not a divine one, but a human one(Blackmore, & Blackmore, 2001).Understanding the life of Victor Hugo is a window for understanding his written works because it was developed from and reflects the major turning points in his life that have been previously elaborated upon in this paper. Victor Hugo was a believer in change and reform for the betterment of the human race. He saw the change of social order as a corollary to changes in literary order (Shinz, 1908). Victor Hugo was seen as the leader of the French Romantic movement. Later in life he would never acknowledge his direct involvement in the Romantic movement. As a young writer most of the work followed the prescribed form of French poetry of the nineteenth century. As he grew older his belief in reform caused him to disregard the established order. He began to experiment with new vers in school and often received a sharp wrap on the knuckles for such acts(Shinz,1908). This only strengthened his conviction for change in both form and content of his work. There were three standards that Victor knowingly rejected in his poetry. The most predominant one was a constraining style noble which outlined that any ideas expressed in poetry could not be done with the use of common language. This meant that the common people wouldn't be able to understand the ideas or derive meaning from the poems. Victor Hugo wanted to create poetry for every single individual. The common structure of poetry using a single constant vers was also rejected by the poet. The vers alexandrin was a very rigid structure which made poetry dull and unmoving. Within it each line consisted of twelve syllables and each line was divided into two hemistichs (Schinz, 1908). Victor Hugo use the same twelve syllable line but chose to break it in different proportions of length to give his poetry a fresh variety. It was called the vers romantique. As he began the vers alexandrin was still his main mode but as he aged he utilized the vers romantic considerably more. The third standard that Hugo defied was the common accentuation of the last syllable in each line, in his poetry the accentuation is placed wherever it is needed to provide the greatest effect. Within all of these standards is the use of rhyme, this is an idea that at times Hugo would totally abandon, some of his works having very little or no rhyming connections. Another change in Hugo's poetry was the use of a run over line. The run over line was forbidden in the poetry in order to provide a correlation between the poetical structure and the meaning of the work. Each of these reforms in his poetry created a great deal of variety and considerably expanded the domain of poetry. His writing was challenging the social condition and his poetical themes expanded beyond many of his contemporaries, he was convicted to express ideas about all of the world. He claimed to; hold the mirror up to all of nature, not merely the comfortable or the convenient bits of it(Blackmore, & Blackmore, 2001). On one extreme victor was insistent on facing the worst and most unjust aspects of human existence, and on the other extreme was Hugo's uncompromising search for absolute truth(Blackmore, & Blackmore, 2001). His works reflected his views and beliefs of history molded together with his personal experiences. His style of writing vers was very rapid and careless, he had little consideration for capitalization or punctuation, he left those details to the work of his editors.Victor Hugo was also a writer of prose. His most famous works through the passage of time have been Notre Dame de Paris, commonly known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Les Miserables. Another noteworthy work is Toilers of the Sea. There are several other novels that Hugo wrote, however these three are the most relevant in attempting to make connections to the life of Frank Lloyd Wright. To begin to discuss Notre Dame de Paris, the setting of the book is Paris during the fifteenth century which was a time of social unrest. The theme of the book is change through time. The selection of the Notre Dame cathedral serves more than one purpose in the storyline. It is one of the most famous French cathedrals so almost all of Hugo's readers can identify with it, and the building itself follows the theme of the book. There is a chapter in which Hugo talks about the cathedral as one of the great mastery of architecture. The building becomes both a sanctuary and a prison for the two main characters of the story(Brombert, 1984).The chapter about the architecture of Notre Dame starts off by describing the main elements that create the front edifice of the cathedral in its glory. Following up on how those major elements have been changed over time either by the forces of nature or by the acts of man. He describes the acts of man as much more destructive than acts of nature. The acts of man are results of revolution or even worse, for aesthetic reasons only(Hugo, 1917). He identifies the main stair which once set the cathedral apart from the surrounding earth like the pediments of Greek architecture, but now the earth has risen over time to bring the cathedral back down to the earth. Man has left atrocious scars in the manner of removing a row of statues that stood on either side of the entry and removing an upper level of twenty eight niches which at one time housed statues of saints and the great stained glass windows have been replaced with frosted glass. This renewal for the sake of appearances begins with change, but it is not the same change as that of time or nature because neither is interested in the renewal of appearances. Hugo describes the change between Romanesque and Gothic periods of architecture. This is where Notre Dame cathedral shines as a symbol of that shift in ideas. Its short thick roman columns supporting tall pointed arches(Hugo, 1917). It truly was a shift in ideas that created this juxtaposition of form as the cathedral was begun under William the Conquerer and was completed in the time of Louis XI(Hugo, 1917). Victor Hugo also acknowledges this fact that architecture is an expression of an idea of many people. Up until the invention of the Gutenberg printing press architecture was the record of human thought through the ages.(Hugo, 1917) This idea is supported by Hugo's representation of architecture as not so much the work of individuals as of a community. It is the offspring of a Nations labor more than the outcome of individual genius (Hugo, 1917). Architecture was created by the hands of collaborating artists under the guidance of the artist who assumed the title of architect. After the revolution of the printing press this was no longer the case, the artists split up and went their separate ways. Each art became more skillful and specialized as it continued to develop, but who was there to produce architecture. It was left to the stone masons because that was the predominant building material(Hugo, 1917). These were individuals that today would fall under the category of contractors. In Hugo's mind as the predominance of the book grew fro recording human thought it was the decline of architecture. There were many logical reasons for books becoming the popular medium for recording human history. First books were much cheaper to produce, thousands of books could be made for the price of one Gothic cathedral. It was more widespread and easier for each individual to contribute his ideas to the growing collection of knowledge. Before the time of the printing press the literacy rate was very low because books were less accessible and there was great control over the content of books being printed, mostly by the Roman Catholic church. The printing press revolutionized this idea of spreading knowledge through text and as a result greatly increased the literacy of the general public. Victor Hugo does cite Michael Angelo as the last great Architect in the view of artists as architect with the creation of St. Peters Basilica in Rome. After Michael Angelo, there was no one else to carry on the beliefs, common practice was to create copies of the great architecture that already existed, each city creating its own St. Peters (Hugo,1917). This was the time of the Renaissance, a rebirth of classical ideas that had already been used. As Hugo phrased it The Renaissance was a sunset that man had mistaken for the Dawn(Hugo, 1917). This was certainly true in the architecture of the time period. It was this phrase that Frank Lloyd Wright had connected with and this idea was a driver for his search for a truly American architecture, and his revolt against all those modernists who and classicists. For Frank Lloyd Wright it was not enough to copy the basic plan of a building and put a new skin around it and call it new architecture. Hugo also exposed this same exact idea in Notre Dame, All cathedrals no matter what they look like on the outside, either Roman or Gothic, they all follow the same basic plan of the basilica on the inside. (Hugo, 1917). The previous discussion of Notre Dame showed Hugo's talent in depicting dramatic and complex scenes in a vivid and clear manner. It also gave us an insight to his attention to detail and foresight into the world of architecture. There are several examples of ways in which Frank Lloyd Wright was able to absorb ideas from Victor Hugo's book about French Gothic cathedrals and architectural theory and transfer them into his own works of architecture. Victor Hugo was also a draftsman. In his early years of school he was given the normal art curriculum. He often drew as a means to express ideas that he could not yet put into words(Rodari, Georgel, Sante, & Prevost, 1998). In a way much of his art was done as a tool to further his main line of work(Rodari, Georgel, Sante, & Prevost, 1998). Much of his art work was done for the amusement of his family and friends. He had a difficult time in allowing his drawings to be released to critics or the general public(Rodari, Georgel, Sante, & Prevost, 1998). He had a strong graphic style that was both clear and expressive of deep emotion. He used basic techniques for painting and drawing and he claimed that no outside artistic individual or work ever informed his own drawings or techniques. He believed that the work came out of him as though god himself had commissioned him to do so (Rodari, Georgel, Sante, & Prevost, 1998). Drawing was another medium for channeling his creative imagination. Victor Hugo is still regarded as having one of the most complex and productive imaginations of the nineteenth century (Rodari, Georgel, Sante, & Prevost, 1998). When we see a decline in his quantity of Hugo's publications we can also see an inverse correlation to the production of his art work. The most prominent example would be how Frank developed the idea that architecture based on historic styles was false and should be an expression of the Time and Place of Man(Pfeiffer, 2008). This was the main driving force behind his rejection of the standards of the time, similar to the acts of Victor Hugo. Wright believed that simply copying European Modernist principles and pasting them into the landscape of America was not the way to produce anything. He was insistent on developing a new American style of architecture that responded to what was happening in the environment in the context of building. The influencing of Frank Lloyd Wright by victor Hugo could have started with the beliefs do Frank's Mother Anna. She hung drawings of cathedrals in his bedroom, one of which was undoubtedly the cathedral of Notre Dame because of its widespread popularity. This could have subconsciously opened him up to accept the beliefs and ideas that Victor Hugo addressed in his writings. Frank could have easily made the connection back to his childhood when he first read Notre Dame de Paris. Hugo's book on Notre Dame was without question, the piece of Hugo's work that had the most influence on Wright's career as an architect. Wright also claims to have read the novels by Victor Hugo; Les Miserables and Toilers of the Sea, and 93 and all would have made their way into Wright's way of thinking. Frank had also listed specific collections of Hugo's poetry among his favorites; The Year of Horrors and The Man Who Laughs.(Alofsin, 1993). Notre Dame de Paris was the staring point for the development of Frank's beliefs on architecture and design that remained constant throughout his long career. One of the most important of those he learned was the importance of the relationship to the site in significant buildings. This practice of always creating a building that related to a specific site and was integrated with the landscape was a key element in Wright's practice of organic architecture. Wright abstracted the Gothic cathedral portrayed in Victor Hugo's writing. It was when he did this and formed it into the cruciform prairie house that he found the American in his domestic world and created his domestic cathedrals(Storrer, 2009). Wright was also able to extract the idea that all architecture with merit should be thoroughly thought out down to the smallest detail. Wright had also claimed that Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris was truly one of the greatest books ever written on architecture(Storrer, 2009). He had also claimed that Victor Hugo was one of his favorite authors not only because of is unique writing style, but he also enjoyed Hugo's drawing style that he used in his illustrations for his books, especially Toilers of the Sea. Frank Lloyd Wright had a high regard for all poets and their teachings through poetry. Wright has stated that poetry is genius, We speak of genius as though it were the extension of some specialty or other. No, the quality is not there. Find genius and you shall find a poet.(Pfeiffer, 2008). In asking, what is a poet, Wright found the answer from another famous writer, Walt Whitman; If he is a poet he bestows on every object or quality its fit proportion- neither more nor less (Pfeiffer, 2008). All of these images make poets seem like the greatest architects anyone could imagine. Wright also made claim that America has enough profit takers, garage mechanics, teachers of only what has been taught, etc. What America really needs is poets, people of great vision wherever they stand and will give the people a soul(Pfeiffer, 2008). Victor Hugo helped to shape the spirit of France, it is said that when he left the country for exile to the channel Islands the very spirit of the country went with him and resided with him in his island home until he returned in glory to the welcoming arms of Paris, there he would be revered as a demi-god until his death. The influences of Victor Hugo can be seen directly in Frank Lloyd Wright's designs of architecture. The plan of the Ward W. Willit's house illustrates the execution of the cruicform plan that was characteristic of all cathedrals and churches of Roman Catholic religion.The spaces are arrayed around a central chimney. This cruciform plan allows a greater flow of space and allows natural light to permeate into all of the spaces. Stephanie Bouchard illustrated the advantages of the cruciform plan in her development of her thesis project in her analysis of the Willit's house as precedent to her design inspirations. IBouchard, S. (2005). Precedents 2005: architects inspiration.

The Willilt's house was the first building that Wright designed in the style that would become his prairrie school. This new style had proved that he had finally achieved his goal of creating a new style of architecture that was truly American. The concept of intergating a building firmly into its site was also expressed in Hugo's writings. The most famous residential design by Wright, Falling Water, is an excellent example of how his buildings were designed for that specific site. Falling Water accentuates the river by cantilevering over it and providing a viewing platform. The gothic cathedral can also be seen as an abstraction in one of Frank Lloyd Wright's religious buildings. He designed the Unity Meeting House in Madison Wisconsin. He starts out by using the cruciform plan but he stretches it in one direction to make it the prominent axis of the building which is oriented for passive solar gains. The cross axis creates the open space for gathering and the alter. As one approaches the alter form the rear isles the site falls away and Wright accentuates this by mirroring the topography and sloping his roof upward as the rest fo the building slopes down which greatly expands the space in the vertical sense and brings your eye up toward the sky. The tall slenderness of the gothic cathedrals also achieved this affect to draw the eye up towards the heavens, the building becoming the link between the earth and the sky. The structure of the Unity Meeting House is also built using natural stone found locally in the region. Frank Lloyd Wright and Victor Hugo lived in separate eras during different periods of time but they faced similar problems in their lives. There are unique comparisons that can be made about these two men and the way they lived their lives and conducted themselves, both in public and private scenarios. Both men rose to fame quickly in their professional careers, each emerging onto the scene at the age of twenty. Although Victor Hugo showed great talent earlier age, wining poetry competitions in school, it was hard for Wright to show his talent until he became employed because he didn't have a formal education as an architect. Both men where captivated and inspired by the artwork of the orient. Victor Hugo had shown an affinity for the bright colors and simple geometric patterns early in his drawing career(Thompson, 1970). Frank Lloyd Wright was very interested in collecting japanese artworks. The professional careers of both of these men were very long and prosperous. Each produced an immense amount of written work and Frank Lloyd Wright also created buildings and Victor Hugo was also a political figure and an artist. This vast amount of work was always driven by a desire for a new project to begin. In the case of Victor Hugo this drive stemmed from a constant testing of his abilities because he was very insecure about them. Hugo was constantly seeking reassurance in his work but there was never enough to satisfy him, no matter how much he had done or achieved he still had to push farther(Blackmore, & Blackmore, 2001). In their careers they were both seeking to bring about social change. Hugo's methods were to write about the horrible social injustices that he witnessed. Wright tried to make architecture not just an elitist fancy but a service for the average middle class American. His Usoinan houses were designed in a vision to produce affordable housing of the highest quality possible using passive techniques. Both individuals were intensely involved in controlling their own destinies and image in the public eye. In the end there were two million people in attendance at Victor Hugo's funeral and it was a huge event for the country of France. After looking into how he influenced the genius that was Frank Lloyd Wright it's a possibility that Wright might have believed that his funeral would be equally as large of an event for the American people.

Bibliography

Blackmore, E.H., & Blackmore, A.M. (2001). Selected poems of victor hugo. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Thompson, C.W. (1970). Victor hugo and the graphic arts. Geneve-Paris: Librairie Droz.Hugo, V.M. (1917). The Harvard classics shelf of fiction; vol. 12 Notre Dame de Paris. New York: PF Collier and Son Co.Brombert, V.H. (1984). Victor hugo and the visionary novel. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.Schinz, A. (1908). Selected poems by victor hugo. Boston: D.C. Heath and Co.Alofsin, A. (1993). Frank lloyd wright - the lost years 1910-1922. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Rodari, F., Georgel, P., Sante, L, & Prevost, M.L. (1998). Shadows of a hand: the drawings of victor hugo. New York, London: The Drawing Center & Merrell Holberton Publishers.Pfeiffer, B.B. (2008). Essential frank lloyd wright: critical writings on architecture. Princeton: Princeton University Press.The literature network: victor hugo. (2010) Retrieved from http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/Barrer, J.B. (2010). Victor hugo biography. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/articles/Victor-Hugo-9346557

Bouchard, S. (2005). Precedents 2005: architects inspiration. Retrieved from http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/mellin/arch671/winter2005/student/sbouchard/architects.htm


Ward. W. Willits house - FLW. - Perspective drawing of Willits House, 1901. Copyright the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
Ward w. willits house . (1997). Retrieved from http://www.delmars.com/wright/flw8-3.htm

Great buildings.com ward willits house . (1997). Retrieved from http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Ward_Willits_House.html
Falling Water

Storrer, W.A. (2009). The fellowship, the untold story of frank lloyd wright & the taliesin fellowship by roger friedland & harold zellman. 2006; harper collins, new york. 690 pages. $34.95. isbn 13: 978-0-06-039388-5 or isbn 10: 0-06-039388-2 a review & critique by william allin storrer. Retrieved from http://www.franklloydwrightinfo.com/Fellowship.html

Nicholas KleverVictor Hugo: An Architectural WriterDarryl Booker