Notre-Dame de Paris cover

Notre-Dame de Paris

Victor Hugo (1802-1885), trans. Isabel Florence Hapgood

Original en 183187 words First published 1831 France

Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, in Isabel F. Hapgood's translation, written in part to save a cathedral. In the Paris of 1482 the hunchback bell-ringer Quasimodo, the archdeacon Frollo and the half-civilised poet Gringoire circle the gypsy dancer Esmeralda, who is undone by the law, by superstition and by two men's desires. Hugo built the book around the Greek word ANANKE — Fate — graven on a tower wall, and around a buried argument: that the printed book will kill the building. The cathedral is the true protagonist, and the novel made Gothic Paris a national possession.

Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.

Table of Contents

  1. 001 PREFACE. A few years ago, while visiting or, rather, rummaging about… 2669 words
  2. 002 It is not much. Let us return to the veritable grand hall of the… 2501 words
  3. 003 “I see that plainly, from the progress of velvet stuffs,” said the fur-merchant. 2588 words
  4. 004 Much ill-will would also have been required, not to comprehend… 2536 words
  5. 005 It was this justly acquired popularity, no doubt, which preserved him… 2510 words
  6. 006 Now, will those of our readers who possess the power of generalizing… 2596 words
  7. 007 The orgy grew more and more Flemish. 2581 words
  8. 008 BOOK SECOND. CHAPTER I. FROM CHARYBDIS TO SCYLLA. Night comes on… 2587 words
  9. 009 Among the thousands of visages which that light tinged with scarlet… 2520 words
  10. 010 Quasimodo placed himself in front of the priest, set in play the… 2770 words
  11. 011 Then he retraced his steps, and feeling his way and searching, with… 2593 words
  12. 012 Near the fire was a hogshead, and on the hogshead a beggar. 2568 words
  13. 013 “Oh!” he said, in a very low voice, “is it possible that my life… 2521 words
  14. 014 The young girl seated opposite him, watched him in silence, visibly… 2560 words
  15. 015 Let us return to the façade of Notre-Dame, as it still appears to us… 2605 words
  16. 016 CHAPTER II. A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF PARIS. We have just attempted to… 2538 words
  17. 017 Thus the City first presented itself to the eye, with its stern to… 2706 words
  18. 018 Continuing to mount the stories of this amphitheatre of palaces… 2582 words
  19. 019 To each of these characteristic monuments there is attached by a… 2527 words
  20. 020 “How do you know that?” asked Guillemette la Mairesse. 2533 words
  21. 021 It is thus that, little by little, developing always in sympathy with… 2539 words
  22. 022 CHAPTER IV. THE DOG AND HIS MASTER. Nevertheless, there was one human… 2585 words
  23. 023 However, he redoubled his severity, and had never been more exemplary. 2522 words
  24. 024 “And in short,” interrupted Tourangeau, “what do you hold to be true… 2551 words
  25. 025 And not only the form of edifices, but the sites selected for them… 2604 words
  26. 026 It is that setting sun which we mistake for the dawn. 2729 words
  27. 027 And not only had Messire Robert d’Estouteville his special court as… 2506 words
  28. 028 The poor fellow, supposing that the provost was asking his name… 2570 words
  29. 029 The two first walked with that step peculiar to Parisian ladies… 2621 words
  30. 030 “I ask no better,” said Oudarde with a sigh, “but I am waiting until… 2564 words
  31. 031 This question, highly imprudent at the moment when Eustache put it… 2568 words
  32. 032 They were forced to content themselves with those four stretches of… 2507 words
  33. 033 “And my cat bring forth a kitten with six paws!” yelped an old crone… 2524 words
  34. 034 The sonorous vibration of a tambourine was, in fact, audible. 2505 words
  35. 035 It was the goat, who had just arrived, in search of his mistress, and… 2555 words
  36. 036 Dom Claude listened in silence. 2553 words
  37. 037 CHAPTER IV. ἈΝÁΓΚΗ. It chanced that upon a fine morning in this same… 2520 words
  38. 038 “What nonsense!” thought Jehan. 2535 words
  39. 039 “Greeting, master,” replied the man in black. 2501 words
  40. 040 “But I have!” “Bah! let’s see it!” Jehan spread out the purse before… 2502 words
  41. 041 “Christ and Satan!” exclaimed the captain. 2502 words
  42. 042 “What matters that to us?” said Phœbus; “do you love me?” “Oh!”—said she. 2501 words
  43. 043 Here the bystanders imposed silence upon the two chatterers. 2702 words
  44. 044 This Tartarus was called simply, The Question Chamber. 2554 words
  45. 045 At the fortress of Saint-Antoine, at the Palais de Justice of Paris… 2625 words
  46. 046 The priest paused for a moment, overcome with emotion. 2508 words
  47. 047 “I tell you he is dead!” She fell face downwards upon the floor, and… 2563 words
  48. 048 Queue-en-Brie was a very insipid place to stay at then, a village of… 2562 words
  49. 049 Moreover, there was nothing in her which was not shaken in some sort… 2607 words
  50. 050 “Noël! Noël!” shouted the populace in its turn; and that immense… 2507 words
  51. 051 “Oh!” he muttered, “the night breeze dashes them against each other… 2655 words
  52. 052 “Why have you saved me?” He gazed at her with anxiety, as though… 2532 words
  53. 053 She had left the whistle which he had given her lying on the ground. 2514 words
  54. 054 From that day forth, the gypsy no longer saw him. 2689 words
  55. 055 One day he had halted near Saint Germain-l’Auxerrois, at the corner… 2553 words
  56. 056 The priest interrupted him: “Is it agreed.” “What is death, after… 2502 words
  57. 057 “Ugh!” roared a Norman, recognizable by his nasal accent; “we are… 2610 words
  58. 058 The throng seemed to increase every moment in the church square. 2548 words
  59. 059 Quasimodo hastened to that tower. 2594 words
  60. 060 The scholar finally reached the balcony of the gallery, and climbed… 2503 words
  61. 061 “Fifty sols for the robes of our valets, and twelve livres for the… 2511 words
  62. 062 “Fourteen years, sire! Fourteen years now! since the month of April… 2502 words
  63. 063 “Sire, Pierre Gringoire.” “Your trade?” “Philosopher, sire.” “How do… 2513 words
  64. 064 Accordingly, Olivier le Mauvais remained motionless, sulking at the… 2505 words
  65. 065 “And how are we to get out again?” “Behind the cloister there is a… 2828 words
  66. 066 The man in black let the garrulous poet chatter on. 2510 words
  67. 067 Then his tongue no longer articulated any perceptible sound; but his lips still moved. 2558 words
  68. 068 “Oh, my mother!” said the young girl, at length finding strength to… 2561 words
  69. 069 “There is one yonder, under the shed of the Pillar-House,” replied the man. 2505 words
  70. 070 Rennet Cousin paused at the foot of the fatal ladder, with that which… 2511 words
  71. 071 At the moment when it was most horrible, the laugh of a demon, a… 2669 words
  72. 072 Now the chapters have been found, and he avails himself of the first… 1031 words