Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris

Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris

Victor Hugo began writing Notre-Dame de Paris in 1829, largely to make his contemporaries more aware of the value of the Gothic architecture, which was neglected and often destroyed to be replaced by new buildings or defaced by replacement of parts of buildings in a newer style. For instance, the medieval stained glass panels of Notre-Dame de Paris had been replaced by white glass to let more light into the church.[1] This explains the large descriptive sections of the book, which far exceed the requirements of the story. A few years earlier, Hugo had already published a paper entitled Guerre aux Démolisseurs (War to the Demolishers) specifically aimed at saving Paris’ medieval architecture.[2] The agreement with his original publisher, Gosselin, was that the book would be finished that same year, but Hugo was constantly delayed due to the demands of other projects. In the summer of 1830, Gosselin demanded that Hugo complete the book by February 1831. Beginning in September 1830, Hugo worked nonstop on the project thereafter. The book was finished six months later.

Table of contents

	Part 1.
	Chapter I. The grand hall	Chapter IV. Master jacques coppenole
	Chapter II. Pierre gringoire	Chapter V. Quasimodo
	Chapter III. Monsieur the cardinal	Chapter VI. Esmeralda
	Part 2
	Chapter I. From charybdis to scylla	Chapter V. Result of the dangers
	Chapter II. The place de grève	Chapter VI. The broken jug
	Chapter III. Kisses for blows
	Chapter IV. The inconveniences of following a pretty woman through the                                                      streets in the evening	Chapter VIII. A bridal night
	Part 3.
	Chapter I. Notre – Dame	Chapter II. A bird’s-eye view of paris
	Part 4
	Chapter I. Good souls	Chapter IV. The dog and his master
	Chapter II. Claude Frollo	Chapter V. More about Claude Frollo
	Chapter III. Immanis pecoris custos, immanior ipse	Chapter VI. Unpopularity
	Part 5
	Chapter I. Abbas beati martini	Chapter II. This will kill that
	Part 6
	Chapter I. An impartial glance at the ancient magistracy	Chapter IV. A tear for a drop of water
	Chapter II. The rat-hole	Chapter V. End of the story of the cake
	Chapter III. History of a leavened cake of maize
	Part 7
	Chapter I. The danger of confiding one’s secret to a goat	Chapter V. The two men clothed in black
	Chapter II. A priest and a philosopher are two different things	Chapter VI. The effect which seven oaths in the open air can produce
	Chapter III. The bells	Chapter VII. The mysterious monk
	Chapter IV. Ἀνáγκη.	Chapter VIII. The utility of windows which open on the river
	Part 8
	Chapter I. The crown changed into a dry leaf	Chapter IV. Lasciate ogni speranza—leave all hope behind, ye who enter here.
	Chapter II. Continuation of the crown which was changed into a dry leaf	Chapter V. The mother
	Chapter III. End of the crown which was turned into a dry leaf	Chapter VI. Three human hearts differently constructed
	Part 9.
	Chapter I. Delirium	Chapter IV. Earthenware and crystal.
	Chapter II. Hunchbacked, one eyed, lame	Chapter V. The key to the red door.
	Chapter III. Deaf	Chapter VI. Continuation of the key to the red door
	Part 10
	Chapter I. Gringoire has many good ideas in succession	Chapter V. The retreat in which monsieur louis of france says his prayers.
	Chapter II. Turn vagabond.	Chapter VI. Little sword inpocket
	Chapter III. Long live mirth	Chapter VII. Chateaupers to the rescue
	Chapter IV. An awkward friend.
	Part 11.
	Chapter I. The little shoe	Chapter III. The mariage of phoebus
	Chapter II. The beautiful creature clad in white (Dante)	Chapter IV: The marriage of Quasimodo.