Victor Hugo (1802–1885), one of France’s greatest poets and writers, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables, addressed the International Literary Congress in 1878 to rapturous acclaim. The Congress adopted resolutions including the principle of perpetual copyright, and called on the French Government to host an international conference to establish a convention to regulate use of literary property. The French Government did not respond but the call for a convention was a decisive step towards agreement of the Berne Convention. Hugo believed that literary property ought to extinguish on the author’s death (with publishers entitled to publish the author’s works post mortem subject to paying small royalties to direct heirs). He considered that authors’ rights must not be allowed to restrict the public domain. He thought, however, that the grant of literary property assisted development of the public domain. This speech is only in part directly concerned with the question of literary property. In total, it is a triumphant statement of Hugo’s belief in principles of freedom and emancipation, and his love of France. It is also a tender reflection on the feelings of the outcast and exile. Hugo lived in exile from France between 1852 and 1870.

Translation copyright Mary Atkinson and Ben Atkinson