On 22 May 1885 Victor Hugo died, prompting international mourning unprecedented for a literary figure. Within an hour the periodical Gil Blas published a special edition, which sold out everywhere, and soon millions flocked to Paris in a spectacular display of curiosity and grief. For some his funeral sounded "the death knell of a century that is ending, and that is ending badly" (Le Figaro ); for others he was a "human lout" (La Croix) and the fantastic display of impassioned mourning a "veritable funeral fair" (Le Pays ). Whether one sees in him an "apostolate of genius," as did Jules Claretie; a "light which . . . henceforth has vanquished death," as did Charles-Marie Leconte de Lisle; or a political "sunflower," systematically changing ideological orientation out of avarice, treachery, and vulgar self-interest, as did Paul Lafargue, Biré, and Louis Veuillot, Hugo's career remains a turning point in the history of French literature and...