The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in the context of "Historical novel"

Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other types of narrative, including theatre, opera, cinema, and television, as well as video games and graphic novels.

An essential element of historical fiction is that it is set in the past and pays attention to the manners, social conditions and other details of the depicted period. Authors also frequently choose to explore notable historical figures in these settings, allowing readers to better understand how these individuals might have responded to their environments. The historical romance usually seeks to romanticize eras of the past. Some subgenres such as alternate history and historical fantasy insert intentionally ahistorical or speculative elements into a novel.

Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (French: [viktɔʁ maʁi yɡo] ; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.

His most famous works are the novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862). In France, Hugo is renowned for his poetry collections, such as Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles (The Legend of the Ages). Hugo was at the forefront of the Romantic literary movement with his play Cromwell and drama Hernani. His works have inspired music, both during his lifetime and after his death, including the opera Rigoletto and the musicals Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris. He produced more than 4,000 drawings in his lifetime, and campaigned for social causes such as the abolition of capital punishment and slavery.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 American animated medieval period musical film loosely based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo, and produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Tab Murphy, Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and the writing team of Bob Tzudiker and Noni White, the film stars Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Tony Jay, and Kevin Kline, the film follows Quasimodo (Hulce), the deformed and confined bell-ringer of Notre Dame, and his yearning to explore the outside world and be accepted by society, against the wishes of his cruel, puritanical adoptive father Claude Frollo (Jay), who also wants to exterminate Paris' Romani population.

In 1993, David Stainton, then a development executive at Disney Feature Animation, conceived the idea to adapt Victor Hugo's Gothic novel into an animated feature. He subsequently pitched the idea to then-Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. At Katzenberg's request, Trousdale, Wise, and Hahn joined the project in 1993. Murphy wrote the first draft of the script, and Mecchi and Roberts, who had rewritten the script for The Lion King (1994), were soon brought in. Additional rewrites were provided by Tzudiker and White. That same year, the production team embarked on a research trip to Paris to study the Notre-Dame cathedral and additional locations for the film. The musical score was composed by Alan Menken, with songs written by Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz.