Victor Hugo in the context of "Sarah Bernhardt"

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.

Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids, or urchins; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers use UNICEF's concept of boys and girls, aged under 18 years, for whom "the street" (including unoccupied dwellings and wasteland) has become home and/or their source of livelihood, and who are inadequately protected or supervised. Street girls are sometimes called gamines, a term that is also used for Colombian street children of either sex.

Some street children, notably in more developed nations, are part of a subcategory called thrown-away children, consisting of children who have been forced to leave home. Thrown-away children are more likely to come from single-parent homes. Street children are often subject to abuse, neglect, exploitation, or, in extreme cases, murder by "clean-up squads" that have been hired by local businesses or police.

The Panthéon (French: [pɑ̃.te.ɔ̃] , from Ancient Greek πάνθειον (pántheion) '[temple] to all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter (Quartier Latin), on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, in the centre of the Place du Panthéon, which was named after it. The edifice was built between 1758 and 1790, from designs by Jacques-Germain Soufflot, at the behest of King Louis XV; the king intended it as a church dedicated to Saint Genevieve, Paris's patron saint, whose relics were to be housed in the church. Neither Soufflot nor Louis XV lived to see the church completed.

By the time the construction was finished, the French Revolution had started; the National Constituent Assembly voted in 1791 to transform the Church of Saint Genevieve into a mausoleum for the remains of distinguished French citizens, modelled on the Pantheon in Rome which had been used in this way since the 17th century. The first panthéonisé was Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, although his remains were removed from the building a few years later. The Panthéon was twice restored to church usage in the course of the 19th century—although Soufflot's remains were transferred inside it in 1829—until the French Third Republic finally decreed the building's exclusive use as a mausoleum in 1881. The placement of Victor Hugo's remains in the crypt in 1885 was its first entombment in over 50 years.

Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué is a burlesque written by A. C. Torr (pen name of Fred Leslie) and Herbert F. Clark with music by Meyer Lutz. It is based on the Victor Hugo drama Ruy Blas. The piece was produced by George Edwardes. As with many of the Gaiety burlesques, the title is a pun.

After a tryout in Birmingham beginning on 3 September 1889, Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué opened in London on 21 September 1889 at the Gaiety Theatre and ran for 289 performances. The cast included Nellie Farren, Fred Leslie, Marion Hood, Letty Lind, Sylvia Grey, Linda Verner, Blanche Massie, Alice Young, Charles Danby, Fred Storey and Ben Nathan. The piece toured in the British provinces and internationally, and was revised at least once during its run. It originally included a caricature of Henry Irving, in a scene in which some of the actors wore ballet girl costumes. Irving, never having seen the show, objected, and the Lord Chamberlain (Britain's theatrical censor, who also had not seen the show) prohibited the caricature.

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (French: [amɑ̃tin lysil oʁɔʁ dypɛ̃]; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (French: [ʒɔʁʒ(ə) sɑ̃d]), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac in Britain in the 1830s and 1840s, Sand is recognised as one of the most notable writers of the European Romantic era. She has more than 50 volumes of various works to her credit, including tales, plays and political texts, alongside her 70 novels.

Like her great-grandmother, Louise Dupin, whom she admired, George Sand advocated for women's rights and passion, criticized the institution of marriage, and fought against the prejudices of a conservative society. She was considered scandalous because of her turbulent love life, her adoption of masculine clothing, and her masculine pseudonym.

Les Misérables (/leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb(əl), -blə/ lay MIZ-ə-RAHB(-əl), -⁠RAH-blə, French: [le mizeʁabl]), colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz (/leɪ ˈmɪz/ lay MIZ), is a sung-through musical with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, and a book by Boublil and Schönberg, based on the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. Set in early 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells the story of Jean Valjean, a French convict, and his desire for redemption. After stealing a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child, Valjean is imprisoned for 19 years and released in 1815. When a bishop inspires him with a tremendous act of mercy, Valjean breaks his parole and starts his life anew and in disguise. He becomes wealthy and adopts an orphan, Cosette. A police inspector named Javert pursues Valjean over the decades in a single-minded quest for "justice". The characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists attempts to overthrow the government at a street barricade in Paris.

The French musical premiered in Paris in 1980 with direction by Robert Hossein. Its English-language adaptation, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, has been running in London since October 1985, making it the longest-running musical in the West End and the second longest-running musical in the world after the original off-Broadway run of The Fantasticks. Many other long-running productions followed on Broadway and around the world, and a film adaptation was released in 2012.

Les Misérables is a 1909 American silent historical drama proto-feature film (four short films that can be seen separately as a series, but when combined resemble a full-length feature film). The proto-feature movie is based on the 1862 French novel of the same name by Victor Hugo, and stars Maurice Costello and William V. Ranous. It was directed by J. Stuart Blackton.

Distributed by the Vitagraph Company of America, the film consists of four reels. The reels were released over the course of three months, from September 4 to November 27, 1909.

Photogravure (in French héliogravure) is a process for printing photographs, also sometimes used for reproductive intaglio printmaking. It is a photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is grained (adding a pattern to the plate) and then coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue which had been exposed to a film positive, and then etched, resulting in a high quality intaglio plate that can reproduce detailed continuous tones of a photograph.

The process was important in 19th-century photography, but by the 20th century was only used by some fine art photographers. By the mid-century it was almost extinct, but has seen a limited revival.

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (French: Notre-Dame de Paris, lit. 'Our Lady of Paris', originally titled Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482) is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. The title refers to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which features prominently throughout the novel. It focuses on the unfortunate story of Quasimodo, the Romani street dancer Esmeralda, and Quasimodo's guardian the Archdeacon Claude Frollo in 15th-century Paris. All its elements—the Renaissance setting, impossible love affairs and marginalised characters—make the work a model of the literary themes of Romanticism.

The novel is considered a classic of French literature and has been adapted repeatedly for film, stage and television. Some prominent examples include a 1923 silent film with Lon Chaney, a 1939 sound film with Charles Laughton, a 1956 film with Anthony Quinn, and a 1996 Disney animated film with Tom Hulce.