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Title

  • Hernani.

Summary

  • Hernani, ou l'Honneur castillan is a play in five acts by Victor Hugo (1802-85), which opened at the Comédie-Française in February 1830. Set during the Spanish Renaissance, it recounts the rivalries between a young man named Charles Quint, a bandit named Hernani, and the uncle of the lady whose love they all vie for, Dona Sol. Beyond the themes of honor, love, and history, this melodrama is best known for its departure from conventional classical tragedies (in particular the unities of place, time, and action) and it is generally interpreted as an attack on the established order. The play is also an example of the new form of drama that Hugo had described in 1827 in the preface to his play Cromwell. On the opening night of the play, an altercation famously took place between the defenders of Hugo, led by the dramatist and critic Théophile Gautier, and those in favor of classicism. The event, which became known as the "battle of Hernani," was characterized by whistles, fist fights, multiple interruptions of the play, and street protests. The clashes lasted several days and marked the triumph of romantic drama, which dominated the stages of French theaters for years to come. Hernani then became the object of several parodies and adaptations (such as Verdi's opera Ernani). Nevertheless, the play was not performed again until 1877. It is still being performed to this day. Presented here is Victor Hugo's manuscript of the play.

Names

  • Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885 Author.

Created / Published

  • [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [1825 to 1830]

Headings

  • -  France
  • -  1825 to 1830
  • -  Drama
  • -  French drama
  • -  Romanticism

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: 1 bound autograph manuscript, 59 folios ; 350 x 225 millimeters.
  • -  Original resource at: National Library of France.
  • -  Content in French.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021668067

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Hugo, Victor, Author. Hernani. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1830, 1825] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668067/.

APA citation style:

Hugo, V. (1825) Hernani. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1830] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668067/.

MLA citation style:

Hugo, Victor, Author. Hernani. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1830, 1825] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021668067/>.