"In the French language, there is a great gulf between prose and poetry; in English, there is hardly any difference. It is a splendid privilege of the great literary languages Greek, Latin, and French that they possess a prose. English has not this privilege. There is no prose in English."
Victor Hugo was a French novelist, poet, and dramatist and a central figure of French Romanticism. He is best known for Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. His work combined literary innovation with strong social and political engagement.