Reading Order
HernaniHernani Reading Order
Hernani (1830) by Victor Hugo is the play whose first night (February 25, 1830) constitutes the founding event of French Romanticism — the 'Battle of Hernani' in which Hugo's young Romantic supporters (including Théophile Gautier in his famous red waistcoat, Gérard de Nerval, and other future Romantic writers) clashed physically and vocally in the stalls of the Comédie-Française with the defenders of classical theatrical convention. The battle was about poetics as much as about the play itself: Hugo's preface to the published version (one of the most famous manifestos in European literary history) argued for the mixture of the sublime and the grotesque (the king and the beggar, the beautiful and the ugly, tragedy and comedy) against the rigid separation of theatrical genres that French classical convention demanded; his Cromwell preface (1827) had already made the theoretical argument, and Hernani was its dramatic proof. The play itself is set in sixteenth-century Spain and follows the love triangle between the bandit Hernani, the elderly nobleman Don Ruy Gomez, and the young nobleman Don Carlos (who becomes the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) over the hand of Doña Sol — a melodrama of honor, love, and revenge culminating in a triple death by poison. The play is less performed today than Hugo's novels and less studied than the Preface that accompanied it, but the Preface is one of the most important critical manifestos in the history of European literature.
Where to start
Hernani (1830) — the Oxford World's Classics edition includes the play with the Preface and excellent contextual notes; Théophile Gautier's History of Romanticism (1872) gives the best eyewitness account of the 'Battle of Hernani' and the cultural context of the first night. Read the Preface first — it explains the poetic stakes of the battle.
Complete Hernani Book List
- 1Buy
Notre-Dame de Paris
Victor Hugo·1831·The novel written the year after Hernani's premiere — Notre-Dame de Paris is the novelistic embodiment of the aesthetic principles that Hugo's Preface to Hernani articulated; reading both together shows how Hugo's Romantic manifesto was put into practice in his most famous fiction. - 2Buy
Les Misérables
Victor Hugo·1862·Hugo's greatest novel and the fullest development of the 'sublime and grotesque' mixture that Hernani's Preface theorized — Jean Valjean and Javert are the sublime and grotesque in perfect balance; reading Les Misérables shows where the aesthetic principles of Hernani ultimately led. - 3Buy
Ruy Blas
Victor Hugo·1838·Hugo's later and more accomplished play — Ruy Blas (a lackey who becomes a minister) develops the 'mixing of the sublime and grotesque' principle even more fully than Hernani, with more complex political themes and more sustained dramatic achievement; the best Hugo play for readers who want more after Hernani. - 4Buy
Antony
Alexandre Dumas père·1831·The other great Romantic drama of 1830–1831 — Dumas's Antony caused a similar scandal with its frank treatment of adultery; reading Hernani alongside Antony gives the full picture of the French Romantic theatrical revolution. - 5Buy
History of Romanticism
Théophile Gautier·1872·The best eyewitness account of French Romanticism from one of Hugo's original supporters at the Battle of Hernani — Gautier's History (written in old age) gives the cultural context of the 1830 theatrical revolution from the inside; essential reading for anyone interested in French Romantic culture.
Hernani — Frequently Asked Questions
What is Hernani by Victor Hugo about?
Hernani (1830) by Victor Hugo is a verse drama set in sixteenth-century Spain following the love triangle between the bandit Hernani, the elderly nobleman Don Ruy Gomez, and the young nobleman Don Carlos (who becomes the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) over the hand of Doña Sol. The play ends with a triple death by poison when Don Ruy Gomez invokes the honor-code that obligates Hernani to die, and Doña Sol and Hernani poison themselves together. The play's first night was the famous 'Battle of Hernani,' in which Hugo's Romantic supporters clashed physically with defenders of classical convention.
What was the 'Battle of Hernani'?
The 'Battle of Hernani' was the famous confrontation on the first night of Victor Hugo's play Hernani at the Comédie-Française on February 25, 1830. Hugo's young Romantic supporters — including Théophile Gautier in his now-legendary red waistcoat, Gérard de Nerval, and other future Romantic writers — physically and vocally clashed in the stalls with the defenders of classical theatrical convention, who objected to Hugo's violation of the unities and the mixing of comic and tragic registers. The battle continued through the play's run. The Battle of Hernani is conventionally dated as the founding event of French Romanticism as a public cultural movement.
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