Reforming Society and Genre in Hugo's 'Claude Gueu'

Victor Hugo's desire to reform both society and art marks all of his work, as one would expect of the leader of the Romantics. Determined to create a militant, utilitarian, literary work that was also aesthetic, he reformulated the fable in his attempt to reform society. His 'Claude Gueux' tells a pathetic tale that reveals the inadequacies of education and the penal system's profound injustice. Much as he explicitly liberated the drame of certain requirements, including verse, with a 'shadow' tragedy, so he freed the fable genre of verse, replacing the traditionally short generic form with a fabular short story.