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Our new translation of Victor Hugo's travel classic 'The Rhine' ('Le Rhin') is now available here. This is the latest in our extensive series of complete publications covering the travel writings of the major poets of the late eighteenth and early to mid nineteenth centuries.

Hugo made three trips to the Rhineland with Juliette Drouet in 1838, 1839, and 1840, and the notes, letters and recollections of these excursions, plus added research, formed the basis of a collection of mainly fictitious letters, written so as to describe a single tour, published as ‘Le Rhin’ in 1842. The preface and conclusion to Hugo’s account were written to address the political issue of the left bank of the Rhine, ceded to Prussia, at France’s expense, in 1815, which was a topic of much debate in the late 1830’s. He sought a utopian compromise that would satisfy both countries, and yet maintain the rights of France, in a spirit of friendship between the nations.

This translation omits both preface and conclusion, though they reveal facets of Hugo’s character as well as his political thought, to allow the reader to enjoy his travel writing without major distraction. His portrait of Champagne, Belgium, and the Rhineland, well before the Franco-Prussian War and the two World Wars, is of great historical interest, as well as providing a charming and fascinating picture of those regions.

The enhanced translation has been designed to offer maximum compatibility with current search engines. Among other modifications, the proper names of people and places, and the titles given to works of art, have been fully researched, modernised, and expanded; comments in parentheses have been added here and there to provide a reference, or clarify meaning; and minor typographic or factual errors, for example incorrect attributions and dates, in the original text, have been eliminated from this new translation.

The reader can view a zoomable pop-up map of each location on Hugo's route, as well as an overall map of his journey.