Victor Hugo and the Idea of the United States of Europe

This study begins by tracing the development of the idea of the United States of Europe in Hugo's works from its origin in the ode entitled A la colon de la place Vendôme (1827) to its first formulation in a speech delivered as chair of the Paris Peace Conference (1849). Although the term of the United States of Europe virtually disappears in prose texts that address the general reading public during the exile period, this study shows that the themes associated with this term have been transposed and developed further in texts such as Napoléon le Petit (1852) and Les Misérables (1862).