Drax may refer to:

• Drax, North Yorkshire, a village in England
  • Drax Power Station, the largest power station in Britain, located near the village
  • Drax Group, the FTSE 250 Index listed company that owns the Drax power station
• Drax Hall Estate, an early sugar plantation in Saint George, Barbados
• Sir Reginald Drax, a British Admiral whose full name was Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax
• Sir Hugo Drax, a fictional character from the James Bond novel and film Moonraker
• Drax the Destroyer, a fictional character in Marvel comics
• Infinity Man, a fictional character in DC comics also named "Drax"
• Drax (Time Lord), a Time Lord in the Doctor Who television series.
• Richard Drax, Conservative Politician, (born 29 January 1958),
• John Erle-Drax, a British Member of Parliament (MP) during the Victorian era.

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Symphony X
performing live in San Francisco, California, 2007
Background information
Origin	Middletown, New Jersey, United States
Genres	Progressive metal, neo-classical metal, symphonic metal
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Nuclear Blast, Inside Out, Zero Corporation
Website	www.symphonyx.com
Members
Michael Romeo Michael Pinnella Jason Rullo Russell Allen Michael Lepond
Past members
Thomas Miller Rod Tyler Thomas Walling

Symphony X /ˌsɪmfəni ˈɛks/ is an American progressive metal band from Middletown, New Jersey. Founded in 1994 by guitarist Michael Romeo, their albums The Divine Wings of Tragedy and V: The New Mythology Suite have given the band considerable attention within the progressive metal community. They also have achieved more commercial success with the 2007 album Paradise Lost; the band's 2011 album Iconoclast is the highest chart position and the most first-week sales in the band's history.

Biography[link]

[edit] The Dark Chapter, Symphony X and The Damnation Game (1994−1995)

In early 1994 Michael Romeo (ex-Phantom's Opera, ex-Gemini) recorded a studio album entitled The Dark Chapter, which featured himself and keyboard player Michael Pinnella.^[1] The tape attracted a fair share of attention, particularly in Japan.^[1] He then recruited bassist Thomas Miller, drummer Jason Rullo, and vocalist Rod Tyler.^[2] Their self-titled debut album was recorded in the same year, and released to a positive reception in Japan by the now-extinct record company Zero Corporation Label.^[3] The band's second studio album, The Damnation Game, followed six months later. Singer Rod Tyler had left the band by then and was replaced by current singer Russell Allen.^[4]

[edit] The Divine Wings of Tragedy and Twilight in Olympus (1996−1998)

The Divine Wings of Tragedy was the album that first gave Symphony X exposure in metal circles. It took a considerable time to record the album, with the recording sessions beginning in 1996 and concluding in 1997. The positive feedback from the specialized press served to establish Symphony X in Europe; their success in Japan only continued to grow.

At the end of 1997 and for part of the next year, Jason Rullo, their drummer, had to stay away from the band in order to solve personal issues. He was temporarily replaced by Thomas Walling. Even with a temporary drummer, the band recorded Twilight in Olympus, released in early 1998. That year also saw the first live performances from the band, which by then had already gathered many fans from around the globe. Their first official show happened in 1998, in Japan. It was soon followed by a world tour. Bassist Thomas Miller left the band and was replaced by Michael Lepond in that year.

A compilation album, Prelude to the Millennium, was released by the end of 1998. As an extra, it featured a second version of the song "Masquerade" from the first album, with Russell Allen on vocals.

[edit] V: The New Mythology Suite and The Odyssey (1999−2002)

Jason Rullo returned to the drums for the band's fifth album, V: The New Mythology Suite, released in 2000. It was the band's first release on major progressive label InsideOut Music. The album was their first concept album, dealing with the myth of Atlantis. The album features classics such as "Communion and the Oracle," "Egypt" and the mini-suite "Rediscovery," and includes pieces of classical music.

The band went on a European and South American tour shortly after its release and recorded their first live album, Live on the Edge of Forever.

In 2002, the band released The Odyssey, an album prominently featuring a 24-minute long musical interpretation of the Homeric epic, the Odyssey.

Solo albums (2003−2006)[link]

Keyboardist Michael Pinnella released a solo album, entitled Enter By the Twelfth Gate, on October 12, 2004.^[5] Vocalist Russell Allen's solo debut, entitled Atomic Soul, was released in the summer of 2005. With this album, Allen took a different musical direction from that seen in his work with Symphony X. It was considered by many—including Allen himself—to be a hard rock album.^[6] Also in 2005, he recorded an album called The Battle with former Masterplan vocalist Jørn Lande under the moniker "Allen/Lande."^[7] The two would later record a follow-up album entitled The Revenge, released May 11, 2007.^[8] In 2005 Symphony X was featured on Gigantour, a summer festival headlined by Megadeth with Dream Theater and Anthrax. Two Symphony X songs from the tour, "Inferno" and "Of Sins and Shadows," are featured on the Gigantour DVD and CD-set, released in September 2006.^[9][10]

[edit] Paradise Lost (2007-2010)

Lead vocalist Russell Allen performing at a concert in San Juan, Puerto Rico on May 27, 2007.

The band's album Paradise Lost, a concept album loosely inspired by John Milton's epic poem of the same name, was recorded in Romeo's studio and released worldwide on June 26, 2007. The band claimed this work had darker themes musically.^[11] The album included a special DVD of footage shot by the band throughout their history, available in FYE stores.^[12] The release coincided with a 14-month world tour, including a tour through all of Europe with Dream Theater in the fall of 2007.^[13] The band also revealed plans to perform in Japan and other Asian countries, as well as appear for the first time ever in Russia, India, and the Middle East.^[13]

Paradise Lost debuted at number 123 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States, selling 6,300 copies in its first week. The record also debuted at number 1 on the Top Heatseekers Chart.^[14][15]

Symphony X released their first music video for the song "Serpent's Kiss" on July 28, 2007.^[16] It was followed by a video for "Set the World on Fire," released on January 11, 2008.^[17] The band toured North and South America from October to November 2008, and toured Asia in February 2009.

[edit] Iconoclast (2011-present)

On March 1, 2010, an update on the Symphony X official website announced that the band had recorded most of their next album and that Romeo and Allen were working on lyrics; Romeo was getting ready to start doing tracking for the album.^[18][19][20] The album's name and lyrical concept were revealed on January 29, 2011 in an interview by DJ JC Green of Metal Messiah Radio's "Heavy Metal Thunder" show with Russell Allen: the follow-up to Paradise Lost will be titled Iconoclast and will have its lyrics centered around "machines taking over everything and all this technology we put our society into pretty much being our demise."^[21] When asked about a release date, Allen said, "We are in post-production, so the album is pretty much almost done. At this point, mixes are being wrapped up and finalized and it's off to mastering and should be ready for release in a few months, definitely first quarter of 2011. We've got the artworks all done, we're taking pictures next week... all that good stuff. So everything's on track for release pretty soon. Allen also commented that "Sonically, it's in the realm of [Paradise Lost] in a way, in terms of the sound of things; the guitar sound is a little different. Basically, the album is pretty intense, probably the most intense record we've ever done... "This album will contain a good body of work that harkens back to a lot of early metal, some early metal, and a lot of Symphony X standards that you guys know already, and a little bit of a newer sound too, here and there, just a newer direction."^[21]

On February 25, 2011, Symphony X played the first show of their 2011 tour in Stuttgart, Germany, where they performed two songs from Iconoclast: "End of Innocence" and "Dehumanized." Some days later, in Antwerp, Belgium, they performed yet another new song, "Heretic." During their show in London, England, the band debuted another new song titled "Prometheus."

On March 25, 2011, it was announced on the Nuclear Blast website and Blabbermouth.net that the new Symphony X album, Iconoclast, would be released in Europe on June 17 and in North America on June 21,^[22] as a Standard Edition as well as a 2-CD Digipack.

Iconoclast debuted at number 76 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States, selling more than 7,300 copies in its first week. The record also debuted at number 7 on the Top Hard Rock Chart, number 19 on the Top Rock Chart and number 13 on the Top Independent Chart.^[23][24] The album showcases the highest chart position and the most first-week sales in the band's history.

Sound[link]

Symphony X is often compared to other progressive metal bands such as Dream Theater, Fates Warning and Shadow Gallery.^[25] Their music includes complex timings and odd meters while incorporating elements of symphonic metal and more traditional heavy metal. It also contains strong neo-classical elements reminiscent of Yngwie Malmsteen, Cacophony, Randy Rhoads, and other neo-classical metal artists.^[26]

Recording studio: The Dungeon[link]

The Dungeon is the studio located at the home of Symphony X's guitarist and composer Michael Romeo. The albums The Divine Wings of Tragedy and V: The New Mythology Suite were partly recorded in The Dungeon, while The Odyssey, Paradise Lost and Iconoclast were fully recorded there and produced by Romeo himself. Symphony X spent a sum of money upgrading The Dungeon and buying state of the art orchestration software and tools for the rich symphonic arrangements in their songs.

Line-up[link]

Current members

• Michael Romeo − guitar, backing vocals (1994–present)
• Michael Pinnella − keyboards, backing vocals (1994–present)
• Jason Rullo – drums (1994–1997, 2000–present)
• Russell Allen − lead vocals (1995–present)
• Michael Lepond − bass guitar, backing vocals (1998–present)

Former members

• Thomas Miller − bass guitar (1994−1998)
• Rod Tyler − vocals (1994)
• Thomas Walling − drums (1998−2000)

Timeline

 id:Guitar              value:teal           legend:Guitar
 id:Vocals              value:orange         legend:Lead vocals
 id:Bass                value:blue           legend:Bass
 id:Drums               value:gray(0.45)     legend:Drums
 id:Keyboards           value:purple         legend:Keyboards
 id:Lines               value:black          legend:Studio releases

 at:06/25/1994 color:black layer:back
 at:10/08/1995 color:black layer:back
 at:01/01/1997 color:black layer:back
 at:03/27/1998 color:black layer:back
 at:10/10/2000 color:black layer:back
 at:01/05/2002 color:black layer:back
 at:06/26/2007 color:black layer:back
 at:06/17/2011 color:black layer:back

 bar:Romeo        text:"Michael Romeo"
 bar:Pinnella     text:"Michael Pinnella"
 bar:Rullo        text:"Jason Rullo"
 bar:Walling      text:"Thomas Walling"
 bar:Allen        text:"Russell Allen"
 bar:Tyler        text:"Rod Tyler"
 bar:Lepond       text:"Michael Lepond"
 bar:Miller       text:"Thomas Miller"

 width:14 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
 bar:Romeo        from:01/01/1994 till:end        color:Guitar
 bar:Pinnella     from:01/01/1994 till:end        color:Keyboards
 bar:Rullo        from:01/01/1994 till:08/01/1997 color:Drums
 bar:Rullo        from:08/01/2000 till:end        color:Drums
 bar:Walling      from:08/01/1997 till:08/01/2000 color:Drums
 bar:Allen        from:08/07/1995 till:end        color:Vocals
 bar:Tyler        from:01/01/1994 till:08/07/1995 color:Vocals
 bar:Lepond       from:05/01/1998 till:end        color:Bass
 bar:Miller       from:01/01/1994 till:04/30/1998 color:Bass

Discography[link]

Music videos[link]

• "The Serpent's Kiss" – 2007
• "Set The World On Fire" – 2008
• "Electric Messiah" - 2011

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Symphony X

• Symphony X's official website
• Symphony X's official MySpace page
• Official French website

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2011)

Victor Hugo
Woodburytype of Victor Hugo by Étienne Carjat, circa 1880
Born	Victor-Marie Hugo 26 February 1802 (1802-02-26) Besançon, France
Died	22 May 1885 (1885-05-23) (aged 83) Paris, France
Occupation	Poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights campaigner[citation needed]
Literary movement	Romanticism
Influences François-René de Chateaubriand, Walter Scott, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Alphonse de Lamartine, William Shakespeare
Influenced Louis-Honoré Fréchette, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Ayn Rand, Irvine Welsh, Albert Camus, Gérard de Nerval, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Oscar Wilde, Jean Cocteau, Gustave Flaubert, Jorge Luis Borges, Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle
Signature

Victor-Marie Hugo (French pronunciation: [viktɔʁ maʁi yɡo]) (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist^{[citation needed]} and exponent of the Romantic movement in France.

In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem, and Hugo is sometimes identified as the greatest French poet. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (also known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame).

Though a committed royalist when he was young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed;^[1] he became a passionate supporter of republicanism^{[citation needed]}, and his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He is buried in the Panthéon.

Biography[link]

Hugo was the third, illegitimate, son of Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo (1774–1828) and Sophie Trébuchet (1772–1821); his brothers were Abel Joseph Hugo (1798–1855) and Eugène Hugo (1800–1837). He was born in 1802 in Besançon (in the region of Franche-Comté) and lived in France for the majority of his life. However, he decided to live in exile as a result of Napoleon III's Coup d'état at the end of 1851.

Hugo lived briefly in Brussels (1851) then moved to the Channel Islands, firstly to Jersey (1852–1855) and then to the smaller island of Guernsey (1855–1870). Although a general amnesty was proclaimed by Napoleon III in 1859; Hugo stayed in exile, only ending it when Napoleon III was forced from power as a result of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. Hugo returned again to Guernsey (1872–73), after suffering through the Siege of Paris, before finally returning to France for the remainder of his life.

Hugo's childhood was a period of national political turmoil. Napoléon was proclaimed Emperor two years after Hugo's birth, and the Bourbon Monarchy was restored before his eighteenth birthday. The opposing political and religious views of Hugo's parents reflected the forces that would battle for supremacy in France throughout his life: Hugo's father was an officer who ranked very high^{[clarification needed]} in Napoleon's army until he failed in Spain^{[clarification needed]} (one of the reasons why his name is not present on the Arc de Triomphe).^{[citation needed]}

He was a freethinking republican who considered Napoléon a hero; his mother was a Catholic Royalist who is believed^{[by whom?]} to have taken as her lover General Victor Lahorie, who was executed in 1812 for plotting against Napoléon.^{[citation needed]} Since Hugo's father was an officer, the family moved frequently and Hugo learned much from these travels.^{[citation needed]}

On his family's journey to Naples, he saw the vast Alpine passes and the snowy peaks, the magnificently blue Mediterranean, and Rome during its festivities.^{[original research?]} Though he was only nearly six at the time, he remembered the half-year-long trip vividly.^{[citation needed]} They stayed in Naples for a few months and then headed back to Paris.^{[citation needed]}

Sophie followed her husband to posts in Italy (where Léopold served as a governor of a province near Naples) and Spain (where he took charge of three Spanish provinces). Weary of the constant moving required by military life, and at odds with her husband's lack of Catholic beliefs, Sophie separated temporarily from Léopold in 1803 and settled in Paris. Thereafter she dominated Hugo's education and upbringing. As a result, Hugo's early work in poetry and fiction reflect a passionate devotion to both King and Faith. It was only later, during the events leading up to France's 1848 Revolution, that he would begin to rebel against his Catholic Royalist education and instead champion Republicanism and Freethought.

Young Victor fell in love and against his mother's wishes became secretly engaged to his childhood friend Adèle Foucher (1803–1868).^{[citation needed]}

Unusually close to his mother,^{[citation needed]} he married Adèle (in 1822) only after his mother's death in 1821. They had their first child Léopold in 1823, but the boy died in infancy. Hugo's other children were Léopoldine (28 August 1824), Charles (4 November 1826), François-Victor (28 October 1828) and Adèle (24 August 1830).

Hugo published his first novel the following year (Han d'Islande, 1823), and his second three years later (Bug-Jargal, 1826). Between 1829 and 1840 he would publish five more volumes of poetry (Les Orientales, 1829; Les Feuilles d'automne, 1831; Les Chants du crépuscule, 1835; Les Voix intérieures, 1837; and Les Rayons et les ombres, 1840), cementing his reputation as one of the greatest elegiac and lyric poets of his time.

Illustration by Luc-Olivier Merson for Notre Dame de Paris (1881) showing the recently restored galerie des chimères.

Hugo was devastated when his oldest and favorite daughter, Léopoldine, died at age 19 in 1843, shortly after her marriage. She drowned in the Seine at Villequier, pulled down by her heavy skirts, when a boat overturned. Her young husband Charles Vacquerie also died trying to save her. Victor Hugo was traveling with his mistress at the time in the south of France, and learned about Léopoldine's death from a newspaper as he sat in a cafe.^[2] He describes his shock and grief in his poem À Villequier:

Hélas ! vers le passé tournant un oeil d'envie,
Sans que rien ici-bas puisse m'en consoler,
Je regarde toujours ce moment de ma vie
Où je l'ai vue ouvrir son aile et s'envoler !

Je verrai cet instant jusqu'à ce que je meure,
L'instant, pleurs superflus !
Où je criai : L'enfant que j'avais tout à l'heure,
Quoi donc ! je ne l'ai plus !

Alas! turning an envious eye towards the past,
unconsolable by anything on earth,
I keep looking at that moment of my life
when I saw her open her wings and fly away!

I will see that instant until I die,
that instant—too much for tears!
when I cried out: "The child that I had just now--
what! I don't have her any more!"

He wrote many poems afterwards about his daughter's life and death, and at least one biographer claims he never completely recovered from it. His most famous poem is probably Demain, dès l'aube, in which he describes visiting her grave.

Writings[link]

Victor Hugo in 1853.

Like many young writers of his generation, Hugo was profoundly influenced by François-René de Chateaubriand, the famous figure in the literary movement of Romanticism and France's preeminent literary figure during the early 19th century. In his youth, Hugo resolved to be "Chateaubriand or nothing," and his life would come to parallel that of his predecessor in many ways. Like Chateaubriand, Hugo would further the cause of Romanticism, become involved in politics as a champion of Republicanism, and be forced into exile due to his political stances.

The precocious passion and eloquence of Hugo's early work brought success and fame at an early age. His first collection of poetry (Odes et poésies diverses) was published in 1822, when Hugo was only twenty years old, and earned him a royal pension from Louis XVIII. Though the poems were admired for their spontaneous fervor and fluency, it was the collection that followed four years later in 1826 (Odes et Ballades) that revealed Hugo to be a great poet, a natural master of lyric and creative song.

Victor Hugo's first mature work of fiction appeared in 1829, and reflected the acute social conscience that would infuse his later work. Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man) would have a profound influence on later writers such as Albert Camus, Charles Dickens, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Claude Gueux, a documentary short story about a real-life murderer who had been executed in France, appeared in 1834, and was later considered by Hugo himself to be a precursor to his great work on social injustice, Les Misérables.

Hugo's first full-length novel^{[citation needed]} would be the enormously successful Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame), which was published in 1831 and quickly translated into other languages across Europe. One of the effects of the novel was to shame the City of Paris into restoring the much-neglected Cathedral of Notre Dame, which was attracting thousands of tourists who had read the popular novel. The book also inspired a renewed appreciation for pre-Renaissance buildings, which thereafter began to be actively preserved.

Portrait of "Cosette" by Émile Bayard, from the original edition of Les Misérables (1862).

Hugo began planning a major novel about social misery and injustice as early as the 1830s, but it would take a full 17 years for Les Misérables to be realized and finally published in 1862. Hugo was acutely aware of the quality of the novel and publication of the work went to the highest bidder. The Belgian publishing house Lacroix and Verboeckhoven undertook a marketing campaign unusual for the time, issuing press releases about the work a full six months before the launch. It also initially published only the first part of the novel ("Fantine"), which was launched simultaneously in major cities. Installments of the book sold out within hours, and had enormous impact on French society.

The critical establishment was generally hostile to the novel; Taine found it insincere, Barbey d'Aurevilly complained of its vulgarity, Gustave Flaubert found within it "neither truth nor greatness", the Goncourts lambasted its artificiality, and Baudelaire – despite giving favorable reviews in newspapers – castigated it in private as "tasteless and inept". Les Misérables proved popular enough with the masses that the issues it highlighted were soon on the agenda of the National Assembly of France. Today the novel remains his most enduringly popular work. It is popular worldwide, has been adapted for cinema, television and stage shows.

The shortest correspondence in history is said to have been between Hugo and his publisher Hurst and Blackett in 1862. Hugo was on vacation when Les Misérables was published. He queried the reaction to the work by sending a single-character telegram to his publisher, asking "?". The publisher replied with a single "!" to indicate its success.^[3]

Hugo turned away from social/political issues in his next novel, Les Travailleurs de la Mer (Toilers of the Sea), published in 1866. Nonetheless, the book was well received, perhaps due to the previous success of Les Misérables. Dedicated to the channel island of Guernsey where he spent 15 years of exile, Hugo's depiction of Man's battle with the sea and the horrible creatures lurking beneath its depths spawned an unusual fad in Paris: Squids. From squid dishes and exhibitions, to squid hats and parties, Parisians became fascinated by these unusual sea creatures, which at the time were still considered by many to be mythical.^{[citation needed]}

The word used in Guernsey to refer to squid (pieuvre, also sometimes applied to octopus) was to enter the French language as a result of its use in the book. Hugo returned to political and social issues in his next novel, L'Homme Qui Rit (The Man Who Laughs), which was published in 1869 and painted a critical picture of the aristocracy. The novel was not as successful as his previous efforts, and Hugo himself began to comment on the growing distance between himself and literary contemporaries such as Flaubert and Émile Zola, whose realist and naturalist novels were now exceeding the popularity of his own work.

His last novel, Quatre-vingt-treize (Ninety-Three), published in 1874, dealt with a subject that Hugo had previously avoided: the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. Though Hugo's popularity was on the decline at the time of its publication, many now consider Ninety-Three to be a work on par with Hugo's better-known novels.

Political life and exile[link]

Among the Rocks on Jersey (1853–55).

After three unsuccessful attempts, Hugo was finally elected to the Académie française in 1841, solidifying his position in the world of French arts and letters. A group of French academicians, particularly Etienne de Jouy, were fighting against the "romantic evolution" and had managed to delay Victor Hugo's election.^[4] Thereafter he became increasingly involved in French politics.

He was elevated to the peerage by King Louis-Philippe in 1841 and entered the Higher Chamber as a pair de France, where he spoke against the death penalty and social injustice, and in favour of freedom of the press and self-government for Poland. However, he was also becoming more supportive of the Republican form of government and, following the 1848 Revolution and the formation of the Second Republic, was elected to the Constitutional Assembly and the Legislative Assembly.

When Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) seized complete power in 1851, establishing an anti-parliamentary constitution, Hugo openly declared him a traitor to France. He relocated to Brussels, then Jersey, from where he was expelled for supporting a Jersey newspaper that had criticised Queen Victoria and finally settled with his family at Hauteville House in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, where he would live in exile from October 1855 until 1870.

While in exile, Hugo published his famous political pamphlets against Napoleon III, Napoléon le Petit and Histoire d'un crime. The pamphlets were banned in France, but nonetheless had a strong impact there. He also composed or published some of his best work during his period in Guernsey, including Les Misérables, and three widely praised collections of poetry (Les Châtiments, 1853; Les Contemplations, 1856; and La Légende des siècles, 1859).

He convinced the government of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom to spare the lives of six Irish people convicted of terrorist activities and his influence was credited in the removal of the death penalty from the constitutions of Geneva, Portugal and Colombia.^[5] He had also pleaded for Benito Juárez to spare the recently captured emperor Maximilian I of Mexico but to no avail. His complete archives (published by Pauvert) show also that he wrote a letter asking the USA, for the sake of their own reputation in the future, to spare John Brown's life, but the letter arrived after Brown was executed.

Although Napoleon III granted an amnesty to all political exiles in 1859, Hugo declined, as it meant he would have to curtail his criticisms of the government. It was only after Napoleon III fell from power and the Third Republic was proclaimed that Hugo finally returned to his homeland in 1870, where he was promptly elected to the National Assembly and the Senate.

He was in Paris during the siege by the Prussian army in 1870, famously eating animals given to him by the Paris zoo. As the siege continued, and food became ever more scarce, he wrote in his diary that he was reduced to "eating the unknown".

Because of his concern for the rights of artists and copyright, he was a founding member of the Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale, which led to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. However, in Pauvert's published archives, he states strongly that "any work of art has two authors : the people who confusingly feel something, a creator who translates these feelings, and the people again who consecrate his vision of that feeling. When one of the authors dies, the rights should totally be granted back to the other, the people".

Religious views[link]

Hugo's religious views changed radically over the course of his life. In his youth, he identified himself as a Catholic and professed respect for Church hierarchy and authority. From there he became a non-practicing Catholic, and increasingly expressed anti-Catholic and anti-clerical views. He frequented Spiritism during his exile (where he participated also in many séances conducted by Madame Delphine de Girardin),^[6][7] and in later years settled into a Rationalist Deism similar to that espoused by Voltaire. A census-taker asked Hugo in 1872 if he was a Catholic, and he replied, "No. A Freethinker".

After that point, Hugo never lost his antipathy towards the Catholic Church, due largely to what he saw as the Church's indifference to the plight of the working class under the oppression of the monarchy; and perhaps also due to the frequency with which Hugo's work appeared on the Church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Hugo counted 740 attacks on Les Misérables in the Catholic press). On the deaths of his sons Charles and François-Victor, he insisted that they be buried without a crucifix or priest, and in his will made the same stipulation about his own death and funeral. However, although Hugo believed Catholic dogma to be outdated and dying, he never directly attacked the actual doctrines of the Church.

Hugo's Rationalism can be found in poems such as Torquemada (1869, about religious fanaticism), The Pope (1878, anti-clerical), Religions and Religion (1880, denying the usefulness of churches) and, published posthumously, The End of Satan and God (1886 and 1891 respectively, in which he represents Christianity as a griffin and Rationalism as an angel). "Religions pass away, but God remains", Vincent van Gogh wrote that Hugo declared (but actually it was Jules Michelet).^[8] Christianity would eventually disappear, he predicted, but people would still believe in "God, Soul, and the Power".^{[citation needed]}

Victor Hugo and music[link]

Photogravure of Victor Hugo, 1883.

Although Hugo's many talents did not include exceptional musical ability, he nevertheless had a great impact on the music world through the inspiration that his works provided for composers of the 19th and 20th century. Hugo himself particularly enjoyed the music of Gluck and Weber and greatly admired Beethoven, and rather unusually for his time, he also appreciated works by composers from earlier centuries such as Palestrina and Monteverdi.^[9]

Two famous musicians of the 19th century were friends of Hugo: Berlioz and Liszt. The latter played Beethoven in Hugo's home, and Hugo joked in a letter to a friend that thanks to Liszt's piano lessons, he learned how to play a favourite song on the piano – with only one finger. Hugo also worked with composer Louise Bertin, writing the libretto for her 1836 opera La Esmeralda which was based on the character in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.^[10]

Although for various reasons the opera closed soon after its fifth performance and is little known today, it has been recently enjoying a revival, both in a piano/song concert version by Liszt at the Festival international Victor Hugo et Égaux 2007^[11] and in a full orchestral version presented in July 2008 at Le Festival de Radio France et Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon.^[12]

Well over one thousand musical compositions have been inspired by Hugo's works from the 19th century until the present day. In particular, Hugo's plays, in which he rejected the rules of classical theatre in favour of romantic drama, attracted the interest of many composers who adapted them into operas. More than one hundred operas are based on Hugo's works and among them are Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia (1833), Verdi's Rigoletto (1851) and Ernani (1844), and Ponchielli's La Gioconda (1876).^[13]

Hugo's novels as well as his plays have been a great source of inspiration for musicians, stirring them to create not only opera and ballet but musical theatre such as Notre-Dame de Paris and the ever-popular Les Misérables, London West End's longest running musical. Additionally, Hugo's beautiful poems have attracted an exceptional amount of interest from musicians, and numerous melodies have been based on his poetry by composers such as Berlioz, Bizet, Fauré, Franck, Lalo, Liszt, Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Rachmaninov and Wagner.^[14]

Today, Hugo's work continues to stimulate musicians to create new compositions. For example, Hugo's novel against capital punishment, The Last Day of a Condemned Man, was adapted into an opera by David Alagna, with a libretto by Frédérico Alagna and premiered by their brother, tenor Roberto Alagna, in 2007.^[15] In Guernsey, every two years the Victor Hugo International Music Festival attracts a wide range of musicians and the premiere of songs specially commissioned from such composers as Guillaume Connesson, Richard Dubugnon, Olivier Kaspar and Thierry Escaich and based on Hugo's poetry.

Declining years and death[link]

Victor Hugo, by Alphonse Legros.

Marble bust of Victor Hugo by Auguste Rodin.

Tomb of Victor Hugo and Émile Zola.

When Hugo returned to Paris in 1870, the country hailed him as a national hero. Despite his popularity Hugo lost his bid for reelection to the National Assembly in 1872. Within a brief period, he suffered a mild stroke, his daughter Adèle's internment in an insane asylum, and the death of his two sons. (Adèle's biography inspired the movie The Story of Adele H.) His wife Adèle had died in 1868.

His faithful mistress, Juliette Drouet, died in 1883, only two years before his own death. Despite his personal loss, Hugo remained committed to the cause of political change. On 30 January 1876 Hugo was elected to the newly created Senate. The last phase of his political career is considered a failure. Hugo took on the role of a maverick and got little done in the Senate.

In February 1881 Hugo celebrated his 79th birthday. To honor the fact that he was entering his eightieth year, one of the greatest tributes to a living writer was held. The celebrations began on the 25th when Hugo was presented with a Sèvres vase, the traditional gift for sovereigns. On the 27th one of the largest parades in French history was held.

Marchers stretched from Avenue d'Eylau, down the Champs-Élysées, and all the way to the center of Paris. The paraders marched for six hours to pass Hugo as he sat in the window at his house. Every inch and detail of the event was for Hugo; the official guides even wore cornflowers as an allusion to Fantine's song in Les Misérables.

Victor Hugo's death on 22 May 1885, at the age of 83, generated intense national mourning. He was not only revered as a towering figure in literature, he was a statesman who shaped the Third Republic and democracy in France. More than two million people joined his funeral procession in Paris from the Arc de Triomphe to the Panthéon, where he was buried. He shares a crypt within the Panthéon with Alexandre Dumas and Émile Zola. Most large French towns and cities have a street named for him. The avenue where he died, in Paris, now bears his name.

Last will[link]

He left a set of five sentences as his last will to be officially published :

« Je donne cinquante mille francs aux pauvres. Je veux être enterré dans leur corbillard.

Je refuse l'oraison de toutes les Eglises. Je demande une prière à toutes les âmes.

Je crois en Dieu. »

[In English:]

I leave 50 000 francs to the poor. I want to be buried in their hearse.

I refuse [funeral] orations of all churches. I beg a prayer to all souls.

I believe in God.

Drawings[link]

Hugo produced more than 4000 drawings. Originally pursued as a casual hobby, drawing became more important to Hugo shortly before his exile, when he made the decision to stop writing in order to devote himself to politics. Drawing became his exclusive creative outlet during the period 1848–1851.

Hugo worked only on paper, and on a small scale; usually in dark brown or black pen-and-ink wash, sometimes with touches of white, and rarely with color. The surviving drawings are surprisingly accomplished and "modern" in their style and execution, foreshadowing the experimental techniques of Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.

He would not hesitate to use his children's stencils, ink blots, puddles and stains, lace impressions, "pliage" or folding (i.e. Rorschach blots), "grattage" or rubbing, often using the charcoal from match sticks or his fingers instead of pen or brush. Sometimes he would even toss in coffee or soot to get the effects he wanted. It is reported that Hugo often drew with his left hand or without looking at the page, or during Spiritualist séances, in order to access his unconscious mind, a concept only later popularized by Sigmund Freud.

Hugo kept his artwork out of the public eye, fearing it would overshadow his literary work. However, he enjoyed sharing his drawings with his family and friends, often in the form of ornately handmade calling cards, many of which were given as gifts to visitors when he was in political exile. Some of his work was shown to, and appreciated by, contemporary artists such as Van Gogh and Delacroix; the latter expressed the opinion that if Hugo had decided to become a painter instead of a writer, he would have outshone the artists of their century.

Gallery:

• 

  Crépuscule ("Twilight"), Jersey, 1853–1855.

• 

  Ville avec le pont de Tumbledown, 1847.

• 

  Pieuvre avec les initales V.H., ("Octopus with the initials V.H."), 1866.

• 

  Le Rocher de l'Ermitage dans un paysage imaginaire ("Ermitage Rock in an imaginary landscape")

• 

  Gavroche a 11 ans, ("Gavroche at 11 years old").

Memorials[link]

Avenue Victor-Hugo in Paris.

The people of Guernsey erected a statue in Candie Gardens (St. Peter Port) to commemorate his stay in the islands. The City of Paris has preserved his residences Hauteville House, Guernsey and 6, Place des Vosges, Paris as museums. The house where he stayed in Vianden, Luxembourg, in 1871 has also become a commemorative museum.

Hugo is venerated as a saint in the Vietnamese religion of Cao Dai.^[16]

The Avenue Victor-Hugo in the XVIème arrondissement of Paris bears Hugo's name, and links the Place de l'Étoile to the vicinity of the Bois de Boulogne by way of the Place Victor-Hugo. This square is served by a Paris Métro stop also named in his honor. A number of streets and avenues throughout France are likewise named after him. The school Lycée Victor Hugo was founded in his town of birth, Besançon in France. Avenue Victor-Hugo, located in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada, was named to honor him.

In the city of Avellino, Italy, Victor Hugo lived briefly stayed in what is now known as Il Palazzo Culturale, when reuniting with his father, Leopold Sigisbert Hugo, in 1808. Hugo would later write about his brief stay here quoting "C’était un palais de marbre...".

In Havana, Cuba there is a park named after him and bust of Hugo stands near the entrance of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing.

Works[link]

1952 Soviet Union postage stamp.

Published during Hugo's lifetime[link]

• Cromwell preface only (1819)
• Odes et poésies diverses (1822)
• Odes (Hugo) (1823)
• Han d'Islande (1823) (Hans of Iceland)
• Nouvelles Odes (1824)
• Bug-Jargal (1826)
• Nils Gunnar Lie's history (1826)
• Odes et Ballades (1826) (Odes and Ballads)
• Cromwell (1827)
• Les Orientales (1829) (Orientalia)
• Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (1829) (The Last Day of a Condemned Man)
• Hernani (1830)
• Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame)
• Marion Delorme (1831)
• Les Feuilles d'automne (1831) (Autumn Leaves)
• Le roi s'amuse (1832)
• Lucrèce Borgia (1833) (Lucretia Borgia)
• Marie Tudor (1833)
• Littérature et philosophie mêlées (1834) (A Blend of Literature and Philosophy)
• Claude Gueux (1834)
• Angelo, tyran de padoue (1835)
• Les Chants du crépuscule (1835) (Songs of the Half Light)
• La Esmeralda (only libretto of an opera written by Victor Hugo himself) (1836)
• Les Voix intérieures (1837)
• Ruy Blas (1838)
• Les Rayons et les ombres (1840)
• Le Rhin (1842)
• Les Burgraves (1843)
• Napoléon le Petit (1852) (Napoleon the Little)
• Les Châtiments (1853)
• Les Contemplations (1856) (The Contemplations)
• Les TRYNE (1856)
• La Légende des siècles (1859) (The Legend of the Ages)
• Les Misérables (1862)
• William Shakespeare (1864)
• Les Chansons des rues et des bois (1865) (Songs of Street and Wood)
• Les Travailleurs de la Mer (1866), (Toilers of the Sea)
• La voix de Guernsey (1867)
• L'Homme qui rit (1869), (The Man Who Laughs)
• L'Année terrible (1872)
• Quatrevingt-treize (Ninety-Three) (1874)
• Mes Fils (1874)
• Actes et paroles – Avant l'exil (1875)
• Actes et paroles – Pendant l'exil (1875) (Deeds and Words)
• Actes et paroles – Depuis l'exil (1876)
• La Légende des Siècles 2e série (1877)
• L'Art d'être grand-père (1877) (The Art of Being a Grandfather)
• Histoire d'un crime 1re partie (1877) (History of a Crime)
• Histoire d'un crime 2e partie (1878)
• Le Pape (1878)
• La pitié suprême (1879)
• Religions et religion (1880) (Religions and Religion)
• L'Âne (1880)
• Les Quatres vents de l'esprit (1881) (The Four Winds of the Spirit)
• Torquemada (1882)
• La Légende des siècles Tome III (1883)
• L'Archipel de la Manche (1883)

Poems of Victor Hugo

Published posthumously[link]

• Théâtre en liberté (1886)
• La Fin de Satan (1886)
• Choses vues (1887)
• Toute la lyre (1888) (The Whole Lyre)
• Amy Robsart (1889)
• Les Jumeaux (1889)
• Actes et Paroles Depuis l'exil, 1876–1885 (1889)
• Alpes et Pyrénées (1890) (Alps and Pyrenees)
• Dieu (1891)
• France et Belgique (1892)
• Toute la lyre – dernière série (1893)
• Les fromages (1895)
• Correspondences – Tome I (1896)
• Correspondences – Tome II (1898)
• Les années funestes (1898)
• Choses vues – nouvelle série (1900)
• Post-scriptum de ma vie (1901)
• Dernière Gerbe (1902)
• Mille francs de récompense (1934)
• Océan. Tas de pierres (1942)
• L'Intervention (1951)
• Conversations with Eternity (1998)

	Biography portal
	France portal
	Literature portal
	Poetry portal
	Children's literature portal

Online texts[link]

• Works by Victor Hugo at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Victor Hugo at Internet Archive
• Works by Victor Hugo at The Online Books Page
• Political speeches by Victor Hugo: Victor Hugo, My Revenge is Fraternity!
• Selected Poetry
• Biography and speech from 1851
• Obituary in The Times

References[link]

Online references[link]

• Afran, Charles (1997). “Victor Hugo: French Dramatist”. Website: Discover France. (Originally published in Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1997, v.9.0.1.) Retrieved November 2005.
• Bates, Alfred (1906). “Victor Hugo”. Website: Theatre History. (Originally published in The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 9. ed. Alfred Bates. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1906. pp. 11–13.) Retrieved November 2005.
• Bates, Alfred (1906). “Hernani”. Website: Theatre History. (Originally published in The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 9. ed. Alfred Bates. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1906. pp. 20–23.) Retrieved November 2005.
• Bates, Alfred (1906). “Hugo’s Cromwell”. Website: Theatre History. (Originally published in The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 9. ed. Alfred Bates. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1906. pp. 18–19.) Retrieved November 2005.
• Bittleston, Misha (uncited date). "Drawings of Victor Hugo". Website: Misha Bittleston. Retrieved November 2005.
• Burnham, I.G. (1896). “Amy Robsart”. Website: Theatre History. (Originally published in Victor Hugo: Dramas. Philadelphia: The Rittenhouse Press, 1896. pp. 203–6, 401–2.) Retrieved November 2005.
• Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition (2001–05). “Hugo, Victor Marie, Vicomte”. Website: Bartleby, Great Books Online. Retrieved November 2005. Retrieved November 2005.
• Haine, W. Scott (1997). “Victor Hugo”. Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions. Website: Ohio University. Retrieved November 2005.
• Illi, Peter (2001–2004). “Victor Hugo: Plays”. Website: The Victor Hugo Website. Retrieved November 2005.
• Karlins, N.F. (1998). "Octopus With the Initials V.H." Website: ArtNet. Retrieved November 2005.
• Liukkonen, Petri (2000). “Victor Hugo (1802–1885)”. Books and Writers. Website: Pegasos: A Literature Related Resource Site. Retrieved November 2005.
• Meyer, Ronald Bruce (2004). “Victor Hugo”. Website: Ronald Bruce Meyer. Retrieved November 2005.
• Portasio, Manoel (2009). “Victor Hugo e o Espiritismo”. Website: Sir William Crookes Spiritist Society. (Portuguese) Retrieved August 2010.
• Robb, Graham (1997). “A Sabre in the Night”. Website: New York Times (Books). (Excerpt from Graham, Robb (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.) Retrieved November 2005.
• Roche, Isabel (2005). “Victor Hugo: Biography”. Meet the Writers. Website: Barnes & Noble. (From the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 2005.) Retrieved November 2005.
• Schneider, Maria do Carmo M (2010). “Victor Hugo, gênio sem fronteiras”. Website: MiniWeb Educacao. (Portuguese) Retrieved August 2010.
• Uncited Author. “Victor Hugo”. Website: Spartacus Educational. Retrieved November 2005.
• Uncited Author. “Timeline of Victor Hugo”. Website: BBC. Retrieved November 2005.
• Uncited Author. (2000–2005). “Victor Hugo”. Website: The Literature Network. Retrieved November 2005.
• Uncited Author. "Hugo Caricature". Website: Présence de la Littérature a l'école. Retrieved November 2005.

Further reading[link]

• Barbou, Alfred (1882). Victor Hugo and His Times. University Press of the Pacific: 2001 paper back edition. ISBN 0-89875-478-X
• Barnett, Marva A., ed. (2009). Victor Hugo on Things That Matter: A Reader. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-12245-4
• Brombert, Victor H. (1984). Victor Hugo and the Visionary Novel. Boston: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-93550-0
• Davidson, A.F. (1912). Victor Hugo: His Life and Work. University Press of the Pacific: 2003 paperback edition. ISBN 1-4102-0778-1
• Dow, Leslie Smith (1993). Adele Hugo: La Miserable. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions. ISBN 0-86492-168-3
• Falkayn, David (2001). Guide to the Life, Times, and Works of Victor Hugo. University Press of the Pacific. ISBN 0-89875-465-8
• Feller, Martin, Der Dichter in der Politik. Victor Hugo und der deutsch-französische Krieg von 1870/71. Untersuchungen zum französischen Deutschlandbild und zu Hugos Rezeption in Deutschland. Doctoral Dissertation, Marburg 1988.
• Frey, John Andrew (1999). A Victor Hugo Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29896-3
• Grant, Elliot (1946). The Career of Victor Hugo. Harvard University Press. Out of print.
• Halsall, A.W. et al. (1998). Victor Hugo and the Romantic Drama. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-4322-4
• Hart, Simon Allen (2004). Lady in the Shadows: The Life and Times of Julie Drouet, Mistress, Companion and Muse to Victor Hugo. Publish American. ISBN 1-4137-1133-2
• Houston, John Porter (1975). Victor Hugo. New York: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-2443-5
• Hovasse, Jean-Marc (2001), Victor Hugo: Avant l'exil. Paris: Fayard. ISBN 2-213-61094-0
• Hovasse, Jean-Marc (2008), Victor Hugo: Pendant l'exil I. Paris: Fayard. ISBN 2-213-62078-4
• Ireson, J.C. (1997). Victor Hugo: A Companion to His Poetry. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-815799-1
• Laster, Arnaud (2002). Hugo à l'Opéra. Paris: L'Avant-Scène Opéra, no. 208.
• Maurois, Andre (1956). Olympio: The Life of Victor Hugo. New York: Harper & Brothers.
• Maurois, Andre (1966). Victor Hugo and His World. London: Thames and Hudson. Out of print.
• Pouchain, Gérard and Robert Sabourin (1992). Juliette Drouet, ou, La dépaysée. Paris: Fayard. ISBN 2-213-02095-7
• Robb, Graham (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. W.W. Norton & Company: 1999 paperback edition. ISBN 0-393-31899-0, (description/reviews at wwnorton.com)
• Tonazzi, Pascal (2007) Florilège de Notre-Dame de Paris (anthologie) Paris, Editions Arléa ISBN 2-86959-795-9

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Victor Hugo

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Victor Hugo

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Victor Hugo

• France of Victor Hugo
• Guernsey’s Official Victor Hugo Website
• Guernsey’s Victor Hugo International Music Festival
• Victor Hugo Central
• Victor Hugo's works: text, concordances and frequency lists
• 1867 Caricature of Victor Hugo by André Gill
• Victor Hugo le dessinateur
• Translation of Victor Hugo note found in "Hunchback of Notre Dame," french edition
• (French) Les Voix intérieures - at athena.unige.ch
• English translation of Hugo's At Dawn Tomorrow (Demain, dès l'aube)
• Another English translation of Demain, dès l'aube
• English translation of Hugo's A Villequier
• English translation of Hugo's Oh ! je fus comme fou dans le premier moment ('Oh! I was like a crazy man in the first moment') on the death of his daughter Léopoldine
• Official site of the Société des Amis de Victor Hugo
• Official site of the Festival international Victor Hugo et Égaux
• Victor Hugo at the Internet Book List
• Translation of The legend of Victor Hugo by Paul Lafargue
• Works by Victor Hugo on Open Library at the Internet Archive
• Works by or about Victor Hugo in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

vep:Gügo Viktor

Sir Hugo Drax is a fictional character created by author Ian Fleming for the James Bond novel Moonraker. Fleming named him after his friend, Sir Reginald Drax.^[1] For the later film and its novelization, Drax was largely transformed by screenwriter Christopher Wood. In the film, Drax is portrayed by French actor Michael Lonsdale. In both versions of Moonraker, Drax is the main antagonist.

Novel biography[link]

In the novel, Sir Hugo Drax is a famous English Second World War hero, believed to have been working in Liverpool harbour before the war, who became a post-war millionaire. He has red hair, and half of his face is badly scarred from a German attack during the War. The same incident left him with amnesia. He is 6 ft (183 cm) tall. After the war, Drax made a fortune from trading metals in Tangier and was able to start up his company, "Drax Metals Ltd", which specializes and has a monopoly in the production of a metal called columbite. Drax is also the backer of the 'Moonraker' missile project being built to defend the United Kingdom against its Cold War enemies. The metal columbite gives a missile's engine an extra layer of protection so that it can burn hotter fuels, thus greatly expanding its range of fire.

Scheme[link]

As it turns out, Sir Hugo Drax is not who he seems; he was born in Germany as Graf Hugo von der Drache. Because his mother was English, Drache was educated in England until the age of twelve. Afterwards he moved to Berlin and later Leipzig, where he continued and finished his education. After graduating, he joined the Nazi Party and entered the Wehrmacht as a soldier in the Panzer Brigade 150. At the outset of the Second World War he took part in the Blitzkrieg campaigns in Belgium and France, before becoming a Skorzeny Werwolf commando. After the Ardennes offensive he stayed behind Allied lines when their forces crossed the Rhine and started operating in the Low Countries with his commando group. During a mission, he dressed as a British soldier so that he could sabotage and destroy a farmhouse holding a mixed liaison group of American and British servicemen, but he ended up at the same farm after being attacked by his own German fighter because he was wearing the British uniform which he used to get close to the British Despatch rider. While he was still conscious, he managed to destroy his motorbike and documents. Later he was found and brought to the farm, so he was caught in the explosion and nearly killed. He was then rescued by the British and nursed back to health, claiming to be a "missing soldier" by the name of Hugo Drax. After being discharged from nursing care, he killed a Jewish businessman in London and escaped to Tangier with £15,000 he stole from him.

Because Drax was a Nazi and had an insurmountable hatred for Britain, he started the 'Moonraker' missile project under the pretence that he would test fire the missile into the North Sea (missiles were the cutting-edge of technology in the 1950s). Instead of doing so, however, he targeted his missile on London and armed it with an atomic bomb he received through support by the Soviets and later learned SMERSH. Drax uses his knowledge of the impending disaster to play the stock market, planning to make a huge profit from his own terrorist act.

Prevention[link]

James Bond, with the help of female Special Branch agent Gala Brand, sabotaged Drax's 'Moonraker' missile launch and changed the coordinates of the target back to the North Sea, where after the missile was launched Drax and his men had escaped so that they could watch as London was destroyed. In the event, the Soviet submarine carrying Drax was destroyed by the blast of the nuclear warhead.

Henchmen[link]

• Willy Krebs - Drax's friend and later loyal servant, Krebs was the youngest Werwolf in Drax's unit and a specialist in torture.
• Dr Walter - A German rocket scientist employed by the Soviets, Walter was sent to deliver the Soviet atomic bomb to Drax and to assist him with his missile project.

Film biography[link]

In the film adaptation, Hugo Drax is a billionaire living in California in a château that was imported from France. He owns Drax Industries, which constructs space shuttles. In addition, Drax supposedly owns the Eiffel Tower, but apparently couldn't export it from France because they wouldn't issue him an export permit. Drax is an accomplished pianist, as evidenced by his recital of Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude in D flat major (op. 28) on his grand piano (which he plays in the key of D).

An example of the Drax character's ruthlessness as portrayed in the film is given by the manner in which he disposes of enemies. In one case, after discovering that his personal pilot Corinne Dufour had assisted Bond in discovering his plans, Drax fires her, but then proceeds to set his trained dogs on her, these dogs are not dobermanns as many believe, but Beaucerons; they chase her into a forest and finally kill her.

Bond follows a trail around the world to investigate the theft of a space shuttle on loan to the UK by Hugo Drax (its engines were fired while it was riding on a 747), starting in California at Drax Industries, and following it to Italy, then to Brazil, then into space.

In a scheme similar to that of Karl Stromberg's plan, Drax sought to destroy the entire human race except for a small group of carefully selected humans, both male and female, that would leave Earth on six shuttles (the one just stolen from NASA to replace one that had faults) and have sanctuary on a space station in orbit over Earth. Using chemical weapons created by Drax's scientists, derived from the toxin of a rare South American plant, the Black Orchid, at an installation in Italy, he would wipe out the remainder of humanity. The biological agents were to be dispersed around the earth from a series of 50 strategically placed globes, each containing enough toxin to kill 100 million people while the toxin itself would have no effect on animals. Only three globes had been launched when the station was destroyed, taking with it the threat from the other 47 globes.

After a period of time, when the chemical agents had become harmless, Drax and his master race would return to Earth to reinhabit the planet. These humans would supposedly live in harmony with one another under his command.

Bond obtained a sample of the chemical agent at the location in Italy, and analysis of it led him to a remote part of Brazil where he found Drax's shuttle-launch facility in an ancient civilization's shrine.

Bond and his companion, CIA agent Dr. Holly Goodhead, commandeer one of Drax's space shuttles and blast off to his orbiting space station. There with the help of Goodhead, Jaws- who defected to help Bond when Bond subtly tricked Drax into admitting that Jaws and his new girlfriend didn't fit Drax's 'standards'-, and a group of American space soldiers launched on a military-owned shuttle, Drax runs for the airlock and when he sees Bond run after him, he tries to barricade himself in but ends up running away. When Bond gets in, Drax faces Bond, drawing a laser gun as he walked backwards to the airlock door, grimly noting that he would at least "have the pleasure of putting [Bond] out of [his (Drax's)] misery".

Bond slowly puts his hand up with the poison dart wrist watch, fatally wounding Drax before 'escorting' him into an airlock so that he can be ejected to die in space, Bond commenting that Drax should 'take a giant step for mankind'.^[2]

First there was a dream; now there is reality. Here in the untainted cradle of the heavens will be created a new super race, a race of perfect physical specimens. You have been selected as its progenitors; like gods, your offspring will return to Earth and shape it in their image. You have all served in public capacities in my terrestrial empire. Your seed, like yourselves, will pay deference to the ultimate dynasty which I alone have created. From their first day on Earth they will be able to look up and know that there is law and order in the heavens.

—Hugo Drax, Moonraker

Henchmen[link]

• Jaws
• Chang
• Tree Sniper
• Innumerable footsoldiers in lemon yellow spacesuits with black stripes
• Italian gangsters in Venice
• Flight attendant

Novelization[link]

In his novelization of the movie, screenwriter Christopher Wood describes Drax as red-haired and with a face scarred and botched by poor plastic surgery (from a time "before he could afford the best in the world"), much as originally envisioned by Fleming. Although Drax's nationality is not specified, Bond idly wonders to himself which side he fought on during World War II.

See also[link]

• List of James Bond villains
• Karl Stromberg

References[link]