Cromwell, 1827
Original title: Cromwell
In August 1826, Hugo started writing on a drama: Cromwell. He had read everything he could about the English Lord Protector. When the work was in progress, Alfred de Vigny's friend, baron Taylor, invited him to lunch together with the classic actor Talma. Hugo told him about his plans to replace tragedy with drama and do away with tirades and strained verse. Talma was enthusiastic, but unfortunately he died the same year. In addition, Hugo realized that the play was too long and staging it would impossible. Instead, he decided to read Cromwell to his friends. Although it was well received, it was never performed on stage.
Even if the play itself left no mark on history, the preface did. It was published on 5 December 1827 and in it, Hugo defined Romantic Art. Drama should be a struggle between opposing principles in order to create sensation. No rules but the laws of Nature should guide the creative mind - it was time to end Classicism with its regime-friendly poetry and dull tragedies.
The preface of Cromwell became the manifesto of a new generation of intellectuals and made Hugo the leader of the Romantic movement. In aesthetics, no other document equals its impact on the 19th century.
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Oliver Cromwell, 1599-1658, was one of the Puritans most prominent leaders in the English civil war in the 1640s and became the English Republic's leader. In 1653, he dissolved the parliament by force and was appointed 'Lord Protector'.