Yes, but he never had to deal with a recalcitrant hard drive, did he?

On this day in 1831, Victor Hugo finished writing The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He had begun it just four months earlier. Some sources say six months, but that would still be pretty incredible, as the manuscript weighed in at a hefty 200,000 words.

It is often claimed that he accomplished the task with a single bottle of ink. I'm not sure why that would be noteworthy. How do we know he didn't just use a really big bottle? What I wonder about is how many sheets of paper ended up in his waste basket.

Probably not many.

I saved the shocker for last: Victor Hugo penned this masterpiece at the tender age of 28.

Check out this long list of Victor Hugo quotes. One of my favorites is, "But when ill indeed, even dismissing the doctor don't always succeed."