Speaking through its deformed bell-ringer protagonist, Quasimodo, the novel was a lyrical tribute to the hulking, then-tattered holy place, badly in need of restoration. The cathedral, Hugo wrote, “was peopled with marble figures, kings, saints, and bishops who at least did not laugh at him, and never looked upon him otherwise than with peace and goodwill. The other statues, those of monsters and demons, did not hate Quasimodo; he looked too much like them for that.”

Source: Los Angeles Times April 15, 2019 17:35 UTC