The Amalgam of Eros and Thanatos

"Les Contemplations", unlike Victor Hugo's other works, is a more personal and lyrical collection of poetry. The author appears in it with his weaknesses, his fears and his daily struggles. He is at once the heartbroken father, the anguished philosopher and the tormented lover. In other words, each line depicts a state of mind in perpetual struggle where the life drives (Eros) are closely related to mortifying fantasies (Thanatos). The psychoanalytical theory is therefore highly applicable to the poet's pen because it allows us to affirm that there is no such thing as happy literature.