Ayn Rand, speaking in sense-of-life terms, said that Hugo gave her "the feeling of entering a cathedral." In his first great romantic novel, Hugo set out to combine the sweep of the epic with the intensity of the drama; he did so by placing the cathedral itself at the center of his narrative. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame has as its subject the nature of the sacred, that which demands and rewards reverence. This course will examine the novel in the contexts of Hugo's career and of literary romanticism, with attention to the integration of imagery, setting, characterizations, and themes. (For Hugo, the writing of literature was the new architecture, and his novels––with their passionate conflicts and exalted figures––were to be the new cathedrals.) Through a study of Hugo's artistic aspirations and methods, the course will illustrate how and why Notre-Dame became, as Hugo had intended, a "drama beyond the ordinary proportions."