he had so much sex his biographers straight up gave up trying to document all of his sexual partners. he was reported to fuck up to 3-9 times a day. He had a secret sex diary written in code. He had “official” and “unofficial” mistresses. One estimate was that he had ~200 sexual partners in two years. 

Many articles make similar claims to those above. However, much of this information circulates without a clear source, and I have struggled to find reputable/high level sources for some of this information. Therefore, keep in mind that some of this may be exaggerated or potentially unreliable.

Obviously, I cannot account for the sexual of history of every human who has ever lived, but evidence does suggest that Victor Hugo had a… lively sex life.

From Medium: ‘Sex was so involved in Hugo’s daily life that one biographer wrote the following while describing a typical day in Hugo’s life:

“It was not unusual for him to make love to a young prostitute in the morning, an actress before lunch, a courtesan as an aperitif, and then join the also ­indefatigable Juliette for a night of sex.”

[…] Hugo claimed that on the wedding night, he and his wife had sex nine times.’

His encoded sex diary is referenced on Wikipedia, but when I found an English translation of the source, I couldn’t find where in it they were sourcing.

From Wikipedia: ‘He systematically reported his casual affairs using his own code, as Samuel Pepys did, to make sure they would remain secret.’

The source is listed as: 'Hugo, Victor, Choses vues 1870–1885, p. 529, ISBN 2070361411, pp. 371, 521 (n. 1).’

I’ve found Choses Vues here in the original French and here translated into English. If anyone can find anything in here about the encoded sex diary, please let me know!

His 'official mistress’ is likely in reference to Juliette Drouet.

From EBSCO: 'Since 1833, Hugo had maintained a liaison with a beautiful female actor, Juliette Drouet, who for twelve years followed a cloistered existence relieved only by six-week summer holidays with her lover.’

His 'unofficial mistress’ is likely in reference to Léonie d’Aunet Biard.

From The Common Reader: 'Overlapping was a seven-year affair with travel writer and Arctic explorer Léonie d’Aunet Biard, whose husband finally brought a police officer to the Paris hotel and caught them in flagrante.’

I have found articles that circulate the '200’ claim, but none that give a source for the information.

From Medium: 'Not only that but he bedded 200 women in this hotel in just two years.’

The claim that brothels were closed on the day of his funeral is again circulated frequently without claim. The only sourced part of the claim I can find is a second hand report that sex workers had 'draped their gentials in black crepe’.

From The Guardian: ’[…] when Hugo died the brothels of Paris closed down for a day of mourning, allowing all the city’s sex workers to pay their last respects to a loyal client. Literary critic Edmond de Goncourt claimed a police officer told him that sex workers even draped their genitals in black crepe as a mark of respect.’

And an estimated 2 million people attended his funeral procession.

From Funeral Conflicts in Nineteenth-Century France: 'Two million people came to see Hugo’s body lying in state at the Arc de Triomphe’

Thanks to @dodger-chan for adding some new information on the source for the encoded sex diary! Apparently the versions I found were earlier editions, and it is the more complete 1972 edition that is the source.

@closedcaptioning yeah they do! from the wikipedia article on glycogen:

I understand implicitly when I read Hunger Games that "I" isn't me, it's Katniss Everdeen sitting across from me and telling her story using "I/me" to refer to herself, same as any human does.

You ask him, as a hypothetical question. He says he doesn't know what that word means, but you said "women" so now he's interested. No, the other word. He doesn't know what "hypothetical" means. He interrupts your explanation to let you know that sounds boring, he doesn't want to know what "hypothetical" means. What was that other word, you said "women".

You try to explain as simply as you can, being frequently interrupted by reminders that he is uninterested in abstract concepts and unfamiliar terminology. He doesn't know what a chromosome is. He doesn't want to know what a chromosome is. He is unsure how any of this subject is related to the ladies but he's optimistic about it.

After about half an hour, he finishes with asking "ok but what's the difference". After a while of unfruitful back and forth, you understand what he's asking what is the difference to him, how does this distinction affect him and his immediate surroundings. You have no idea how to word this in a way that would be understandable to a gerbil with A1 level english skills.

"If... If trans women are women, there's... More women?"

"More women. Nice. Then let's go with that one."

Swing another bat, try to score this inning

You can say it's just the pitcher's fault

Why'd they throw a Christian if not for hitting?

Home run, babe!

Home run, babe!

Look, polyamory is the obvious solution to the love triangle, but it would mean the Comte would be stuck with people who could never understand the outside of the opera. His lovers would only be able to hear him if he sang; they couldn't know, couldn't comprehend the part of his life from outside the story. They can't fulfill his pleading, desperate, spoken pleas during their lovers' duet because they are literally, physically incapable of understanding him unless he puts on a performance. Polyamory would solve the love triangle, sure, but the Comte would still be alone.

So we give him a stagehand to interact with. Maybe they first interact with a collision because the Comte isn't where he's supposed to be, in the blocking; they both apologize profusely and he lets them go on their way. As the opera goes on, the Comte sometimes waves to them during scene transitions; maybe during a comic song they sit together just barely on-stage, eating popcorn and laughing.

In this version, the two lovers would get together, thank the Comte profusely for all his help to the "rival" character, and then proceed offstage, leaving him alone and dejected. He starts to sing about how sad he is, but then he breaks down and gives up.

The stagehands, hearing that the song is over, start to transition in the scenery for the wedding; but on seeing that the Comte is broken down in center stage instead of having made his exit, they all hesitate. Then the Friend!Stagehand comes out to put an arm around the Comte and is like "Hey. I'm so sorry this happened. You seem like a good fellow. Do you want to come to the afterparty?"

And the Comte looks up and says. "Afterparty?"

And the stagehand is like, "Yeah. When the show's over we get together for some drinks to celebrate a good night's work. Why don't you come along?"