Numerous sources claim that once the famous French writer sent a telegram (or letter) from one interrogative sign, and in response received from one exclamation. We checked if it was so.

A typical version of the story has the following view: “Victor Hugo in 1862, while on vacation, wanted to know about the reaction of readers to the newly published novel“ The outcasts ”and sent a telegram from one symbol to his publisher”. He sent a telegram in response from one sign: "!". "

The episode is described in many sources, including, for example, official communities "Russian Post" and publishers "Eksmo","The reader's encyclopedia" Guinness Book of Records 1987 and "Museum of Facts". In some versions, the specific publisher of the novel is also mentioned - Hurst & Blackett. And almost everywhere what happened is called "the shortest correspondence in history."

Victor Hugo’s novel “The outcasts” was indeed first published in 1862 in French (Lacroix, Verboeckoven & Co. Publishing House in Brussels and Paris), and then in English. Moreover, in June, the Americans translated the novel, and only in October The queue has come Before England - in the person of the aforementioned publishing house Hurst & Blackett.

However, the first messages on the topic of the shortest correspondence appeared somewhat earlier. So, in the newspaper The Nottinghamshire Guardian on April 25, 1850 It was noted:

“In the shortest known correspondence, only two digits were used. The first letter contained a question mark (?), Meaning: "Is there any news?" The answer was zero (0), that is, "no". "

In this or similar form, an entertaining story wandered from a newspaper to a newspaper in Britain and the USA, until in 1854 its alternative option appeared in one of the Portland newspaper:

“But the shortest well -known correspondence took place between the American merchant and his London agent longing for the news. The letter said: "!", And the answer was "0". It was the shortest possible hint that nothing happened. ”

And finally, in 1892, the curise was first retold with a binding to the French writer. It happened in Reference book of literary wonders, published in the United States edited by William S. Walsha:

“But the shortest well -known correspondence took place between Viktor Hugo and its publisher immediately after the publication of the“ outcasts ”. The poet, impatiently waiting for the news about the success of his book, sent a letter that contained only this: "?" And he received the following satisfying answer: "!".

The Handbook Walsha was quite popular at one time and was reprinted many times, so the story of Victor Hugo and its publisher was simply obliged to disperse on various English -speaking collections of interesting facts. So far, finally, in the early 1970s I have not entered the most famous publication of this kind- Guinness Book of Records. Given the authority of the latter, for history it was already a ticket to all countries and in all languages.

Nevertheless, in French, such information is extremely unpopular and is almost never found in accessible print publications. A rare exception - Little -known linguistic manual 1980, where the similarity of the narrative with the English -speaking option catches the eye. Most likely, there was a translation from English. Needless to say, in Gyugo’s letters that have reached us (telegrams in 1861 were not widely used at all) there is nothing similar. Except one Letters, in which the writer is recognized as his friend Louis Bulanzhe that “devotes his mind to the contemplation of the world and spends his life between exclamation and interrogative signs,” which is clearly not like our occasion.

Total: the story with Hugo first appeared in the press very late (more than 30 years after the publication of the novel “The outcasts”), and in the USA, is very similar to jokes of the previous decades and does not find confirmation in the writer's homeland and. Therefore, with a high degree of probability, it can be argued that the correspondence of the author of the “outcasts” with his publisher is fictitious.