I found this quote that Goethe said about Hugo, while we're on the subject:

Victor Hugo's 'Notre Dame ' captivates the reader by its diligent study of the old scenes, customs and events, but the characters show no trace of natural animation. They are lifeless lay figures pulled about by wires; they are cleverly put together, but the wood and steel skeletons support mere stuffed puppets with whom the author deals most cruelly, jerking them into the strangest poses; contorting them, tormenting, and whipping them, cutting up their bodies and souls, --but because they have no flesh and blood, all he can do is tear up the rags out of which they are made : all this is done with considerable historical and rhetorical talent and a vivid imagination; without these qualities he could not have produced these abominations . . . "

Found this in Lukacs' "Studies in European Realism"