The Man Who Laughs - A Romance of English History

By Victor Hugo

Gwynplaine is a young homeless boy with a facial disfigurement who comes to the rescue of an infant girl orphaned as the result of a snowstorm. After the two are adopted by an itinerant carnival vendor called Ursus, they embark on a life on the road, for fifteen years performing to audiences in southern England. However, when Duchess Josiana, the illegitimate daughter of King James I, discovers their act, their lives are changed forever. "The Man Who Laughs" was written by Victor Hugo over a period of fifteen months while he was living in the Channel Islands, having been exiled from his native France. Contents include: "Book the First. Night not so Black as Man", "Portland Bill", "Left Alone", "Questions", "The Tree of Human Invention", "Struggle Between Death and Life", "The North Point of Portland", "Book The Second. The Hooker at Sea", "Superhuman Laws", "Our First Rough Sketches Filled In", "Troubles men on the Troubled Sea", et cetera. Victor Marie Hugo (1802 - 1885) was a French novelist, dramatist, and poet belonging to the Romantic movement. He is widely hailed as one of the most accomplished and well-known French writers, originally achieving renown for his poetical endeavours-the most notable of which are the volumes "Les Contemplations" and "La Légende des siècles". Outside of his native country, Hugo's best-known works are his novels: "Les Misérables" (1862) and "Notre-Dame de Paris" (1831), commonly known as "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame". Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this book now in an affordable, high-quality, modern edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Press
• Release date: Feb 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9781473350304

Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) is one of the most well-regarded French writers of the nineteenth century. He was a poet, novelist and dramatist, and he is best remembered in English as the author of Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) (1831) and Les Misérables (1862). Hugo was born in Besançon, and became a pivotal figure of the Romantic movement in France, involved in both literature and politics. He founded the literary magazine Conservateur Littéraire in 1819, aged just seventeen, and turned his hand to writing political verse and drama after the accession to the throne of Louis-Philippe in 1830. His literary output was curtailed following the death of his daughter in 1843, but he began a new novel as an outlet for his grief. Completed many years later, this novel became Hugo's most notable work, Les Misérables.

Reviews for The Man Who Laughs - A Romance of English History

[joe73-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really, really wanted to love this story but... Hugo was a great writer. there is no doubt about it. But this story has so many peaks and valleys that it is almost unbearable. Until now I thought Melmoth the Wanderer was the most difficult book I've read. I wanted to love this book so bad. But reading it was like swimming through concrete. The parts with our protagonist were incredible. The main characters are very memorable. The down points are Hugo and his penchant for pointless description. Pages of peoples names, who they were and what they did. This honestly served no point to the story. Unlike the Hunchback they had no purpose. It is a sad story, a moving story and one I won't forget for a very long time. But even for a piece in its time it is very slow.

[anna_battista_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Perhaps not as famous as some of his other work, this chunky novel by Victor Hugo nonetheless deserves to be read. His usual emphatic vision and majestic prose describe the tragic and infinitely touching story of Gwynplaine, a disfigured boy in 17th century England condemned to exhibiting himself in fairs for the mob's enjoyment. He loves his companion, Dea, who is able to love him back because she is blind and can only see his noble heart. What could be clumsily told by another less talented writer becomes, in the hands of Hugo, a universal pamphlet for humanity and against injustice. The plot might seem basic, but wait for the twist...