The Man Who Laughs - PDF novel by Victor Hugo

The Man Who Laughs

Victor Hugo

The Man Who Laughs (also published under the title By Order of the King from its subtitle in French) is a novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title L'Homme qui rit. It takes place in England in the 1680s and 1700s, during the reigns of James II and Queen Anne, respectively, and depicts England's royalty and aristocracy of the time as cruel and power-hungry. 

Hugo intended parallels between England depicted and the France of Louis-Philippe and the Régence

Plot:

the life of a young nobleman, Gwynplaine, disfigured as a child (on the king's orders), travels with his protector and companion the vagabond philosopher Ursus and the baby girl he rescues during a storm. The novel is famous for Gwynplaine's mutilated face, stuck in a permanent laugh. The book has inspired many artists, dramatists, and film-makers

Publication date: 1871.

 
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