Quotes from book
The Man Who Laughs
The Man Who Laughs is a novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title L'Homme qui rit. It is "a dark novel about royal and aristocratic despotism", but Hugo intended parallels between the England depicted and the France of Louis-Philippe and the Régence.The novel concerns the life of a young nobleman, disfigured as a child on the orders of the king, his protector and companion the vagabond philosopher Ursus and the baby girl he rescues during a storm. The action takes place in England in the late 16th and early 17th century, and is famous for the mutilated face - in a permanent laugh - of the hero, Gwynplaine. The book has inspired many artists, dramatists and film-makers.
“It is very fortunate that kings cannot err. Hence their contradictions never perplex us.”
The Man Who Laughs (1869)
