Moving away from the explicitly political content of his previous novels, Victor Hugo turns to social commentary in The Man Who Laughs, an 1869 work that was made into a popular film in the 1920s. The plot deals with a band of miscreants who deliberately deform children to make them more effective beggars, as well as the long-lasting emotional and social damage that this abhorrent practice inflicts upon its victims.
The Last Day of a Condemned Man (1829) is a short novel by Victor Hugo. Having witnessed several executions by guillotine as a young man, Hugo devoted himself in his art and political life to opposing the death penalty in France. Praised by Dostoevsky as “absolutely the most real and truthful of everything that Hugo wrote,” The Last Day of a Condemned Man is a powerful story from an author who defined nineteenth century French literature. If you knew when and where you would die, how would you spend your final moments? For Hugo’s unnamed narrator, such an existential question is made reality. Sentenced to death for an unspecified crime, he reflects on his life as its last seconds wane in the shadows of a cramped prison cell. Recording his emotional state, observations, and conversations with a priest and fellow prisoner, the condemned man forces us to not only recognize his humanity, but question our own. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Victor Hugo’s The Last Day of a Condemned Man is a classic work of French literature reimagined for modern readers.
Victor Hugo is often regarded as one of the greatest French writers of all time. Best known today, for his classic novels "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" and "Les Misérables," Hugo had several novels and stories regarded equally high, and they are collected here (along with all of his other classics). This collection includes: The History of a Crime The Hunchback of Notre Dame Les Miserables The Man Who Laughs The Memoirs of Victor Hugo Napoleon the Little
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In this profoundly moving classic by the author of Les Misérables, a condemned man facing the guillotine looks back on his life and writes of his anguish inside prison walls.
Victor Hugo, the greatest Romantic writer of them all, is finally available in Delphi’s bestselling range of titles. This monumental eBook offers readers the most complete collection ever compiled of Hugo’s FICTIONAL works in English translation, with many bonus texts. (Version 2) * concise introductions to the novels and other works * images of how the novels first appeared, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * ALL 9 novels in English, each with contents tables * many of the novels are fully-illustrated with their original artwork * includes BUG-JARGAL – Hugo’s first novel, which he wrote after a wager – first time in digital print! * for the first time, all novels are presented with their French versions – sample the true brilliance of Hugo’s original text, in between reading the English translations * features a large sample of English translations of poetry * BONUS selection of six Non-Fiction texts * boasts a special literary criticism section, with works by famous writers such as Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James, examining Hugo’s contribution to literature * includes Hugo’s Memoirs – explore the great writer’s private notebooks! * ALSO includes G. Barnett Smith’s famous biography – immerse yourself in Hugo’s literary life! * packed full of images relating to Hugo’s life, works, places and film adaptations * scholarly ordering of texts in chronological order and literary genres, allowing easy navigation around Hugo’s immense oeuvre Please note: an actual complete works of Victor Hugo in English is not possible due to copyright restrictions, scarce plays and some works having never been translated. However, we do ensure our customers that every possible major text is included. Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles CONTENTS: The Novels BUG-JARGAL HANS OF ICELAND THE LAST DAY OF A CONDEMNED MAN THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME CLAUDE GUEUX LES MISÉRABLES TOILERS OF THE SEA THE MAN WHO LAUGHS NINETY-THREE The Novels in French The Poetry POEMS IN TRANSLATION ODES ET BALLADES LES ORIENTALES LES FEUILLES D’AUTOMNE LES CHANTS DU CREPUSCULE LES VOIX INTÉRIEURES LES RAYONS ET LES OMBRES LES CHATIMENTS LES CONTEMPLATIONS LA LÉGENDE DES SIÈCLES: PREMIERE SERIE LES CHANSONS DES RUES ET DES BOIS LA VOIX DE GUERNESEY L’ANNEE TERRIBLE L’ART D’ETRE GRAND-PERE LA LÉGENDE DES SIÈCLES: NOUVELLE SERIE LE PAPE LA PITIE SUPREME L’ÂNE RELIGIONS ET RELIGION LES QUATRE VENTS DE L’ESPRIT LA LÉGENDE DES SIÈCLES: DERNIERE SERIE LA FIN DE SATAN TOUTE LA LYRE DIEU LES ANNÉES FUNESTES DERNIERE GERBE POÈMES UNCOLLECTED The Plays (in French) CROMWELL THE BURGRAVES HERNANI LUCRÈCE BORGIA MARIE TUDOR RUY BLAS Selected Non-Fiction NAPOLEON THE LITTLE EXTRACTS FROM HUGO’S ESSAY ON SHAKESPEARE LETTER TO THE LONDON NEWS REGARDING JOHN BROWN ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT EXTRACTS FROM SATIRISTS AND MORALISTS THE HISTORY OF A CRIME The Criticism VICTOR HUGO BY JOHN COWPER POWYS LETTER ON HUGO BY CHARLES DICKENS VICTOR HUGO’S LAST NOVEL BY HENRY JAMES THE LEGEND OF VICTOR HUGO BY PAUL LAFARGUE VICTOR HUGO’S ROMANCES BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON TO VICTOR HUGO BY ALFRED TENNYSON The Biographies THE MEMOIRS OF VICTOR HUGO VICTOR HUGO: HIS LIFE AND WORK BY G. BARNETT SMITH Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles
Ursus was a man, Homo a wolf: the former a travelling mountebank, the latter his faithful companion. Gwynplaine was abducted as an infant, and cruelly mutilated so that his face shows the permanent smile of a clown. Abandoned by his abductors some years later, Gwynplaine rescues a blind baby girl from the frozen corpse of her mother at the foot of a gibbet. Time passes, and the young girl -- christened Dea -- comes to love Gwynplaine. Being blind, she is unaware of his disfigurement, but from passing her fingers over his face, assumes that he is always happy. Ursus and Homo meet up with Gwynplaine and Dea, and travel around England performing at funfairs. After some vicissitudes, Gwynplaine is, surprisingly, summoned to the court of Queen Anne, where it is revealed that he is in fact the missing heir of the murdered Lord Linnaeus Clancharlie, Marquis of Corleone. He is, accordingly, installed as an English peer; but when he addresses the House of Lords is ridiculed for his clownish features. He renounces his peerage and rejoins his companions, who resolve to abandon England forever.During the voyage, while Ursus sleeps, Dea reveals to Gwynplaine her secret passion for him, then dies. Gwynplaine drowns himself. Victor Hugo's gothic tale has been the inspiration of numerous plays, films (the first in 1909) novels and short stories. Following a distinguished career as a civil servant, James Hogarth acquired a reputation as a versatile and punctilious translator. His translations span travel guides, archaeological texts, and novels. In 2002 he won the French-American Foundation Translation Prize for his English translation of Victor Hugo's Travailleurs de la Mer. He died in 2006.
The History of a Crime (1877) is a book-length essay by Victor Hugo. While Hugo is famous today for his status as a leading French poet and novelist of the nineteenth century, he was also a gifted historian and memoirist who served on the National Assembly of the Second Republic. Following the coup d’état of Napoleon III in 1851, Hugo was among the insurrectionists who revolted against military forces on the streets of Paris. Despite their efforts, the coup was successful, leading to Hugo’s exile until 1870. “To outrage Right, to suppress the Assembly, to abolish the Constitution, to strangle the Republic, to overthrow the Nation, to sully the Flag, to dishonor the Army, to suborn the Clergy and the Magistracy, to succeed, to triumph, to govern, to administer, to exile, to banish, to transport, to ruin, to assassinate, to reign, with such complicities that the law at last resembles a foul bed of corruption. What! All these enormities were to be committed! And by whom?” The French Second Republic was already in danger when Napoleon III was elected President of France in 1848. A populist, he was in constant conflict with the National Assembly and, nearing the end of his term, sought to seek reelection through constitutional change. When this avenue was denied, he began preparations for Operation Rubicon, a secret plan to conduct a coup d’état with the help of the Army and other high-ranking officials. On December 2nd, 1851, the anniversary of his uncle Napoleon Bonaparte’s coronation and victory at Austerlitz, the coup took place. Hugo, a National Assembly member, took to the streets of Paris with thousands of his fellow insurrectionaries, many of whom were beaten, arrested, and murdered for their actions. Despite their efforts, the coup was successful, leading to the reestablishment of the French Empire in 1852. Hugo’s essay—part history, part memoir—is a brilliant retelling of one of democracy’s darkest moments. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Victor Hugo’s The History of a Crime is a classic work of French literature reimagined for modern readers.
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