The Man Who Laughs

A Romance of English History

Victor Hugo

• Publisher: Aeneas Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9785501529663
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

A boy is sold to men who disfigure children to make them show-fair monsters, and grows up with a face fixed in a permanent grin. Hugo wrote it in exile as an attack on aristocracy; the laughing face went on to shape a good deal of later popular imagery. Its 337 original illustrations have been carefully restored and coloured for this edition.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Ursus.
• Another Preliminary Chapter. The Comprachicos.
• Night Not So Black as Man. Portland Bill.
• Chapter II. Left Alone.
• Chapter III. Alone.
• Chapter IV. Questions.
• Chapter V. The Tree of Human Invention.
• Chapter VI. Struggle Between Death and Life.
• Chapter VII. The North Point of Portland.
• The Hooker at Sea. Chapter I. Superhuman Laws.
• Chapter II. Our First Rough Sketches Filled in.
• Chapter III. Troubled Men on the Troubled Sea.
• Chapter IV. A Cloud Different from the Others Enters on the Scene.
• Chapter V. Hardquanonne.
• Chapter VI. They Think That Help Is at Hand.
• Chapter VII. Superhuman Horrors.
• Chapter VIII. Nix Et Nox.
• Chapter IX. The Charge Confided to a Raging Sea.
• Chapter X. The Colossal Savage, the Storm.
• Chapter XI. The Caskets.
• Chapter XII. Face to Face with the Rock.
• Chapter XIII. Face to Face with Night.
• Chapter XIV. Ortach.
• Chapter XV. Portentosum Mare.
• Chapter XVI. The Problem Suddenly Works in Silence.
• Chapter XVII. The Last Resource.
• Chapter XVIII. The Highest Resource.
• The Child in the Shadow. Chapter I. Chesil.
• Chapter II. The Effect of Snow.
• Chapter III. A Burden Makes a Rough Road Rougher.
• Chapter IV. Another Form of Desert.
• Chapter V. Misanthropy Plays Its Pranks.
• Chapter VI. The Awaking.
• Chapter II. Lord David Dirry-Moir.
• Chapter III. The Duchess Josiana.
• Chapter IV. The Leader of Fashion.
• Chapter V. Queen Anne.
• Chapter VI. Barkilphedro.
• Chapter VII. Barkilphedro Gnaws His Way.
• Chapter VIII. Inferi.
• Chapter IX. Hate Is as Strong as Love.
• Chapter X. The Flame Which Would Be Seen If Man Were Transparent.
• Chapter XI. Barkilphedro in Ambuscade.
• Chapter XII. Scotland, Ireland, and England.
• Gwynplaine and Dea. Chapter I. Wherein We See the Face of Him of Whom We Have Hitherto Seen Only the Acts.
• Chapter II. Dea.
• Chapter III. “Oculos Non Habet, Et Videt.”
• Chapter IV. Well-Matched Lovers.
• Chapter V. The Blue Sky Through the Black Cloud.
• Chapter VI. Ursus as Tutor, and Ursus as Guardian.
• Chapter VII. Blindness Gives Lessons in Clairvoyance.
• Chapter VIII. Not Only Happiness, but Prosperity.
• Chapter IX. Absurdities Which Folks Without Taste Call Poetry.
• Chapter X. An Outsider’s View of Men and Things.
• Chapter XI. Gwynplaine Thinks Justice, and Ursus Talks Truth.
• Chapter XII. Ursus the Poet Drags on Ursus the Philosopher.
• The Beginning of the Fissure. Chapter I. The Tadcaster Inn.
• Chapter II. Open-Air Eloquence.
• Chapter III. Where the Passer-By Reappears.
• Chapter IV. Contraries Fraternize in Hate.
• Chapter V. The Wapentake.
• Chapter VI. The Mouse Examined by the Cats.
• Chapter VII. Why Should a Gold Piece Lower Itself by Mixing with a Heap of Pennies?
• Chapter VIII. Symptoms of Poisoning.
• Chapter IX. Abyssus Abyssum Vocat.
• The Cell of Torture. Chapter I. The Temptation of St. Gwynplaine.
• Chapter II. From Gay to Grave.
• Chapter III. Lex, Rex, Fex.
• Chapter IV. Ursus Spies the Police.
• Chapter V. A Fearful Place.
• Chapter VI. The Kind of Magistracy Under the Wigs of Former Days.
• Chapter VII. Shuddering.
• Chapter VIII. Lamentation.
• The Sea and Fate Are Moved by the Same Breath. Chapter I. The Durability of Fragile Things.
• Chapter II. The Waif Knows Its Own Course.
• Chapter III. An Awakening.
• Chapter IV. Fascination.
• Chapter V. We Think We Remember; We Forget.
• Ursus Under Different Aspects. Chapter I. What the Misanthrope Said.
• Chapter II. What He Did.
• Chapter III. Complications.
• Chapter IV. Moenibus Surdis Campana Muta.
• Chapter V. State Policy Deals with Little Matters as Well as with Great.
• The Titaness. Chapter I. The Awakening.
• Chapter II. The Resemblance of a Palace to a Wood.
• Chapter III. Eve.
• Chapter IV. Satan.
• Chapter V. They Recognize, but Do Not Know, Each Other.
• The Capitol and Things Around It. Chapter I. Analysis of Majestic Matters.
• Chapter II. Impartiality.
• Chapter III. The Old Hall.
• Chapter IV. The Old Chamber.
• Chapter V. Aristocratic Gossip.
• Chapter VI. The High and the Low.
• Chapter VII. Storms of Men Are Worse Than Storms of Oceans.
• Chapter VIII. He Would Be a Good Brother, Were He Not a Good Son.
• In Ruins. Chapter I. It Is Through Excess of Greatness That Man Reaches Excess of Misery.
• Chapter II. The Dregs.
• Chapter I. A Watch-Dog May Be a Guardian Angel.
• Chapter II. Barkilphedro, Having Aimed at the Eagle, Brings Down the Dove.
• Chapter III. Paradise Regained Below.
• Chapter IV. Nay; on High!
• About the Author