The Man Who Laughs: Preface by Giancarlo Rossini

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 the England depicted and the France of Louis-Philippe and the Rég...