{"title":"Victor Hugo","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"les-miserables","title":"Les Misérables","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst published in 1862, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLes Misérables\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is Victor Hugo’s vast portrait of nineteenth-century France, a society divided by poverty, privilege and political upheaval. At its centre is Jean Valjean, imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread, whose release sets him on a difficult path towards redemption. Pursued by the implacable Inspector Javert, Valjean’s life becomes entwined with that of Fantine, her daughter Cosette, and the young revolutionaries of Paris.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMoving between intimate human stories and sweeping historical episodes, Hugo explores the possibility of moral transformation, the force of compassion and the injustices embedded in social institutions. From the streets of Paris to the barricades of the 1832 uprising, the novel gives extraordinary scope to lives usually kept at the margins of history. A defining work of French Romanticism, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLes Misérables\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e remains one of the great social novels of the nineteenth century, animated by Hugo’s conviction that dignity and mercy must prevail over punishment and indifference.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“A man is not idle, because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labour and there is an invisible labour.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Victor Hugo, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLes Misérables\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLes Misérables\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Its subject is nothing less than the infinite.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Adam Thirlwell, The Guardian\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64183373168970,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"the-hunchback-of-notre-dame","title":"The Hunchback of Notre-Dame","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst published in 1831 under the title \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNotre-Dame de Paris\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, Victor Hugo’s novel unfolds in the Paris of 1482, where the cathedral stands at the centre of a world shaped by faith, spectacle and social prejudice. Its story brings together Quasimodo, the cathedral’s isolated bell-ringer; Esmeralda, a young street dancer; and Claude Frollo, the archdeacon whose obsession with her sets tragedy in motion. As their lives become entangled, Hugo explores the cruelty of judgement, the longing for acceptance and the fragile distinction between beauty and monstrosity.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMore than a historical romance, the novel is a passionate portrait of medieval Paris and a meditation on the cathedral as a living monument to centuries of human history. Hugo’s vivid descriptions of its architecture helped awaken public interest in the preservation of Gothic heritage, while his great cast of outsiders and misfits gives the book its enduring moral force. A landmark of French Romanticism, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is as much a tribute to Paris and its stones as it is a story of love, injustice and human dignity.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“And the cathedral was not only society for him, but the universe, and all nature beside.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Victor Hugo, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“It is the Shakespeare of the novel, the epic of the Middle Ages.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Alphonse de Lamartine, letter to Victor Hugo (1831)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64183379984714,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"the-man-who-laughs","title":"The Man Who Laughs","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Man Who Laughs\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e was first published in 1869, during Victor Hugo’s exile in Guernsey. Set in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century England, the novel follows Gwynplaine, a young nobleman whose face has been permanently disfigured into a grotesque grin by order of the king. Travelling with Ursus, a wandering philosopher, and Dea, a blind girl he has rescued, Gwynplaine earns his living as a performer, his fixed smile concealing a life marked by cruelty and loss.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBeneath its Gothic atmosphere and extraordinary characters lies a fierce indictment of aristocratic privilege and the abuse of power. Hugo contrasts the apparent deformity of Gwynplaine with the moral ugliness of the society that made him, while exploring compassion, human dignity and the violence hidden behind social refinement. Less widely read than \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLes Misérables\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e or \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, this sprawling and uncompromising novel is among Hugo’s most radical works: a dark, imaginative romance that turns the spectacle of a single face into an indictment of an entire social order.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“There is consent in a smile, while a laugh is often a refusal.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Victor Hugo, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Man Who Laughs\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Man Who Laughs\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The true title of this book should be ‘Aristocracy’.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Victor Hugo, Preface to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Man Who Laughs\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64183388602698,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]}],"url":"https:\/\/thelamppostparis.com\/collections\/victor-hugo.oembed","provider":"The Lamp-Post Library \u0026 Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}