The events of Victor Hugo’s novel “The Man Who Laughs” unfold in England at the turn of the 17th–18th centuries. Gwynplaine, a lord by birth, as a child was sold to a gang of Comprachicos—criminals who turned children into bizarre jesters for fairs and the amusement of the nobility. They disfigured his face, cutting into it a grimace of “eternal laughter” (at the time, European courts had a fashion for cripples and monsters who entertained their hosts and guests, and the Comprachicos’ activities sometimes even found tacit approval).
The novel combines a romantic storyline, social drama, adventure, and unexpected plot twists—and rightly is considered one of the masterpieces of French literature. Maimed in childhood, the hero becomes a vagrant and a fool, yet, through harrowing trials, he does not lose either love or his inner dignity.