The Man Who Laughs (Chelovek Kotory Smeyotsya)

Victor Hugo's novel seems to have it all: an air of mystery, magnificent pages devoted to English history, a shipwreck, a child abandoned under mysterious circumstances, gangs who kidnap and mutilate infants, a strange document found in a sealed bottle on the seashore, a blind beauty, a misanthropic benefactor, a tame wolf, and a romantic hero—a beggar-like vagabond who turns out to be a lord. The hero is in love and beloved, despite having a 'mouth that opens to his ears,' a misshapen nose, and a face 'that one could not look at without laughing.' The writer's unbridled imagination is the envy of modern adventure bestsellers, and yet, before us lies one of the masterpieces of 19th-century French literature—'The Man Who Laughs.'