L'uomo che ride

Scritto da Victor Hugo

Narrato da Claudio Carini

“Chi sono i veri mostri?” Questa è la domanda che sembra porsi Victor Hugo scrivendo il suo capolavoro “L’uomo che ride” pubblicato nel 1869.

La storia ruota intorno a Gwynplaine, un uomo condannato a una eterna risata, causata da una mutilazione subita in giovanissima età.

Considerato da tutti un “mostro umano”, emarginato dalla società a causa della sua diversità fisica, si guadagnerà da vivere come “attrazione” in un circo ambulante di saltimbanchi. Il tema centrale dell’opera è la critica spietata all’aristocrazia e all’egoismo della classe nobiliare inglese dell’epoca.  Con questo romanzo, Victor Hugo realizza il paradosso di uno scrittore francese che riesce a descrivere, forse meglio di un inglese, tutte le ingiustizie sociali dell’Inghilterra tra la fine del '600 e l’inizio del '700. “L’uomo che ride” è molto più di un romanzo: è una straordinaria lezione di storia, geografia, sociologia e politica, all’interno di un’opera visionaria, intensa e commovente, satura di tinte gotiche, cupe e tenebrose, nella quale si esplorano temi universali come l'identità, l'amore e la giustizia sociale.

• Lingua: Italiano
• Editore: Recitar Leggendo Audiolibri
• Data di uscita: 4 mag 2023
• ISBN: 9788831372374

Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was a French poet and novelist. Born in Besançon, Hugo was the son of a general who served in the Napoleonic army. Raised on the move, Hugo was taken with his family from one outpost to the next, eventually setting with his mother in Paris in 1803. In 1823, he published his first novel, launching a career that would earn him a reputation as a leading figure of French Romanticism. His Gothic novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) was a bestseller throughout Europe, inspiring the French government to restore the legendary cathedral to its former glory. During the reign of King Louis-Philippe, Hugo was elected to the National Assembly of the French Second Republic, where he spoke out against the death penalty and poverty while calling for public education and universal suffrage. Exiled during the rise of Napoleon III, Hugo lived in Guernsey from 1855 to 1870. During this time, he published his literary masterpiece Les Misérables (1862), a historical novel which has been adapted countless times for theater, film, and television. Towards the end of his life, he advocated for republicanism around Europe and across the globe, cementing his reputation as a defender of the people and earning a place at Paris’ Panthéon, where his remains were interred following his death from pneumonia. His final words, written on a note only days before his death, capture the depth of his belief in humanity: “To love is to act.”