In this profoundly moving milestone by the author of Les Misérables, a condemned man writes of his mental anguish inside the walls of a prison. With six weeks of life left to him before facing the guillotine--for a crime that is never revealed--he looks back on the events of his life.

The Last Day of a Condemned Man (1829) is a short novel by Victor Hugo. Having witnessed several executions by guillotine as a young man, Hugo devoted himself in his art and political life to opposing the death penalty in France. Praised by Dostoevsky as “absolutely the most real and truthful of everything that Hugo wrote,” The Last Day of a Condemned Man is a powerful story from an author who defined nineteenth century French literature. If you knew when and where you would die, how would you spend your final moments? For Hugo’s unnamed narrator, such an existential question is made reality. Sentenced to death for an unspecified crime, he reflects on his life as its last seconds wane in the shadows of a cramped prison cell. Recording his emotional state, observations, and conversations with a priest and fellow prisoner, the condemned man forces us to not only recognize his humanity, but question our own. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Victor Hugo’s The Last Day of a Condemned Man is a classic work of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

Unlock the more straightforward side of The Last Day of a Condemned Man with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Last Day of a Condemned Man by Victor Hugo, the thought-provoking tale of a man who is sentenced to death and the emotions he feels over the last 24 hours of his life. The book was written as a plea for capital punishment to be abolished, and Hugo uses it to describe in detail how devastating this type of punishment truly is. The author was very politically active, making frequent speeches in front of the government to beg them to abolish the death penalty, which he was strongly against. He is one of the best-known French authors of all time: his works were incredibly successful, his death was mourned across France, and his portrait was even placed on French bank notes in his legacy. Find out everything you need to know about The Last Day in a Condemned Man in a fraction of the time! This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you: • A complete plot summary • Character studies • Key themes and symbols • Questions for further reflection Why choose BrightSummaries.com? Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you in your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time. See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

The story is a dramatic episode of the revolt of the blacks of St. Domingo in 1791. Bug-Jargal, the hero, is a negro, a slave in the household of a planter. He is secretly in love with his master's daughter, a poetic child, betrothed to her cousin, Leopold d'Auverney. The latter saves the life of Bug-Jargal, who is condemned to death for an act of rebellion. When the great revolt breaks out, and the whole island is in flames, Bug-Jargal protects the young girl, and saves the life of her lover. He even conducts D'Auverney to her he loves, and then, in the fullness of sublime abnegation, he surrenders himself to the whites, who shoot him dead.

Select annotated bibliography: p. [395]-410.

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Last Day of a Condemned Man by Victor Hugo - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Victor Hugo’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Hugo includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘The Last Day of a Condemned Man by Victor Hugo - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Hugo’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

"Claude Gueux is one of the most eloquent pleas for the abolition of the death penalty ever written." - Friedrich Engels A new translation into American English from the original French manuscripts of Victor Hugo's classic 1834 Claude Gueux. "Claude Gueux" is a novella that tells the story of a working-class man who becomes a criminal after being pushed to the brink by poverty and injustice, and his subsequent trial. It is a plea for social justice and an end to the death penalty in France, one of the first. It is considered a milestone in French literature and a turning point in the history of the death penalty abolition movement. This novel is the second of Hugo's novels about the death penalty following his 1829 The Last Day of a Condemned Man.