Better known as "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame," Victor Hugo's romantic novel of dark passions and unrequited love, "Notre-Dame de Paris," is translated with an introduction by John Sturrock in the Penguin Classics edition.
In the lofty gothic towers of the Notre-Dame Cathedral lives Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell-ringer. Subjected to mockery and exclusion due to his appearance, he is the sole recipient of Esmeralda's compassion, a beautiful gypsy girl to whom he becomes utterly devoted. However, Esmeralda has also attracted the attention of the sinister archdeacon Claude Frollo, and when she rejects his immoral advances, Frollo attempts to destroy her, something only Quasimodo can prevent.
Victor Hugo's subversive and expressive novel vividly brings to life the medieval Paris he loved and mourns the loss of, making it one of the great historical romances of the 19th century. John Sturrock's clear and modern translation is accompanied by an introduction that discusses the work as a passionate novel of ideas, written in defense of gothic architecture and an emerging democracy, showing that an ugly exterior can hide moral beauty.
This revised edition also includes further reading and a chronology of Hugo's life. Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was a prolific and dynamic writer, known for his novels, notably "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" (1831) and "Les Misérables" (1862), both of which were adapted into one of the most successful musicals of all time. Although exiled to the Channel Islands by Napoleon III, Hugo returned to Paris in 1870 and remained a major public figure until his death: his body lay in state beneath the Arc de Triomphe and was later buried in the Panthéon.
If you enjoyed "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame," you might also like Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera."
"A great writer - inventive, clever, cunning, innovative" - A. S. Byatt, author of "Possession."
Pages: 544, Dimensions: 12.8x12.8cm
