100
April 1, 2024
Mondays, 7 - 9 am PT
Q3
Level
Start Date
Live Class
Quarter
Course Description
Victor Hugo’s The Man Who Laughs: The Hero with the Passion and Power of Prometheus.
The Man Who Laughs, according to Ayn Rand, was the best novel ever written by Victor Hugo, her favorite novelist. Together, we will see why she was right. In our course, we will analyze its structure, relish its descriptive style, and appreciate the integration of the suspenseful plot with the theme, colorful drama, and razor-sharp character portrayals. We will focus especially on the dramatic set-up, key turning points in the hero’s life, the crucial conflicts and contrasts, the moments when the “man who laughs” becomes the man who acts, and speaks—and, of course, the scene Ayn Rand said was the one scene, in all world literature, she wished she had written.
In the course, we will read the novel in parts, with no more than 100 pages per week, and sometimes less. If you are reading the novel in English, I recommend the only complete English translation in print, The Laughing Man, translated by the award- winning James Hogarth, published by Kennedy and Boyd in 2008 (ISBN 1 904999 84 3). (Other in-print or electronic editions have some omissions, though they do render the narrative.) If you are reading the novel in French, the two-volume Nelson edition has the full text and is the edition in Ayn Rand’s library.
Please use this link to join ARU’s Discord server: Ayn Rand University Discord Server.
Graded students and auditors are invited to join the ARU Discord community, an online social
experience that facilitates connections and casual discussion among the student body. On the
ARU Discord, you’re encouraged to form discussion groups, make use of the “lounge” areas,
and engage with your classmates and instructors anytime throughout the week.
Members of the ARU Discord must adhere to the ARU Confidentiality and Code of Conduct
requirements, as well as Discord’s own community guidelines. Access to the ARU Discord is
restricted to active participants in a given school year, to students on hiatus, and to alumni.
Those who withdraw from ARU before attaining alumni status will be removed from the ARU
Discord.