The King Amuses Himself

Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.3

Word count: 160K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Le Roi s'amuse by Victor HugoAuthor: Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885,Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Jul 30, 2009

Editor's review

Le Roi s'amuse is a French play by Victor Hugo, available from Project Gutenberg as a public-domain electronic text. Its value lies in showing the typical methods of Hugo's Romantic drama: court intrigue set against a historical backdrop, desire intertwined with power, and strong moral contrasts and theatrical effect. The characters are tightly interrelated, the conflicts advance directly, and the dialogue is rhetorically charged—useful for observing how nineteenth-century French drama broke with classical rules. It can be read as a literary text for character and theme, or as a dramatic text for imagining staging. Because it is in the original French, non-native readers need some language grounding; reading alongside a translation or notes is advised. It is better suited to supplementary reading in drama history, Hugo studies, or French literature courses than to light entertainment.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Upper-level students of French literature or the history of French drama
Readers studying Hugo's dramatic writing and the Romantic stage
Literature enthusiasts with some French who want to read a play in the original
Those needing a public-domain French dramatic text for course discussion or citation

Not a good fit for

Readers with limited French who are unwilling to use a translation or notes
General readers seeking light plotting or modern colloquial narrative
Readers not interested in court intrigue and tragic conflict

Reading tips

Learn about Hugo's Romantic dramatic principles and the play's historical background first; character motives become easier to grasp.
Read act by act and scene by scene; after each act, map the characters and the advance of conflict rather than isolating fragments of dialogue.
Use a reliable translation alongside the French original and note differences in handling rhetoric and stage directions.
For dramatic analysis, mark each scene's spatial setting, entrances and exits, and key monologues to imagine the stage effect.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a novel or a play?

According to the source information, it is a play by Hugo presented in the original French. Read it as a dramatic text, attending to act and scene structure, dialogue, and stage directions, rather than expecting novelistic narrative.

Can I read it if my French is not good?

You can read it alongside a reliable translation, but the original alone will be difficult. The dialogue is highly rhetorical; read a translation first for the plot, then return to the original for language and theatrical effect, or use an annotated edition.

Where does it stand in Hugo's work?

The source information only confirms that it is a play by Hugo, part of his dramatic writing. It reflects Romantic drama's preference for court subjects, intense conflict, and moral contrasts; for its specific place in literary history, consult specialized scholarship.

Is the electronic edition suitable for scholarly citation?

The Project Gutenberg public-domain text is convenient for searching, but scholarly citation should verify version information and page numbers. Rely on authoritative print or critical editions, and use the electronic text for reading and preliminary checking.

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About the author

Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885 Author

Hugo, Victor (1802–1885) was a French author renowned for his novels and poetry. The collection holds 54 of his works, including volumes of Les Misérables (such as Jean Valjean and Fantine), Notre-Dame de Paris, and Quatrevingt-Treize. These works center on poverty, justice, revolution, and redemption, weaving the fate of individuals tightly into social reality. His narratives are grand and emotionally rich, combining romantic sweep with deep concern for the poor and marginalized. Classified under inspirational growth, his characters' struggles amid hardship still speak to readers today. Public information is limited; this note describes only the themes and style suggested by the works in the collection.