Theatre | Preface to the Last Day

Théâtre des Charmes

1829: The last day of a condemned man is a success and provokes many reactions from the conservative class. In the 3rd edition, Victor Hugo writes a preface in the form of a parodic one‑act play in which he puts into the mouths of caricatured bourgeois the jabs aimed at books. 1832: The number of reissues is no longer countable. Hugo writes a more developed and reasoned preface that rationally defends the abolition of the death penalty. These are the two prefaces that will be brought to the stage, that of the young author and impulsive corrosive playwright and that of a future deputy who retu…