Reading session 1/2: Hugo’s The Last Day of a Condemned Man

This novel is a fictional diary which documents the final hours of an unnamed prisoner awaiting his execution by the guillotine in 19th-century France. We will discuss the entire book across 2 meetings of 2 hours each, organised and led by Eline Couperus and Arthur Willemse.

We will focus on themes like justice, history, Europe, faith, and existentialism. The first meeting will focus on the first half of the book.

Registration is mandatory

Hugo and the Law exhibition

This reading session is organised in connection to the Hugo and the Law exhibition that is now on display at Maastricht University Library. The exhibition explores Victor Hugo’s engagement with law, justice, and human dignity, offering historical and philosophical context to the themes raised in the novel.

Together, the reading sessions and the exhibition invite participants to reflect on punishment, responsibility, and compassion, questions that remain deeply relevant in today’s Europe and beyond.