Hugo returned to political and social issues in his next novel, L'Homme Qui Rit (The Man Who Laughs), which was published in 1869 and painted a critical picture of the aristocracy.
Hugo sa k politickej a sociálnej tematike vrátil v ďalšom románe, Človek, ktorý sa smeje (1869), kde podáva kritický portrét aristokracie.