Alexandre Dumas was a writer from France. He wrote many books that are still widely read today all over the world. The best known are The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.
Together with the seamstress Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay he had a son. But the parents were not married. Since the son bore the same name as the father and also became a writer, one also speaks of Alexandre Dumas the Elder and Alexandre Dumas the Younger to distinguish them.
Alexandre Dumas was born in 1802 in Villers-Cotterêts near Paris. His father Thomas was the son of a black slave woman from Haiti. He later became a general in Napoleon’s army. The young Dumas was interested in writing from an early age. As a teenager he wrote plays for the theater together with a friend. By the time he was in his mid-twenties, he was doing it enough to make a living.
Later he also wrote many novels, especially those about adventure. He also made many trips across Europe and wrote reports for newspapers. He even wrote books about French cuisine. Dumas died in 1870 at the age of 68.
Alexandre Dumas the Elder (1802-1870) grew up in the provinces of northern France, the son of a Napoleonic general. Orphaned and poor at an early age, but convinced of his talents, he went to Paris at the age of nineteen, where he wanted to work in the theatre. His capital: a beautiful handwriting, a couple of wild partridges and an almost inexhaustible imagination. The plays that he first wrote are now forgotten. But twenty years later, in 1844, he was the king of the literary feuilleton with “The Count of Monte Cristo”. Almost at the same time he wrote – based on a historical source from 1700, the “Memoirs of Herr d’Artagnan” by Gatien de Courtils de Sandras – what is still his most famous novel, “The Three Musketeers”, which was continued from 1844 to 1847 appeared and founded Dumas’ worldwide success.
What does A Dumas have to do with slavery?
Marquis Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie fathered four children with the black slave Marie-Césette Dumas. Around 1775 mother and children were mortgaged as slaves.
Which two novels are by Alexandre Dumas?
Alexandre Dumas the Elder was a French writer. Today he is best known for his historical novels, which have become classics, such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.
Was Alexandre Dumas black?
Dumas was descended from black Haitian slaves. He described himself as a “negro” (“nègre”). Accordingly, he suffered because of the color of his skin.
What did Alexandre Dumas write?
Dumas is an important representative of French Romanticism. He became known and popular through his historical adventure novel “The Three Musketeers” (1844) and the social novel “The Count of Monte Cristo” (1845/46) – by the way, the only social novel he ever wrote.
When was Alexandre Dumas born?
July 24, 1802
When did Alexandre Dumas die?
December 5, 1870
What language did Alexander Dumas write in?
Alexandre Dumas, pere, born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (July 24, 1802- December 5, 1870), is best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him the most widely read French author in the world.
Why is Thomas-Alexandre Dumas famous?
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was a mulatto born in the French colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti). He joined the French Army as a private and rose to the rank of a General during the French Revolution. Dumas is probably best known for fathering the famous French writer Alexandre Dumas (père).
Why did Alexandre Dumas change his name?
However, his father refused to allow him to use his name in the lowest rank of the army. Thus, he dropped Thomas from his given name and took his mother’s surname, entering Louis XVI’s service as Alexandre Dumas.
Who wrote The Three Musketeers was the black?
It turns out that this happens to be true: Alexandre Dumas was both a Frenchman and a black man, and retelling his story reinforces the more important point that imagination should not be shackled by skin color.
Did Alexandre Dumas face racism?
Despite his noble background and success as a writer, Dumas had faced discrimination and racism due to ancestry and race. He wrote the novel, Georges, in 1843, which was about the son of a biracial plantation owner who faces discrimination due to his ancestry, despite appearing to be white.
Is Count of Monte Cristo a true story?
The Count of Monte Cristo wasn’t just a book for Dumas. It was a revenge fantasy he wrote on behalf of his father, a Black general who fought in the French Revolution and was ultimately betrayed by Napoleon.
What is the message of The Count of Monte Cristo?
“The Count of Monte Cristo” Themes. The Count of Monte Cristo explores six core themes: revenge, justice and God’s will, happiness, love and redemption, identity, and the domestic and the foreign.
Does The Count of Monte Cristo have a happy ending?
Dantès, his revenge complete, arranges for Valentine de Villefort and Maximilian Morrel to be together (they have been in love, but Valentine’s parents forbade their union), and Haydée declares her love for Dantès, to his great joy.
