Alexandre Dumas, who lived a life as dramatic as any depicted in
his more than three hundred volumes of plays, novels, travel books,
and memoirs, was born on July 24, 1802, in the town of
Villers-Cotterats, some fifty miles from Paris. He was the third
child of Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie (who took the name
of Dumas), a nobleman who distinguished himself as one of
Napoleon's most brilliant generals, and Marie-Louise-Elisabeth
Labouret. Following General Dumas's death in 1806 the family faced
precarious financial circumstances, yet Mme. Dumas scrimped to pay
for her son's private schooling. Unfortunately he proved an
indifferent student who excelled in but one subject- penmanship. In
1816, at the age of fourteen, Dumas found employment as a clerk
with a local notary to help support the family. A growing interest
in theater brought him to Paris in 1822, where he met Fran
ois-Joseph Talma, the great French tragedian, and resolved to
become a playwright. Meanwhile the passionate Dumas fell in love
with Catherine Labay, a seamstress by whom he had a son. (Though he
had numerous mistresses in his lifetime Dumas married only once,
but the union did not last.) While working as a scribe for the duc
d'Orleans (later King Louis-Philippe) Dumas collaborated on a
one-act vaudeville, La Chasse et l'amour ( The Chase and Love,
1825). But it was not until 1827, after attending a British
performance of Hamlet, that Dumas discovered a direction for his
dramas. 'For the first time in the theater I was seeing true
passions motivating men and women of flesh and blood,' he recalled.
'From this time on, but only then, did I have an idea of what the
theater could be.'
Dumas achieved instant fame on February 11, 1829, with the
triumphant opening of Henri III et sa cour (Henry III and His
Court). An innovative and influential play generally regarded as
the first French drama of the Romantic movement, it broke with the
staid precepts of Neoclassicism that had been imposed on the Paris
stage for more than a century. Briefly involved as a republican
partisan in the July Revolution of 1830, Dumas soon resumed
playwriting and over the next decade turned out a number of
historical melodramas that electrified audiences. Two of these
works-Antony (1831) and La Tour de Nesle (The Tower of Nesle,
1832)-stand out as milestones in the history of nineteenth-century
French theater. In disfavor with the new monarch, Louis-Philippe,
because of his republican sympathies, Dumas left France for a time.
In 1832 he set out on a tour of Switzerland, chronicling his
adventures in Impressions de voyage- En Suisse ( Travels in
Switzerland, 1834-1837); over the years he produced many
travelogues about subsequent journeys through France, Italy,
Russia, and other countries.
Around 1840 Dumas embarked upon a series of historical romances
inspired by both his love of French history and the novels of Sir
Walter Scott. In collaboration with Auguste Maquet, he serialized
Le Chevalier d'Harmental in the newspaper Le Si cle in 1842. Part
history, intrigue, adventure, and romance, it is widely regarded as
the first of Dumas's great novels. The two subsequently worked
together on a steady stream of books, most of which were published
serially in Parisian tabloids and eagerly read by the public. He is
best known for the celebrated d'Artagnan trilogy-Les trois
mousquetaires ( The Three Musketeers, 1844), Vingt ans apr s
(Twenty Years After, 1845) and Dix ans plus tarde ou le Vicomte de
Bragelonne ( Ten Years Later; or The Viscount of Bragelonne,
1848-1850)-and the so-called Valois romances-La Reine Margot (Queen
Margot, 1845), La Dame de Monsoreau ( The Lady of Monsoreau, 1846),
and Les Quarante-cinc ( The Forty-Five Guardsmen, 1848). Yet
perhaps his greatest success was Le Comte de Monte Cristo ( The
Count of Mont
"I do not say there is no character as well-drawn in Shakespeare
[as D'Artagnan]. I do say there is none that I love so wholly."
—Robert Louis Stevenson
"I do not say there is no character as well-drawn in Shakespeare
[as D'Artagnan]. I do say there is none that I love so wholly."
-Robert Louis Stevenson
Gr 6 Up-With swelling musical background, the clash of swordplay, and the occasional thump of a head being cut off, the St. Charles Players bring back the feeling of radio theater in their rendition of the classic tale by Alexandre Dumas. The players' voices emit every nuance required to let listeners experience the swashbuckling deeds of the famous heroic threesome and the boy called D'Artagnan who wants to join their ranks. When the young man arrives in Paris with the wish to enlist with the King's Musketeers, he finds himself challenged to three duels in his first afternoon in the city by men who turn out to be Porthos, Aramis, and Athos-the Three Musketeers. Instead of fighting against them, the twists of fate have D'Artagnan battling for them against the evil Cardinal Richelieu's guards. After demonstrating his worth with a sword, D'Artagnan proves more of his mettle by journeying to England to foil a plot to embarrass France's Queen Anne, the former Anne of Austria. D'Artagnan saves his queen but loses the woman he loves, so he seeks vengeance and, in turn, instills himself firmly in the ranks of the Musketeers. The flavor of the original is evident even though this abridged version includes only highlights in its retelling.-Joanne K. Hammond, Chambersburg Area Middle School, PA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
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