Alexander Dumas was one of the nineteenth-century’s pre-eminent novelists. While his masterpieces The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo remain well read and oft-adapted into the twenty-first century, not everyone knows about the man himself.
Born on July 24, 1802, Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas and Marie-Louise Elisabeth Labouret. His mother was the daughter of a tavern-keeper. His father was the mixed-race son of a French nobleman and an African slave. Born in the French colony of St. Domingue (modern-day Haiti), the elder Dumas was taken to France by his father to train for a military career. He served as a general during the French Revolution and went on campaign in Egypt with Napoleon Bonaparte, but his post-military career was marked by poverty. Denied a pension, his death in 1806 left his wife and children impoverished.
Due to the family’s dire straits, Dumas had a meager formal education, but he built a name for himself in the world of the theater in his twenties. The one-two success of his first plays, Henry III and His Court and Christine, allowed the young author to commit to a full-time writing career. He kept busy outside the writing world as well, participating in the July Revolution that installed Louis Philippe I, popularly called the Citizen King, on the throne.
Though he started out as a playwright, Dumas’ fame would be cemented with his swashbuckling adventure novels. Often published in serial format (in which the work was released chapter by chapter over an extended period rather than published in full at once), these works were of the historical fiction genre. His two most famous novels are The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. The former is a revenge tale set during the French Bourbon Restoration (a period between 1815 and 1830 in which the Bourbon dynasty, ousted during the French Revolution, briefly retook the throne) and its immediate aftermath. The latter is a 17th-century adventure packed with swordplay and political intrigue in the court of Louis XIII.
Dumas had a larger than life personality. Talkative, charming, and gregarious, he was an extravagant spender who often lived beyond his means. He also conducted dozens of love affairs. His son Alexandre Dumas, fils (French for “son”) would grow into a talented author in his own right. His novel The Lady of the Camellias would be adapted into opera and film well into the twentieth-century.
Dumas died at age 68 on December 5, 1870. While his popularity waned a bit in his later years, he was critically rediscovered after his passing. His novels have been translated into over 100 languages and remain in the popular consciousness to this very day.
Born July 24, 1802, French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas was one of the great novelists of the nineteenth-century. His most famous book, The Three Musketeers, remains oft-read and adapted to this day. Check out our library resources to delve into his work.
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