Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas was born in Villes-Cotterêts. His grandfather was a French nobleman who had settled in Santo Domingo (now part of Haiti); his paternal grandmother, Marie-Cessette, was an Afro-Caribbean who had been a black slave in the French colony (now part of Haiti). Dumas’ father was a general in Napoleon’s army who had fallen out of favor. After his death in 1806 the family lived in poverty. Dumas worked as a notary’s clerk and went in 1823 to Paris to find work. Due to his elegant handwriting he secured a position with the Duc d’Orléans, later King Louis Philippe. He also found his place in theater and as a publisher of some obscure magazines. As a playwright Dumas made his breakthrough with “HENRI III ET SA COUR” (1829), produced by the Comedie Francaise. It was a huge success and Dumas went on to write additional plays, of which “LA TOUR DE NESLE” (1832) is considered the greatest masterpiece of French melodrama. He wrote constantly, producing a steady stream of plays, novels, and short stories. As a writer of historical novels Dumas was enormously prolific and—with the help of seventy-three assistants—produced some 250 books, including “The Three Musketeers” (1844) and “The Count of Monte-Cristo” (1844-45). As a master dialogist, Dumas developed character traits, kept the action moving, and composed the all-important chapter endings, which were essentially teaser scenes that maintained suspense and made readers interested to read more. Dumas lived as adventurously as the heroes of his books. He took part in the revolution of July 1830, caught cholera during the epidemic of 1832, and traveled in Italy to recuperate. He married his mistress Ida Ferrier, an actress, in 1840, but he soon separated after having spent her entire dowry. With the money earned from his writings, he built a fantastic Château Monte Cristo on the outskirts of Paris. Dumas spent two years in exile in Brussels (1855-57), and then returned to Paris. In 1858 he traveled to Russia and in 1860 he went to Italy, where he supported Garibaldi and Italy’s struggle for independence (1860-64). He then remained in Naples as a keeper of the museums for four years. Dumas died of a stroke on December 5, 1870, at Puys, near Dieppe.