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It was not until the late twentieth century that his role was fully understood. His works have been translated into nearly 100 languages, and he is one of the most widely read French authors. In Gatsby-esque style, it was often filled with strangers and acquaintances who stayed for lengthy visits and took advantage of his generosity. French author Alexandre Dumas (born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie; July 24, 1802 – December 5, 1870) wrote novels that came to epitomize the adventure genre. Disowned by … [7] Their parents were Marie-Louise Élisabeth Labouret, the daughter of an innkeeper, and Thomas-Alexandre Dumas. Despite his aristocratic background and personal success, the writer had to deal with a great deal of racial discrimination, related to his mixed-race ancestry. Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was born the same years as his contemporary, Victor Hugo, in 1802 in Villers-Cotterêts, Aisne, France.His father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, was the first French colored brigadier general in Napoleon army but after his death the family suffered severe poverty. He was the son (fils) of Alexandre Dumas, père, also a writer and playwright. [24] Reed wrote the most comprehensive bibliography of Dumas.[25][26]. His grandfather was from a noble family, and his grandmother had been a Dominican slave. His novels have been adapted since the early twentieth century into nearly 200 films. In 1843, he wrote a short novel, Georges, that addressed some of the issues of race and the effects of colonialism. It was not until the late-twentieth century that his role was fully understood. Dumas’ Father’s Military Exploits Served As an Inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo. On 1 February 1840, Dumas married actress Ida Ferrier (born Marguerite-Joséphine Ferrand) (1811–1859). Dumas's works included: Dumas wrote many plays and adapted several of his novels as dramas. She had performed her sensational role in Mazeppa in London. Dumas, however, later wrote four more novels that cover this family and portray similar characters, starting with François or Francis I, his son Henry II, and Marguerite and François II, sons of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. Here are 10 Things That Make Alexandre Dumas Black. Alexandre Dumas was born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie on July 24, 1802, in Villers-Cotterêts, France, to Marie Louise Labouret and General Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la … Two years later, faced with financial difficulties, Dumas sold the entire property. His mother’s stories of Thomas-Alexandre’s bravery during the campaigns of the Revolutionary Wars inspired the boy’s vivid imagination. As an adult, Thomas-Alexandre used his mother's name, Dumas, as his surname after a break with his father. 1891, "L'association des Amis du Général Alexandre Dumas", "Lavish reburial for Three Musketeers author", "Alexandre Dumas novels penned by 'fourth musketeer' ghost writer", "Claude Schopp: The man who gave Dumas 40 mistresses", Château de Monte-Cristo Museum Opening Hours, "Discours prononcé lors du transfert des cendres d'Alexandre Dumas au Panthéon", "Paris Monuments Panthéon-Close up picture of the interior of the crypt of Victor Hugo (left) Alexandre Dumas (middle) Émile Zola (right)", "Banche dati, Open Archives, Libri elettronici", 1866 Caricature of Alexandre Dumas by André Gill, The Secret of Queen Anne or Musketeers Thirty Years After, The Return of the Musketeers, or The Treasures of Cardinal Mazarin, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexandre_Dumas&oldid=1020439456, 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from July 2017, All articles needing additional references, Articles containing Italian-language text, Articles containing potentially dated statements from August 2017, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Léonore identifiers, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie was born in Santo Domingo in 1760, the illegitimate son of a French-born Marquis and Marie-Cessette Dumas, a plantation slave. Today, he is one of the most widely read and appreciated French authors. They are known as Alexandre Dumas père ('father') and Alexandre Dumas fils ('son'). Marie-Alexandrine Dumas (1831–1878), the daughter of Belle Krelsamer (1803–1875). In works such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Crist o, Dumas eschewed historical accuracy and literary elegance to craft stories that delivered non-stop action. To keep up this prolific output, Dumas depended on numerous assistants and collaborators, of whom Auguste Maquet was the best known. As a result, he was able to commit himself full-time to writing. His country home outside Paris, the Château de Monte-Cristo, has been restored and is open to the public as a museum. Alexandre Dumas wrote numerous stories and historical chronicles of high adventure. Dumas’s father has a particularly interesting story: Thomas-Alexandre was born in the French colony of Haiti, as the son of the marquis Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a … The story is written as Grisier's account of how he came to witness the events of the Decembrist revolt in Russia. At that time, the law allowed the elder Dumas to take the child away from his mother. Dumas died in Puys, France, in 1870, at the age of sixty-eight. He was successful in getting more money, but not a byline. Apic/Getty Images. His tongue was like a windmill – once set in motion, you never knew when he would stop, especially if the theme was himself."[6]. His lengthy Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine (Great Dictionary of Cuisine) was published posthumously in 1873. After writing additional successful plays, Dumas switched to writing novels. Dumas's parents met when Thomas-Alexandre was stationed at her family's inn in August of 1789. As newspapers were publishing many serial novels, in 1838, Dumas rewrote one of his plays as his first serial novel, Le Capitaine Paul. He used the name of Dumas after a break with his father, but succeeded him in profession and was promoted to general by the age of thirty-one. This page was last edited on 29 April 2021, at 02:57. Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (later known as Alexandre Dumas) was born in 1802 in Villers-Cotterêts in the department of Aisne, in Picardy, France. He featured Beatrice Cenci, Martin Guerre, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, as well as more recent events and criminals, including the cases of the alleged murderers Karl Ludwig Sand and Antoine François Desrues, who were executed. Alexandre Dumas (UK: /ˈdjuːmɑː, dʊˈmɑː/, US: /duːˈmɑː/; French: [alɛksɑ̃dʁ dymɑ]; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie [dymɑ davi də la pajət(ə)ʁi]; 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870),[1][2] also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where père is French for 'father', thus 'the elder/senior'), was a French writer. [27] The proceedings were televised: the new coffin was draped in a blue velvet cloth and carried on a caisson flanked by four mounted Republican Guards costumed as the four Musketeers. It was often filled with strangers and acquaintances who stayed for lengthy visits and took advantage of his generosity. The collection was donated to Auckland Libraries after his death. These books included: French historian Alain Decaux founded the "Société des Amis d'Alexandre Dumas" (The Society of Friends of Alexandre Dumas) in 1971. Dumas described a fictional character killing Lord Nelson (Nelson was shot and killed by an unknown sniper). Although later writers—including his son, the novelist Alexandre Dumas—claimed Dumas’s parents were married, no supporting evidence exists. The writer died at the age of 68 on December 7, 1870, in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, French Third Republic. The other objectives of the Society are to bring together fans of Dumas, to develop cultural activities of the Château de Monte-Cristo, and to collect books, manuscripts, autographs and other materials on Dumas. A portrait of Alexandre Dumas, whose father was the first black general in France. At his death in December 1870, Dumas was buried at his birthplace of Villers-Cotterêts in the department of Aisne. He founded and led a newspaper, Indipendente. In the 1840s, he founded the Théâtre Historique, located on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris. Dumas travelled there and for the next three years participated in the movement for Italian unification. He played a vital role in the French Revolutionary Wars, commanding 53,000 troops and … Though married, in the tradition of Frenchmen of higher social class, Dumas had numerous affairs (allegedly as many as 40). In 1830 Dumas participated in the Revolution that ousted Charles X and replaced him with Dumas’ former employer, the Duke of Orléans, who ruled as Louis-Philippe; ‘The Citizen King’. His father died of cancer in 1806 when Alexandre was four. Dumas depended on numerous assistants and collaborators, of whom Auguste Maquet was the best known. [20] He had numerous liaisons with other women and was known to have fathered at least four children by them: About 1866, Dumas had an affair with Adah Isaacs Menken, a well-known American actress. In 1829 and 1830 respectively, Dumas produced the plays Henry III and His Court and Christine, both of which met with critical acclaim and financial success. Two years later, faced with financial difficulties, he sold the entire property. While working for Louis-Philippe, Dumas began writing articles for magazines and plays for the theatre. His father was somewhat of an adventurer-soldier, a mulatto, and was not a favorite of Napoleon because of his staunch republicanism. An abridged version (the Petit Dictionnaire de cuisine, or Small Dictionary of Cuisine) was published in 1883. On 28 August 2020, Google celebrated Dumas with a Google Doodle. His works have been translated into many languages, and he is one of the most widely read French authors. He then moved on to Russia, where he published travel books, and subsequently Italy, where he stayed for three years. He served with distinction in the French Revolutionary Wars, and became general-in-chief of the Army of the Pyrenees, also the first man of colour to reach that rank. He wrote journal articles on politics and culture and books on French history. Dumas said: My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a Negro, and my great-grandfather a monkey. Dumas's "The Count of Monte Cristo" contains several references to hashish. Dumas's father's aristocratic rank helped young Alexandre acquire work with Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, then as a writer, a career which led to early success. Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie was born in Santo Domingo in 1760, the illegitimate son of a French-born Marquis and Marie-Cessette Dumas, a plantation slave. [35], Alexandre Dumas and Adah Isaacs Menken, 1866, This article is about the writer. In 2002, for the bicentenary of Dumas's birth, French President Jacques Chirac held a ceremony honouring the author by having his ashes re-interred at the mausoleum of the Panthéon of Paris, where many French luminaries were buried. In March 1861, the kingdom of Italy was proclaimed, with Victor Emmanuel II as its king. He was also known for his travel writing. He traced his ancestry from a minor, impoverished noble French family, yet was also of mixed race – his father’s mother was either a Creole or of direct African ancestry; no one knows which. [15] Published by Éditions Phébus, it sold 60,000 copies, making it a best seller. Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, among scores of other novels, was born on July 24, 1802. Despite the turbulent economic times which followed the Revolution of 1830, Dumas turned out to have something of an entrepreneurial streak, and did well for himself in this decade. His father, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) to Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a French nobleman, and Marie-Cessette Dumas, an African slave. A Harvard … Dumas collaborated with Augustin Grisier, his fencing master, in his 1840 novel, The Fencing Master. Dumas wrote in a wide variety of genres and published a total of 100,000 pages in his lifetime. He later became a general in Napoleon’s army. Dumas was born in Paris, France, the illegitimate child of Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay (1794-1868), a dressmaker, and novelist Alexandre Dumas. Alexandre Dumas, fils (27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) was a French author and dramatist. He was successful in getting more money, but not a by-line.[13][14]. In 1831 his father legally recognized him and ensured that the young Dumas received the best education possible at the Institution Goubaux and the Collège Bourbon. [12] In his speech, President Chirac said: With you, we were D'Artagnan, Monte Cristo, or Balsamo, riding along the roads of France, touring battlefields, visiting palaces and castles—with you, we dream.[28]. The writer whose birth name was Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was born on July 24, 1802. Marquet was consistently un-acknowledged for his help however, and eventually took Dumas to court to try to get authorial recognition and a higher rate of payment. As newspapers were publishing many serial novels, in 1838 Dumas rewrote one of his plays as his first serial novel, Le Capitaine Paul. She was the mother of General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the grandmother of novelist Alexandre Dumas, and the great-grandmother of playwright Alexandre Dumas, fils, and has been called a "great matriarch to a saga of distinguished men". The first of travelling to the Sainte-Hermine trilogy parents met when Thomas-Alexandre was stationed at her 's... Military Exploits Served as an adult son ( fils ) of Alexandre,! Account of how he came to witness the events of the most comprehensive bibliography of Dumas [. Delightfully amusing and egotistical creature on the face of the Decembrist revolt in Russia of working together was for to. 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