Dumas, Alexandre (1802-1870)

French writer, known as Dumas père (the father). His popular historical romances were the reworked output of a ‘fiction-factory’ of collaborators. They include Les Trois Mousquetaires/The Three Musketeers (1844) and its sequels. He is best known for Le Comte de Monte Cristo/The Count of Monte Cristo, which appeared in 12 volumes (1845). His play Henri III et sa cour/Henry III and His Court (1829) established French romantic historical drama. Dumas fils was his son.

Life Dumas was born in Villers-Cotterets, northeast of Paris. He led a chequered life for a time until, goaded by poverty, he went to Paris to seek his fortune. Later, while serving as a clerk to the duc d'Orléans, he wrote plays in his spare time. Some of the plays were good; others were absurdly bombastic; some, such as Kean (1838) about the English actor, frankly (and unconsciously) ridiculous, but whatever their merits or demerits, the author's knowledge of the stage was generally equal to making them successful at the time. Dumas wasted his fortune on various extravagances and numerous love affairs. He was always in debt and had to write more and more to pay his creditors.

Work The Three Musketeers series comprises Les Trois Mousquetaires (8 volumes), Vingt ans après/Twenty Years After (1845; 10 volumes), and Le Vicomte de Bragelonne/The Viscount of Bragelonne (1848-50; 26 volumes). His two other principal series are: Joseph Balsamo (1846-48), Le Collier de la reine/The Queen's Necklace (1850), Ange Pitou (1853), and La Comtesse de Charny/The Countess of Charney (1853-55); and La Reine Margot/Margaret de Navarre (1845), La Dame de Monsoreau/Chicot the Jester (1846), and Les Quarante-cinq/The Forty-five Guardsmen (1848).