The enduring appeal of Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas was a rariity for his day: He was a black man who wrote wildly popular fiction. And he remains popular today -- at least at Printed Page -- where we find it challenging to keep his most famous books, "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Christo," on our shelves.
Dumas was born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie on July 24, 1802 in Villers-Cotterets, France. The Dumas family name was adopted from Alexandre's grandmother, an enslaved Haitian woman named Marie-Cessette Dumas. Dumas's grandfather took the name Dumas when he enlisted in Napoleon's army, where he acquired the dubious nickname "Black Devil."
At the age of 20, Alexandre moved to Paris and immersed himself in literature. He began writing plays, both comedies and tragedies, and was often compared to his contemporary and rival, Victor Hugo.
Dumas was a prolific writer of essays, short stories, and novels, as well as plays and travelogues. His interests also encompassed crime and scandals: He wrote eight volumes of essays on infamous cases in history. But he achieved widespread success with his novels, which were initially published as serials. Less well known today are Dumas's romantic novels, dubbed the Marie Antoinette romances. He also wrote a fantasy novel, "The Wolf Leader," which is considered one of the earliest werewolf-themed books.
With the money he earned from his novels, Dumas purchased land and built the Chateru de Monte Christo in Port Marly, Yvelines, France. This home -- now a museum -- was intended to be a sanctuary for the author, and he spent much of his time writing and entertaining there before debt overtook him, forcing him to sell the property. He fled to Belgium in 1851 and later to Russia in an attempt to evade creditors.
Dumas died on December 5, 1870. He was buried in the cemetery of Villers-Cotterets. In 2002, his body was moved to the Pantheon in Paris, where Dumas rests among such other French literary greats including Victor Hugo and Emile Zola.
His work has been translated into more than 100 languages and adapted into a multitude of films. Interest in his work may have been boosted in the film, "The Shawshank Redemption," when one of the characters incorrectly pronouces his name "dumb-ass." Make that "doo-mah"!
