The Literature Book

123

See also: Ivanhoe 150 ■ The Last of the Mohicans 150 ■ Les Misérables 166 – 67 ■

War and Peace 178–81 ■ A Tale of Two Cities 198

ROMANTICISM AND THE RISE OF THE NOVEL

Paris, in 1623. Through a series

of misadventures, his ambition

is thwarted, but he ends up first

dueling with, and then befriending,

the three musketeers of the title,

Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.

Together they embark on a series

of missions to save the honor

of the queen, and to ensure that

the king is not hoodwinked by the

machinations of First Minister

Cardinal de Richelieu into a war

with the English. Along the way,

there is much carousing, and

inevitable romantic liaisons.

Beneath the swashbuckling,

however, Dumas makes some

serious points, and is critical

in his portrayal of the period.

His musketeer heroes are brave

and attractive, but show a blind

allegiance to the monarchy, and

are not always gentlemanly in their

treatment of others. And the object

of their loyalty, King Louis XIII,

is portrayed as gullible and weak:

he is ruthlessly manipulated by the

cardinal and his agents, the Comte

de Rochefort and Milady de Winter.

The installments of the story

were eagerly awaited by the French

public in the summer of 1844, and

were translated widely. Building on

this success, Dumas serialized two

more “d’Artagnan Romances,”

Twenty Years After and The

Vicomte of Bragelonne, and the

similarly styled The Count of Monte

Cristo, all of which have remained

popular, both in their original

novel form and as adaptations

for television and the movies. ■

King Louis XIII

Queen Anne

of Austria

Cardinal

de Richelieu

Comte

de Rochefort

Milady

de Winter

d’Artagnan

Aramis Porthos Athos

Married, king and queen

of France

Bitter enemies

Manipulative First Minister to Plotting against

Evil agents of

Friends and comrades of

Ex-husband

and wife

Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas was

born Alexandre Davy de la

Pailleterie in Picardy, France,

in 1802. His father was the

son of the governor of Saint-

Domingue (now Haiti) and an

Afro-Caribbean slave woman,

Marie-Cessette Dumas.

Like his father, Alexandre

later adopted the surname

of his grandmother, but it was

his aristocratic ancestry that

helped to launch his career as

a writer. He found work with

the Duke of Orléans (who later

became the “Citizen King”

Louis-Philippe), and after

initial success with historical

drama, turned to writing

novels. These included

the adventures of d’Artagnan,

for which he became famous.

When Louis-Philippe was

deposed, Dumas fled France

in 1851 and did not return

until 1864.

Dumas had many affairs,

and is said to have fathered at

least four children, including

a son Alexandre, who also

became a writer and is often

known as fils (son).

Other key works

1845 Twenty Years After

1847–50 The Vicomte of

Bragelonne

The Musketeers of the Guard, a brotherhood of bodyguards, are

the focal point of a story that combines international politics, courtly

intrigue, friendship, enmity, and romantic entanglements: a historical

tale with timeless themes that guarantee its enduring popularity.

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