The Three Musketeers

Rollicking * Independent *
Delicious * Guardian *
Dumas is a master of ripping yarns full of fearless heroes, poisonous ladies and swashbuckling adventurers * Guardian *
The Napoleon of storytellers * Washington Post *

Alexandre Dumas was born in 1802 at Villers-Cotterêts. His father, the illegitimate son of a marquis, was a general in the Revolutionary armies but died when Dumas was only four. He was brought up in straitened circumstances and received very little formal education.

He joined the household of the future king, Louis-Philippe, and began reading voraciously. Later he entered the literary circle of Charles Nodier and started writing.

In 1829, the production of his play, Henri III et sa Cour, heralded twenty years of successful playwriting. In 1839, he turned his attention to writing historical novels, often using collaborators such as Auguste Maquet to suggest plots or provide historical background. His most successful novels are The Count of Monte Cristo, which appeared during 1844-5, and The Three Musketeers, published in 1844. Other novels deal with the wars of religion and the Revolution.

Dumas wrote many of these for newspapers, often in daily installments, marshalling his formidable energies to produce ever more in order to pay off his debts. In addition, he wrote travel books, children’s stories, and his Memoires, which amusingly describe his early life, his entry into Parisian literary circles, and the Revolution of 1830.

He died in 1870.

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