Meet Alexandre Dumas, Legendary Author of Swashbuckling French Literature
The author of The Three Musketeers shaped both literature and history
If you’re a fan of classic literature, you likely already know the name Alexandre Dumas. If you’re a movie fan, you may not know his name, but you certainly know the many film adaptations of his most famous novels: The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Man in the Iron Mask. Our view of large swathes of French history have been shaped (sometimes erroneously) by his novels, and history aside they are some of the greatest adventure tales ever written. Today, let’s meet the man behind the stories.
Alexandre Dumas was born on July 24, 1802. His father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, was a general in Napoleon’s army; his grandparents were a French nobleman stationed in Haiti and a female slave of Afro-Caribbean ancestry. While his mixed-race heritage would have certainly prevented Alexandre from achieving literary fame in 1800s America, in the French Republic it proved no such obstacle.
His first play was produced in 1829, when Dumas was 27 years old; a second the following year was successful enough to allow him to write full time. Following several more successful plays, Dumas turned his energy to writing novels, the art form for which he would…
