Did you know that there are two Alexandre Dumas in the literary world?
Alexandre Dumas Père (FATHER) (July 24, 1802 - December 5, 1870)
One of the most productive and beloved French writers of the 19th century. Although he was never considered a great man of letters, he gained great fame first with his plays and then with his historical novels.
His best-known works are Les Trois mousquetaire (1844; The Three Musketeers, 1934, 1998) and Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1845; The Count of Monte Cristo), in which he describes four daring heroes of Cardinal Richelieu's reign.
Alexandre Dumas Pere Dumas's Memoires (1852-54; Memoirs), in which he narrates the events of his extraordinary life in a colorful, candid, and sometimes not very convincing style, also sheds light on the romantic period French literary life.
Dumas' father, Thomas-Alexandre Davy de La Pailleterie, was the illegitimate child of the marquis of La Pailleterie and Marie Cessette Dumas, a Black from Santo Domingo.
While he was an ordinary soldier during the ancien régime, he took the name Dumas in 1786 and later rose to the rank of general in the Napoleonic army. Later, the financial situation of the family deteriorated, especially after the death of the marquis in 1806. Alexandre Dumas went to Paris at a young age to make a living. He dreamed of becoming a lawyer but entered the service of the future king of France, Louis-Philippe, duke of Orleans. Then he decided to try his luck at the theatre.
He became involved with the actor François-Joseph Talma and the young poets who would later lead the romantic school. Dumas' plays, which are considered vulgar, too flashy, and melodramatic according to today's understanding, attracted great attention in the late 1820s and early 1830s. In his play Henri III et sac cour (1829; Henry III and his Palace), Dumas painted a flamboyant picture of the French Renaissance.
His play Napoleon Bonaparte (1831) played a role in the legend of the deceased emperor.
In Antony (1831; Antoni or İkmail-i Namus, 1875), the concepts of adultery and honor were interpreted in accordance with the era.
While writing plays, Dumas became interested in historical novels and worked with other artists, notably Auguste Maquet. In these works, care was not generally taken to ensure that the events were in line with reason and historical facts, and the psychology of the people could not be adequately reflected.
Dumas' main concern was to create an exciting story set against a colorful historical background, often set in the 16th and 17th centuries. As Dumas gained success, he devoted himself to expensive pleasures and began to write more in less time to pay off his debts.
He also tried to earn money by working as a journalist and writing travel books, but he was unsuccessful.
Works of Alexandre Dumas
III. Henri and his Palace (1829)
Napoleon Bonaparte (1831)
The Three Musketeers (1844)
The Count of Monte Cristo (1845)
Iron Mask (1848)
Black Tulip (1850)
Memories (1852-54)
(Son) Alexandre Dumas
(27 July 1824 - 27 November 1895). French playwright and novelist.
(Son) Alexandre Dumas is one of the founders of the middle-class realistic theater known as the thesis play.
He was the illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas (Father). Although he is a productive and creative writer like his father, the works of the two are very different.
When his famous novel La Dame aux camellias (1848; The Woman with the Camellia) was staged (1852), his son Dumas realized that his main interest was theater. This play, which was also filmed, inspired Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata, first staged in 1853, and Sir Frederick Ashton's ballet Marguerite and Armand (1963; Marguerite and Armand).
Dumas took a different path from his father, who wrote historical plays and novels, and dealt with the period he lived in his plays. He covered the theme of the sanctity of family and marriage, as he witnessed forbidden loves leading to the destruction of his father.
For example, Le Demi-Monde (The Gentle Claws), staged in 1855, deals with the danger posed by prostitutes to the institution of marriage. Although today's audiences may find Dumas' plays full of phlegm and unnecessary talk, prominent critics of the late nineteenth century praised these moralistic plays.
Dumas was elected a member of the Academie Française in 1875.
His most interesting plays are Le Fils naturel (1858; The Child Out of Wedlock) and Un Pere prodigue (1859; A Prodigal Father), in which he interprets his father's personality.