Alexandre Dumas, père - The Three Muskateers

Did you know that French writers have been awarded more Nobel Prizes in Literature than any other country? Ha, me neither! Just goes to show, you learn something every day, nest ce pas?

Today, let's talk about Alexandre Dumas, père, French author extraordinaire (1802 - 1870).

Best known for The Three Muskateers, Twenty Years After, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne (The Man In The Iron Mask), he also wrote plays, articles and specialized in serial stories. 

He was born of a French nobleman and an Afro-Caribbean Creole mother. Being of a mixed race affected him all his life. He is famous for retorting the following after being insulted:

"My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a Negro, and my great-grandfather a monkey. You see, Sir, my family starts where yours ends."

He lived and wrote at the same time as another favorite author of mine, George Sand (see my blog), also born of a noble father and poor mother. Theirs was a time of turbulent change in France with the political flip flopping that went on between royalists and republicans. Rich fodder for imaginative minds it seems as France spawned a plethora of brilliant writers during the 19th century.

Dumas' works have inspired more than 200 films. My all time favorite being the 1973 version The Three Muskateers: The Queen's Diamonds starring: Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York (a fabulous D'Artagnan!), Christopher Lee, Gerladine Chaplin, Faye Dunaway, Charlton Heston, and Jean-Pierre Cassel (yes, Vincent Cassel's father ). Talk about an all star cast!

They went on to make two more: The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge and The Return of the Muskateers (with, believe it or not, Kim Cattrall) My family's absolute favorite movie collection to drag out and watch with a piping hot bowl of popcorn.

Alexandre Dumas built the famous Château de Monte-Cristo for himself, not far from Paris in Port-Marly, France it was designed by the French architect Hippolyte Durand.

Bien sur, he added a little writing château for himself out back, which he dubbed the Château d'If. 

(Um, I could write there.)

Named after the real Château D'If, which was the inspiration for the château in his book The Count of Monte Cristo.

Dumas made a lot of money and spent it lavishly on women and drink; he was always broke. He lost his Château de Monte-Cristo to creditors, and today it is a museum in his honor. 

Voila! Gros bisous de swashbuckling literature et a demain.

Love, Charley