Interesting Facts About French Writer Alexandre Dumas

French writer Alexandre Dumas is being celebrated in a Google Doodle on August 28, 2020. To commemorate the anniversary of the publication of the first installment of The Count of Monte Cristo (Le Comte de Monte Cristo), Google will incorporate a visual representation of the novel’s story within the animated slideshow Doodle artwork.

Here’s a look at the life and work of French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas.

Personal

• Birth name: Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie
• Birthdate: 24 July 1802
• Birthplace: Villers-Cotterêts, Aisne, First French Republic, France
• Died on: 5 December 1870 (aged 68)
• Death place: Puys (near Dieppe), Seine-Maritime, French Third Republic, France
• Father name: Thomas-Alexandre Dumas
• Mother name: Marie-Louise Élisabeth Labouret
• Son: Alexandre Dumas fils
• Nationality: French
• Sun Sign: Leo
• Known for: Novelist, playwright, writer
• Notable works:
  • The Three Musketeers (1844)
  • The Count of Monte Cristo (1844–1845)

Read More: Alexandre Dumas: Google celebrates French writer with Doodle slideshow

30 Interesting Facts about Alexandre Dumas

1. Alexandre Dumas was born as Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie to Marie-Louise and Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a French Army General who served in the French Revolutionary Wars. He had one sister.

2. Alexandre Dumas was a praised 19th-century French writer, esteemed one of the most popularly read French writers to date.

3. The Dumas family name was received from Alexandre’s grandma, an oppressed Haitian woman named Marie-Césette Dumas.

4. His dad died of cancer when Alexandre was just four years of age, and his mom couldn’t afford to send him to an elite school for education. In any case, the kid was an insatiable reader who read whatever books were accessible to him.

5. His first job was with the Duke of Orleans, which he acquired through his dad’s connections. Alexandre Dumas worked as a secretary and kept writing plays. A Few of these political writings brought about him being sent into exile, and he later used his travel experiences in his writing.

6. Alexandre Dumas had an extraordinary feeling of a creative mind which was further fuelled by the narratives his mom told his dad’s bravery during the French Wars.

7. He was named at the Palais Royal in the office of Loius-Philippe in 1822 owing to his late dad’s recognized notoriety. During this time he additionally started composing articles and plays.

8. In the wake of moving to Paris, Alexandre Dumas composed his first play, Henry III and His Courts, which got a lot of recognition upon its opening. Early in his career, he likewise teamed up with literary companions on a multi-volume collection of genuine crime-themed essays.

9. His first play ‘Henry III and His Courts’ was created in 1829. The play was a triumph as was his next play ‘Christine’, produced the next year.

10. The commercial achievement of his plays motivated him to investigate other composing types. During the 1830s, newspaper serials were picking up in fame and he rewrote one of his plays as a serial novel – ‘Captain Pamphile’ in 1838.

11. Alexandre Dumas teamed up with some of his companions in 1839 to arrange ‘Celebrated Crimes’, a collection of articles on popular crimes and criminals from European history which was published in eight volumes. The last of these volumes was out in 1841.

12. In 1840, he published the novel ‘The Fencing Master’ with the assistance of his fencing master Augustin Grisier. The novel was restricted in Russia because of its reference to the Decembrist revolt.

13. Alexandre Dumas frequently teamed up with different authors while working on his novels. The most acclaimed of his teammates was the playwright Auguste Maquet with whom he composed the exceptionally well known Les Trois Mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers ) (1844, first printed in serial form).

14. His most popular work, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (The Count of Monte Cristo ) was finished in 1844. The story covers the historical events that occurred in Europe during the timespan of 1815-1838. It was a historical bit of work that manages the themes of equity, expectation, mercy, and forgiveness.

15. Two sequels of ‘The Three Musketeers’ were published: ‘Twenty Years After’ in 1845 and ‘Ten Years Later’ which was serialized from 1847 to 1850.

16. Alexandre Dumas was a prolific writer and playwright. Other work incorporated The Mohicans of Paris (1854), The She-Wolves of Machecoul (1959), and Le Sanfelice (1864).

17. Dumas was deeply in debt and spent his last years writing to maintain his finances in order.

18. Alexandre Dumas became very popular as an author and earned colossal fortune. Nonetheless, he carried on with a luxurious lifestyle and often got himself bankrupt.

19. He was a generally traveled man who had visited various places like Spain, England, the Netherlands, Germany, and North Africa. He composed of his experiences in his travel journals, the most well known of which were ‘A Year in Florence’ (1841), ‘From Paris to Cadiz’ (1847), and ‘Travel Impressions: In Russia’ (1860).

20. His most renowned work is ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, an adventure novel that unfolds in the nineteenth century and spreads the historical events that occurred in France, Italy, and the Mediterranean Islands. The book is viewed as a literary classic.

21. ‘The Three Musketeers’ is another of his very popular works that revolve around the experiences of a youngster named D’Artagnan and his three companions. The story has been adapted into a few plays, films, TV series, and videogames.

22. Alexandre Dumas wedded the actress Ida Ferrier in 1840.

23. This celebrated author was notable for his romantic liaisons with a few other women which resulted in the birth of at least four illegitimate children.

24. His well-known child, Alexandre Dumas, fils became a popular French playwright and writer whose melodrama, Camille, was especially famous in its day.

25. Despite being a highly successful writer who earned great cash during his peak, Dumas wasted away all his wealth on a lavish lifestyle. He died in near poverty and obscurity 0n 5 December 1870 at the age of 68.

26. The Dumas Society was formed in 1971.

27. This renowned writer was of mixed lineage; his grandma was a black slave woman.

28. Alexandre Dumas was famous for his womanizing ways and was known to have around 40 mistresses.

29. His different works incorporate the Sainte-Hermine Trilogy and a series of romantic novels about Marie Antoinette.

30. On August 28, 2020. Google honors Alexandre Dumas with animated slideshow Doodle.