Alexandre Dumas pere - The Count of Monte Cristo (Penguin Classics)

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

ALEXANDRE DUMAS was born in 1802 at Villers-Cotterts. 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 education. He joined the household of the future king, Louis-Philippe, and began reading voraciously. Later he entered the cnacle 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 historical background. His most successful novels are The Count of Monte Cristo, which appeared during 18445, and The Three Musketeers, published in 1844. Other novels deal with the wars of religion and the Revolution. Dumas wrote many of these for the newspapers, often in daily instalments, marshalling his formidable energies to produce ever more in order to pay off his debts. In addition, he wrote travel books, childrens stories and his Mmoires which describe most amusingly his early life, his entry into Parisian literary circles and the 1830 Revolution. He died in 1870.

ROBIN BUSS is a writer and translator who contributes regularly to The Times Educational Supplement, The Times Literary Supplement and other papers. He studied at the University of Paris, where he took a degree and a doctorate in French literature. He is part-author of the article French Literature in Encyclopaedia Britannica and has published critical studies of works by Vigny and Cocteau, and three books on European cinema, The French through Their Films (1988), Italian Films (1989) and French Film Noir (1994). He is also part-author of a biography, in French, of King Edward VII (with Jean-Pierre Navailles, published by Payot, Paris, 1999). He has translated a number of other volumes for Penguin, including Jean Paul Sartres Modern Times, Zolas LAssommoir and Au Bonheur des Dames, and Albert Camuss The Plague.

ALEXANDRE DUMAS (PRE)

Translated and with an Introduction and Notes by
ROBIN BUSS

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First published 18445
This translation first published 1996
Reissued with new Chronology and Further Reading 2003
1

Copyright Robin Buss, 1996, 2003
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The moral right of the translator has been asserted

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EISBN: 9780141901251

1802 Alexandre Dumas is born at Villers-Cotterts, the third child of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas. His father, himself the illegitimate son of a marquis and a slave girl of San Domingo, Marie-Cessette Dumas, had had a remarkable career as a general in the Republican, then in the Napoleonic Army.

1806 General Dumas dies. Alexandre and his mother, Elisabeth Labouret, are left virtually penniless.

1822 Dumas takes a post as a clerk, then in 1823 is granted a sinecure on the staff of the Duke of Orlans. He meets the actor Talma and starts to mix in artistic and literary circles, writing sketches for the popular theatre.

1824 Dumas son, Alexandre, future author of La Dame aux camlias, is born as the result of an affair with a seamstress, Catherine Lebay.

1829 Dumas historical drama, Henri III et sa cour, is produced at the Comdie-Franaise. It is an immediate success, marking Dumas out as a leading figure in the Romantic movement.

1830 Victor Hugos drama Hernani becomes the focus of the struggle between the Romantics and the traditionalists in literature. In July, the Bourbon monarchy is overthrown and replaced by a new regime under the Orlanist King Louis-Philippe. Dumas actively supports the insurrection.

1831 Dumas melodrama Antony, with its archetypal Romantic hero, triumphs at the Thtre de la Porte Saint-Martin.

1832 Dumas makes a journey to Switzerland which will form the basis of his first travel book, published the following year.

1835 Dumas travels to Naples with Ida Ferrier (whom he will later marry), has a passionate affair in Naples with Caroline Ungher and falls in love with Italy and the Mediterranean.

1836 Triumph of Dumas play Kean, based on the personality of the English actor whom Dumas had seen performing in Shakespeare in 1828.

1839 Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle. Dumas greatest success in the theatre.

1840 Dumas marries Ida Ferrier. He travels down the Rhine with Grard de Nerval and they collaborate on the drama Lo Burckart. Nerval introduces Dumas to Auguste Maquet who will become his collaborator on many of his subsequent works.

1841 Spends a year in Florence.

1844 The year of Dumas two greatest novels: The Three Musketeers starts to appear in serial form in March and the first episodes of The Count of Monte Cristo follow in August. Dumas starts to build his Chteau de Monte-Cristo at St-Germain-en-Laye. He separates from Ida Ferrier.

1845 Twenty Years After, the first sequel to The Three Musketeers, appears at the beginning of the year. In February, Dumas wins a libel action against the author of a book accusing him of plagiarism. Publishes La Reine Margot.

1846 Dumas travels in Spain and North Africa. Publishes La Dame de Monsoreau, Les Deux Diane and Joseph Balsamo.

1847 Dumas theatre, the Thtre Historique, opens. It will show several adaptations of his novels, including The Three Musketeers and La Reine Margot. Serialization of The Vicomte de Bragelonne, the final episode of the The Three Musketeers.

1848 A revolution in February deposes Louis-Philippe and brings in the Second Republic. Dumas stands unsuccessfully for Parliament and supports Louis-Napolon, nephew of Napoleon I, who becomes President of the Republic.

1849 Dumas publishes The Queens Necklace.

1850 Dumas is declared bankrupt and has to sell the Chteau de Monte-Cristo and the Thtre Historique. Publishes The Black Tulip.

1851 In December, Louis-Napolon seizes power in a coup dtat, effectively abolishing the Republic. A year later, the Second Empire will be proclaimed. Victor Hugo goes into exile in Belgium where Dumas, partly to escape his creditors, joins him.

1852 Publishes his memoirs.

1853 In November, returns to Paris and founds a newspaper,