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An excerpt on Alexandre Dumas, author of the epic novels The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo: Despite Alexandre Dumas’ success and aristocratic connections, his being of mixed race would affect him all his life. In 1843 he wrote a short novel, Georges, that addressed some of the issues of race and the effects of colonialism. He once remarked to a man who insulted him about his mixed-race background: “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.”[4][5]

• Born: 24 July 1802
• Birthplace: Villers-Cotterets, France
• Died: 5 December 1870 (natural causes)
• Best Known As: The author of The Three Musketeers

Alexandre Dumas wrote the classic adventure novel The Three Musketeers and some of the most famous and popular stories in French literature. Beginning in 1844 he had a string of brilliantly successful books, publishing The Three Musketeers (1844, first printed in serial form) and following it with The Count of Monte Cristo (1845), Twenty Years After (1845) and The Black Tulip (1850), among many others. A great celebrity writer of the day, he was almost as famous for his reckless spending and lavish lifestyle, and he was frequently in debt. In his last days he was supported by his illegitimate son, the author Alexandre Dumas the Younger.

Dumas and his son are often referred to as Dumas peré (father) and Dumas fils (son)… Alexandre Dumas was one-quarter black; his grandfather had married a slave while serving as a government official in what is now Haiti.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 2:25 am and is filed under African-American Interest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.