Title: The Ledged and Legacy of Alexander Dumas
I. Introduction:
Q: How many of you have ever heard the motto “All for one and one for All”?
Q: Do you recognize the names Athos, Aramis, Porthos and D’Artagnan?
Q: Have any of you read 3 musketeers or the man in the iron mask ? [set books on table as you name them]
I assume the rest of you who put your hands down have seen one of several movie versions from
1. Douglas Fairbanks,
2. Michael York
3. Chris O’Donnell
4. Gabriel Byrne
but these are just a few of more than 300 film versions. [present other DVD’s]
I myself was first introduced to the musketeers in cartoon form in the early 80’s and was also a fond admirer of the short lived series ‘youngblades’.
B.
Background Info: Davy de la Pailleterie is Alexander Dumas [Present biographies & memoir]
Tell importance of Dumas name, it was a Nom de Guerre
-Marquis A. Antony Davy De la Pailleterie was living under the name Antony Delisle when he was living on the isle of dominica and got involved with Marie-Cessette Dumas, they had 5? children together. Thomas was the only one his father took with him back to france.
Even so the marquis didn't want tomas to embarass the family name when he went into the service. he knew the trouble young soldiers could get themselves into. so Tomas took his mothers maiden name instead.
- Thomas Alexander de la Pailleterie, was listed in the ranks of the Queens Artillery as ‘A. Dumas’ he was a spectular help to napoleon but they had a falling out when it became clear the future emperor was fighting for his own ends and not the crown and napoleon ruined him.
- Grandson Alexander, risked napoleons wrath, to keep Dumas name in memory of his father. Rather than be listed as Pailleterie (which was his legal name) when he went off to school.
[Present: His most popular works} Three Musketeers, Man in the Iron Mask & the Count of Monte Cristo. (Tell main characters using pseudonyms)
- Armand de Sillegue d'Athos d'Auteville
- Henri d'Aramitz
- Isaac de Portau
- Charles de Batz, Castelmore D'Artagnan
- Edmond Dantes/Count of Monte Cristo
C. Central Idea:
According to BBC.co.uk Dumas is easily considered “one of the most widely read French authors in the world.” His works have been translated into almost a hundred languages…Now of you walk into any bookstore or library and you will find Dumas among the literary greats… His works are classics, but for but for 180 years that was far from a given. Finally in 2002 he officially received the recognition he disserves.
His remains were removed from obscurity and placed alongside other great writers statesmen and visionaries in the Paris Pantheon.
II. Body:
A. Why did so long for Dumas? 1. (Quote BBC Thomas) “Dumas' swashbuckling historical novels were shunned by academics for lacking depth… His enthusiasm and love of fantasy went against the literary trends of his time, as did his apparent disregard for accurate historical fact - another reason why academia brushed him off. ”
Oxford Edition of 3 musketeers confirms: The queen was not feeling at all well—Footnote: “I should say not she’s been dead several years”
2.
Suspect Prolific writers, 250+ [historical novels, plays, memoirs, travelogues and even recipes.] [Contemporary Critic:] ‘No one has ever real All of Dumas’s works…not even himself.’ (Biography)
Were his works even original? Dumas is on record as checking out "Memoirs of M’ D’Artagnan" by Gatien Courtliz. from the Marsalis library and never returned it.
Dumas biographer Claude Schopp said "All literature is very often elitist,". --Dumas Didn’t fit the profile of an academic—
jealousy/racism, All his life Dumas had Bad blood with Balzac.’ (who hurles Racial epithets everytime dumas was mentioned)
Trans: (Quote: BBC Thomas) “His (worst) literary crime was
that his novels were just too popular…too accessible,”
B. (Quote: Biography Schopp,). “Critics suspected Dumas was a very bad writer because he had too many readers! If he was a very bad writer, it is sure that today nobody would read him." He would have been forgotten (de-composing composers)
1)
Popularity: Dumas’s first musketeer stories were serialized in a news letter which explains why there is more to the story than most people realize [present other musketeer books]
2) ‘
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ Paul Feval fils, Adventures of d’Artagnan and Cyrano de Bergerac. [Present Feval books] Modern internet *Fan-fiction* (173 stories +6) ? Copyright issues?
Trans: Dumas was somewhat less than flattered. The way to keep Characters to ones self: (Oxford edition footnote): His son recounts his father collapsed in tears when he wrote of the death of Porthos in Man in the iron mask…If he did not kill off his main characters other writers would continue to use them.)
C.
If you think about it: It is no surprise Dumas was protective of his characters.
-
-Strong military history: a solid grasp on the realities of military life.
--Grandfather the Marquis/ nobility of Athos,
--Aramis/ the conflict between priest hood vs military life,
--Physical prowess of Porthos/ Parallel Dumas father.
--he left a small town for the alure of the big city just as d'artagnan did.
--His father’s imprisonment in Naples / the Count of Monte Cristo.
--Dumas himself Gained and lost fortunes spent time in jail for debt. / Edmund Dantes
--The strain consistent in all his writing, as in his life: Romance.
Trans: It is true Alexandre Dumas was not formerly trained in history or literature but he incorporated what he knew… poured his heart and soul into his writing and readers responded. They still respond today.
III. Closing:
Times have changed and Dumas’ appeal is still going strong:
Spring 2002 BBC journalists were amid a teeming throng of people watching as Republican Guards costumed as the Musketeers bore a white oak coffin—covered with blue coverlet decorated with the familiar musketeer motto “All for one”—solemnly through the streets of Paris. French President Jacques Chirac adopted the decision to transfer Dumas’ remains from his home town Villers-Cotterêts Paris Pantheon. All Paris watched as, on the occasion of Alexandre Dumas' 200th birthday, he finally received the recognition he disserved, having his body was moved from its place in obscurity and interred alongside Victor Hugo, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire and others deemed the greatest writers and luminaries of France. (Summary of events recorded in both articles BBC)
Biography Quote:
In a letter Victor Hugo wrote to Dumas’ son “During this century there was no more popular figure than Alexander Dumas: his successors are better than successes, they are triumphs: they resound like fanfare. The name of Alexander Dumas is more than French, it is European: it is more than European it is universal...Dumas is one of those men who can be called the sowers of civilization. He fertilizes the soul, the mind, the intelligence: he creates a thirst for reading: he penetrates the human genius and sows seeds in it. (Schoop p. 490)
Dumas’s works exemplified ideals: honor, faithfulness, and friendship
President Chirac described Dumas as one of France's most creative geniuses, when Chirac gave the eulogy at the re-interment he said Quote: "With you, it is childhood, hours of reading relished in secret, emotion, passion, adventure and panache that enter the Pantheon. With you we dreamed. With you we still dream," (BBC, Jones)
And THAT my friends is the true legacy left to us by Alexander Dumas,
All for one and one for all!
I believe they would say the opposite these days.
