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La rosa rossa
Blanche, eroina romantica, protagonista del racconto, ha un modello reale: Angélique Desmesliers, una ragazza vandeana di diciotto anni, salvata dal generale Marceau e diventata personaggio leggendario. Alexandre Dumas trae spunto da questa vicenda per raccontare una struggente storia d'amore.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1831
19 people want to read
About the author
Alexandre Dumas
6,980 books12.4k followersThis note regards Alexandre Dumas, père, the father of Alexandre Dumas, fils (son). For the son, see Alexandre Dumas fils.
Alexandre Dumas père, born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a towering figure of 19th-century French literature whose historical novels and adventure tales earned global renown. Best known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other swashbuckling epics, Dumas crafted stories filled with daring heroes, dramatic twists, and vivid historical backdrops. His works, often serialized and immensely popular with the public, helped shape the modern adventure genre and remain enduring staples of world literature.
Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a celebrated general in Revolutionary France and the highest-ranking man of African descent in a European army at the time. His father’s early death left the family in poverty, but Dumas’s upbringing was nonetheless marked by strong personal ambition and a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. He moved to Paris as a young man and began his literary career writing for the theatre, quickly rising to prominence in the Romantic movement with successful plays like Henri III et sa cour and Antony.
In the 1840s, Dumas turned increasingly toward prose fiction, particularly serialized novels, which reached vast audiences through French newspapers. His collaboration with Auguste Maquet, a skilled plotter and historian, proved fruitful. While Maquet drafted outlines and conducted research, Dumas infused the narratives with flair, dialogue, and color. The result was a string of literary triumphs, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both published in 1844. These novels exemplified Dumas’s flair for suspenseful pacing, memorable characters, and grand themes of justice, loyalty, and revenge.
The D’Artagnan Romances—The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne—cemented his fame. They follow the adventures of the titular Gascon hero and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, blending historical fact and fiction into richly imagined narratives. The Count of Monte Cristo offered a darker, more introspective tale of betrayal and retribution, with intricate plotting and a deeply philosophical core.
Dumas was also active in journalism and theater. He founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris, which staged dramatizations of his own novels. A prolific and energetic writer, he is estimated to have written or co-written over 100,000 pages of fiction, plays, memoirs, travel books, and essays. He also had a strong interest in food and published a massive culinary encyclopedia, Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine, filled with recipes, anecdotes, and reflections on gastronomy.
Despite his enormous success, Dumas was frequently plagued by financial troubles. He led a lavish lifestyle, building the ornate Château de Monte-Cristo near Paris, employing large staffs, and supporting many friends and relatives. His generosity and appetite for life often outpaced his income, leading to mounting debts. Still, his creative drive rarely waned.
Dumas’s mixed-race background was a source of both pride and tension in his life. He was outspoken about his heritage and used his platform to address race and injustice. In his novel Georges, he explored issues of colonialism and identity through a Creole protagonist. Though he encountered racism, he refused to be silenced, famously replying to a racial insult by pointing to his ancestry and achievements with dignity and wit.
Later in life, Dumas continued writing and traveling, spending time in Belgium, Italy, and Russia. He supported nationalist causes, particularly Italian unification, and even founded a newspaper to advocate for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though his popularity waned somewhat in his final years, his literary legacy grew steadily. He wrote in a style that was accessible, entertaining, and emotionally reso
Alexandre Dumas père, born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a towering figure of 19th-century French literature whose historical novels and adventure tales earned global renown. Best known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other swashbuckling epics, Dumas crafted stories filled with daring heroes, dramatic twists, and vivid historical backdrops. His works, often serialized and immensely popular with the public, helped shape the modern adventure genre and remain enduring staples of world literature.
Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a celebrated general in Revolutionary France and the highest-ranking man of African descent in a European army at the time. His father’s early death left the family in poverty, but Dumas’s upbringing was nonetheless marked by strong personal ambition and a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. He moved to Paris as a young man and began his literary career writing for the theatre, quickly rising to prominence in the Romantic movement with successful plays like Henri III et sa cour and Antony.
In the 1840s, Dumas turned increasingly toward prose fiction, particularly serialized novels, which reached vast audiences through French newspapers. His collaboration with Auguste Maquet, a skilled plotter and historian, proved fruitful. While Maquet drafted outlines and conducted research, Dumas infused the narratives with flair, dialogue, and color. The result was a string of literary triumphs, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both published in 1844. These novels exemplified Dumas’s flair for suspenseful pacing, memorable characters, and grand themes of justice, loyalty, and revenge.
The D’Artagnan Romances—The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne—cemented his fame. They follow the adventures of the titular Gascon hero and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, blending historical fact and fiction into richly imagined narratives. The Count of Monte Cristo offered a darker, more introspective tale of betrayal and retribution, with intricate plotting and a deeply philosophical core.
Dumas was also active in journalism and theater. He founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris, which staged dramatizations of his own novels. A prolific and energetic writer, he is estimated to have written or co-written over 100,000 pages of fiction, plays, memoirs, travel books, and essays. He also had a strong interest in food and published a massive culinary encyclopedia, Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine, filled with recipes, anecdotes, and reflections on gastronomy.
Despite his enormous success, Dumas was frequently plagued by financial troubles. He led a lavish lifestyle, building the ornate Château de Monte-Cristo near Paris, employing large staffs, and supporting many friends and relatives. His generosity and appetite for life often outpaced his income, leading to mounting debts. Still, his creative drive rarely waned.
Dumas’s mixed-race background was a source of both pride and tension in his life. He was outspoken about his heritage and used his platform to address race and injustice. In his novel Georges, he explored issues of colonialism and identity through a Creole protagonist. Though he encountered racism, he refused to be silenced, famously replying to a racial insult by pointing to his ancestry and achievements with dignity and wit.
Later in life, Dumas continued writing and traveling, spending time in Belgium, Italy, and Russia. He supported nationalist causes, particularly Italian unification, and even founded a newspaper to advocate for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though his popularity waned somewhat in his final years, his literary legacy grew steadily. He wrote in a style that was accessible, entertaining, and emotionally reso
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 16, 2024
Un’opera breve di inizio carriera (1831) del grande scrittore francese [1802-1870] che narra una romantica storia d’amore nel pieno della rivolta Vandeana al tempo di Danton, Robespierre e Saint-Just, quando la ghigliottina non faceva sconti a nessuno e il Terrore imperava sulla Francia rivoluzionaria. Ripensando ai grandi romanzi scritti da Alexandre Dumas nel pieno della sua carriera, questo romanzo breve mostra ancora una certa timidezza nello stile e nello svolgimento del racconto ma è già matura l’abilità dei dialoghi nel contrapporsi alle pagine descrittive e introspettive.
November 20, 2019
La Rose Rouge (1826)
Ho trovato più interessanti il contesto dell'insurrezione della Vandea e i piccoli scorci su Dumas nonno e sulla decadenza di Robespierre, piuttosto che la storia d'amore centrale tra la svenevole vandeana Blanche de Beaulieu e il generale repubblicano Marceau. Troppo breve per essere ben sviluppato.
"Ci si domanda da dove scaturisca questa forza che una volontà potente impone a ottantamila individui. E quando uno solo dice: << Io voglio >>, come mai tutti non si alzino per dire: << Va bene,... ma non vogliamo noi! >>? E' così radicata l'abitudine al servilismo nell'anima delle masse, che solo alcuni individui hanno talvolta l'ardente desiderio di essere liberi." pag. 37
Ho trovato più interessanti il contesto dell'insurrezione della Vandea e i piccoli scorci su Dumas nonno e sulla decadenza di Robespierre, piuttosto che la storia d'amore centrale tra la svenevole vandeana Blanche de Beaulieu e il generale repubblicano Marceau. Troppo breve per essere ben sviluppato.
"Ci si domanda da dove scaturisca questa forza che una volontà potente impone a ottantamila individui. E quando uno solo dice: << Io voglio >>, come mai tutti non si alzino per dire: << Va bene,... ma non vogliamo noi! >>? E' così radicata l'abitudine al servilismo nell'anima delle masse, che solo alcuni individui hanno talvolta l'ardente desiderio di essere liberi." pag. 37
May 27, 2022
Bello, veloce e triste.
January 27, 2024
Adorabile racconto breve di guerra e d'amore. Gradevolissimo.
August 27, 2024
Questo piccolo racconto, appena 80 pagine, narra una breve ma intensa (molto intensa, anche troppo forse) storia d’amore tra il generale repubblicano Marceau e la giovane Blanche nel pieno delle rivolte che hanno segnato la Francia negli anni della rivoluzione. Troviamo Robespierre e il caro generale Alexandre Dumas (padre del nostro beniamino) che purtroppo è più che altro un personaggio marginale, ma è stata comunque una bella sorpresa averlo in queste pagine.
Ovviamente va valutato nella sua brevità, soprattutto confrontandolo con opere immense di Dumas, ma è stata una lettura estremamente piacevole in cui troviamo i temi cari all'autore: l’amore, la guerra, l’amicizia, la lotta, gli intrighi politici.
Le ultime due pagine mi hanno fatto rimanere col fiato sospeso, pur immaginando da sola l’epilogo, quindi come sempre Dumas è riuscito nel suo intento, anche in un libricino così piccolo.
Ovviamente va valutato nella sua brevità, soprattutto confrontandolo con opere immense di Dumas, ma è stata una lettura estremamente piacevole in cui troviamo i temi cari all'autore: l’amore, la guerra, l’amicizia, la lotta, gli intrighi politici.
Le ultime due pagine mi hanno fatto rimanere col fiato sospeso, pur immaginando da sola l’epilogo, quindi come sempre Dumas è riuscito nel suo intento, anche in un libricino così piccolo.
May 27, 2012
«Oh perdonatemi», le disse «perdonatemi Blanche; ma sono infelice e l'infelicità rende diffidenti. Sempre vicino a voi la mia vita sembrava mescolata alla vostra; come separare le mie ore dalle vostre, i miei giorni dai vostri? Avevo dimenticato tutto; credevo all'eternità.»
- Marceau
- Marceau
December 29, 2023
la fin est étonnante
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews