Le bâtard De Mauléon V1-3

by Alexandre Dumas

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Genres: Classics, Historical Fiction, France, Fiction

828 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1846

About the author

This 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

Reviews

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Călătorul care străbate astăzi acea parte din Bigorre[2], ce se întinde între izvoarele râurilor Gers şi Adour, regiune care s-a numit mai apoi departamentul Pirineilor de Sus, dacă vrea să meargă de la Tournai la Tarbes, are de ales între două drumuri: unul construit de curând şi care taie câmpia, îl va conduce în două ore în fosta capitală a conţilor de Bigorre; celălalt, care ţine muntele şi este un vechi drum roman, îi va oferi un itinerar de nouă leghe. Dar în acelaşi timp, acest adaos de drum şi de osteneală va fi din belşug răsplătit de încântătorul ţinut pe care-l va străbate şi de priveliştea acelor măreţe prim planuri al căror nume este Bagneres Montgaillard Lourdes, precum şi de zarea aceea ca un zid de sineală făurită de întregul lanţ al Pirineilor, din mijlocul cărora se înalţă, alb de zăpadă, zveltul Pic-du-Midi. Este drumul artiştilor, al poeţilor şi amatorilor de antichităţi. Asupra lui îl vom ruga pe cititor să-şi îndrepte privirile împreună cu noi.

În primele zile ale lunii martie 1388, pe la începutul domniei regelui Carol al VI-lea, atunci când toate castelele feudale, astăzi năruite, îşi înălţau vârful turnurilor dincolo de coroana celor mai înalţi stejari şi a pinilor celor mai semeţi. ― când acei bărbaţi cu armuri de fier şi cu inimi de bronz, care se numeau Olivier de Clisson, Bertrand Duguesclin, Captal de Buch, abia coborâseră în mormintele lor homerice, după ce începuseră marea Iliadă al cărei deznodământ se datorează unei păstoriţe[3], doi bărbaţi călăreau pe drumul îngust şi desfundat, pe atunci singura cale de legătură între oraşele mai însemnate din sud.

Erau urmaţi de doi valeţi, de asemenea călări.

Cei doi stăpâni păreau să aibă aproape aceeaşi vârstă, adică între 55 şi 58 de ani. Dar aici se oprea comparaţia; căci marea deosebire dintre veşmintele lor arăta că aveau îndeletniciri diferite.

[Rudy Liskop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book very few current writers are able to recreate the ambiance and feel of historical times as well as Dumas. Bertrand DuGuesclin and his wife Tiphaine Raguenel whom I have been a fan of since first coming across them in Froissart's Chronicles feature well in this set of volumes. The knights when interacting are given to charming repartee that is worth reading aloud.