When Pierrot Was Young

by Alexandre Dumas, Peter Farmer

An account of Pierrot's adventures in the court of Bohemia before he took to entertaining children.

Genres: France

Hardcover

First published April 1, 1985

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

[Mariangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un bonito cuento de hadas con Pierrot como protagonista desde su nacimiento hasta el momento en que se convierte en actor de pantomima. Durante este tiempo está al servicio del rey, al que salva del ataque de su enemigo el príncipe Azor y de los planes traicioneros de su ministro Renaldino. Y aunque está enamorado de la princesa Flor de Almendro, ella quiere a otro, como será luego el sino de Pierrot. Los títulos de los capítulos están sacados de la canción "Au clair de la lune", cuyo significado se descubre durante el libro.

English: A good fairy tale whose main character is Pierrot, from birth till he becomes a pantomime actor. During his youth he is serving the king, saving him from an attack of his enemy Prince Azor, and from the treacherous plots of his minister Renaldino. Pierrot loves the Princess, but she loves another, as will be Pierrot ‘s lot in his future comedy work. The chapter titles are taken from the song Au clair de la lune and well blended in the story.

[Nicholas Martens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jaunty pint-sized adventure, which, thanks to an inspired quirk of Dumas' imagination, exists in the extended Musketeer-verse. Unfortunately, Oxford University Press bungled their delivery of this aspect of a forgotten treasure. Here's a translation of Dumas' own introduction, as it appeared in a 1924 edition by Frederick Warne and Co.:

My Dear Children,

If your parents say they must read this book, tell them that it as been written for you, and not for them. If you want to know (for little children always "want to know") who wrote the story, let me tell you that the author is one Aramis. If you want to know the history of Aramis's life, I must answer, you are too young to read it yet. If, lastly, you wish to know for whom he wrote the story, I can tell you: it was told to the children of a lady named Madame de Longeville, during a time of trouble ( such as God preserve us from nowadays!) known as "the Fronde."

Now, dear children, may Aramis amuse you as much when he writes as he amused your fathers and mothers when he plotted, made love, and fought, in company with his three comrades Athos, Porthos, and D'Artagnan.

Compare that with Oxford's soulless account, told in third-person, about how Dumas invented this little conceit, thereby destroying his charming little illusion:

When you are older I am sure that you will read Alexandre' Dumas' famous book The Three Musketeers. One of the musketeers was named Aramis. When Dumas wrote the story you are reading now, he said, tongue in cheek, that Aramis was the author and that he had related it to the children of the beautiful Duchesse de Longueville for their amusement.

Peter Farmer's imaginative illustrations are for the most part attractive and engaging, but occasionally overly crude or dated-looking. The clown character Pierrot was apparently well-known to French audiences, and while certainly much less so to contemporary American audiences, will likely appear familiar. Even so, readers need not have ever heard of him in order to enjoy this children's story.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alexandre Dumas takes a stab at children's literature and it is fantastic! Beautiful illustrations as well.