Black

by Alexandre Dumas

A novel that may well rank among the author's best. Dumas has here displayed human sympathy, and has given us a hero not unworthy of the creator of the immortal "Musketeers."

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1858

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

[Nia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is well worth the read (or the listen), and has an excellent ending, which I highly recommend: adding more to the review when I post it on my blog...)

Mes commentaires pendant que j'ai lu ce livre:

"...et comme tous les esprits
paresseux, au lieu de dominer la scène et de rêver
à sa volonté ... il fut bientôt
absorbé par elle et tomba dans cet affaiblissement
intellectuel pendant lequel la pensée semble
quitter le cerveau...d’accrocher un de ses rêves au passage et
de s’y arrêter, finit par produire une ivresse qui
rappelle de loin celle des fumeurs d’opium et des
mangeurs de hachich !"

Wow!!"
December 26, 2022 –
10.0% "chap. 4: "et, Dieu merci ! les monstres sont rares."

mais, ton bon dieu vous a menti, cars les monstres, ils sont pas rares du tout. Ils sont numbreux, et trés.

chap. 6 (end of ch. 5 ) :

again with jealousy around inheritance and older vs. younger brothers!!"
December 26, 2022 –
24.0% "pauvre cadet..."
December 26, 2022 –
25.0% "On vas avoir des problèmes..."
December 27, 2022 –
35.0% "Où il est démontré que les voyages forment la jeunesse
/
where it is show that traveling trains the young"
December 27, 2022 –
38.0% "Toutes les gens, filles inclus, doivent apprendre nager !
Everyone should learn to swim, girls included!"
December 27, 2022 –
39.0% "#Suspense "Murmura-l-il le nom de Mathilde ?
Nous n’étions pas là pour l’entendre, et nous n’en répondrions pas."

Ahh ! Je doives savoir !!

Aha, voila la conection: "me confier
la peau du premier chien venu, dans laquelle,
n’importe où je serai, je briserai ma chaîne pour
t’aller rejoindre.""
December 28, 2022 –
49.0% ""Comme tous les esprits faibles, il aimait mieux rester dans le doute que d’avoir à prendre un parti.

[Ysza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roman méconnu d'Alexandre Dumas, on y retrouve son talent de feuilletoniste, et son écriture superbe ! A découvrir !

[Elise Hinsinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roman très peu connu et pourtant l’un des plus original de dumas ! Une écriture comique et des rebondissements inattendus