Memoiren eines Arztes: Roman-Zyklus: Roman-Zyklus: Joseph Balsamo + Das Halsband der Königin + Ange Pitou + Die Gräfin von Charny

by Alexandre Dumas

Memoiren eines Arztes (Mémoires d'un médecin) ist ein Roman-Zyklus von Alexandre Dumas dem Älteren aus den Jahren 1846 bis 1853. Er besteht aus den vier Romanen Joseph Balsamo, Das Halsband der Königin, Ange Pitou und Die Gräfin von Charny. Im Mittelpunkt der Geschichte steht der einflussreiche Schwarzkünstler und Freimaurer Giuseppe Balsamo, der sich voll Tatendrang in die Wirren der beginnenden Französischen Revolution wirft, die bereit ist, eine 1200jährige verblendete Dynastie zu zerstören. Um diese Zentralfigur erzählt Dumas in einer Fülle dramatisch ineinander verwobener Schicksale den Niedergang und Fall des Ancien Régime in Frankreich in einem Zeitraum von 1769 bis 1793.

Alexandre Dumas der Ältere (1802-1870) war ein französischer Schriftsteller. Ein Markenzeichen von Dumas' Romanen sind fiktive oder pseudohistorische Protagonisten (zum Beispiel der Musketier d'Artagnan), deren Abenteuer in einen Kontext historischer Ereignisse und historischer Persönlichkeiten gestellt werden. Die bekanntesten, immer wieder aufgelegten und nicht nur von Jugendlichen gelesenen Romane sind: Die drei Musketiere, Zwanzig Jahre danach, Königin Margot, Der Graf von Monte Christo und Der Mann mit der eisernen Maske, Das Halsband der Königin.

Genres: Historical Fiction

3469 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 13, 1853

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

[Armin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vergleichende Rezi mit der längeren dt. Übersetzung folgt.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

As time has gone on, I have made Dumas one of my specialist authors to read and work through. The more I delve into Dumas, the more I am amazed on how much he has written. I was not fully aware that, like with the Three Musketeer Series he wrote other compilations such as this. He has even written around the French Monarch from the 1400’s to the 1800’s.

This is NOT for the faint hearted, a true joy to read though.