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Ange Pitou
Suite du cycle «Les mémoires d'un médecin». Gilbert, l'élève de Jean-Jacques Rousseau et l'ami de Balsamo, que l'on croyait mort (voir «Joseph Balsamo») revient en France après un séjour en Amérique où il a mis au service de la liberté ses talents de philosophe et de médecin. À peine arrivé au Havre,il se fait arrêter alors que dans le même temps, on vole un coffret lui appartenant et qu'il avait confié au fermier Billot de Villers-Cotterêts. Celui-ci part alors pour Paris afin de le prévenir de ce vol. Il est accompagné d'Ange Pitou, un jeune garçon de dix-huit ans, amoureux de Catherine, la fille du fermier, qui elle-même aime Isidore de Charny, un jeune noble. Ils arrivent à Paris le 13 juillet 1789 dans un climat troublé, et apprennent par Sébastien, le fils du docteur, que Gilbert est emprisonné à la Bastille. N'écoutant alors que son coeur, Billot fait preuve d'ingéniosité et de bravoure et, suivi d'Ange Pitou, aidé du peuple de Paris, il réussit l' prendre la Bastille et libérer le docteur Gilbert....
390 pages, Paperback
Published February 28, 2007
5 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Alexandre Dumas
6,977 books12.3k 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 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 23, 2017
3 – 3.5 stars
We continue where Dumas left us at the end of volume 1 of _Ange Pitou_. The first ¾ of the book are taken up with the main action of the burgeoning Revolution in Paris. True to character Marie Antoinette’s pride and disdain increase as her scope for power and domination decrease; the King continues to vacillate, wanting to please everyone and ultimately pleasing no one; Gilbert seems to be an ally to both sides as he attempts to steer the monarchy through the troubled political waters that threaten to engulf them on the one hand, and on the other tries to promote the ideas of fraternity, equality, and liberty that are the ostensible aims of the Revolution; Father Billot continues to take part in momentous events in the city while it slowly dawns on him that the early ideals of political change are not adhered to by all and his horror at the events he witnesses enacted in the name of liberty grows. The final ¼ of the book follows our boorish, though well-meaning, hero Ange Pitou as he travels back to Villers-Cotterêts with Gilbert’s son Sebastien in tow for safe-keeping.
Ok pet peeve number 1: Despite it being the lynch-pin of the cliffhanger ending of the last volume Dumas does not, anywhere in volume 2, disclose the secret of Gilbert’s casket which was so central a MacGuffin to the plot of volume 1. I think I know what it contains, but damn, c’mon Alexandre…it better be in the next book in the series! Pet peeve number 2: not enough Gilbert and mesmerism…don’t set the dude up as the second coming of Cagliostro and then give him a desk job! Aside from that this was a satisfying “conclusion” to the story of the taking of the Bastille and the birth of the French Revolution (or at least as satisfying as any story with a blatant cliff-hanger ending can be). The first part of the book allows Dumas to paint his picture of the Revolution and its principle movers and shakers (with a few of his own invention) in broad, colourful strokes and I enjoyed it. The second part shows Dumas in melodrama mode as poor Ange Pitou finds himself unlucky in love and the entanglements of romance become bound up in the political agitation of the day. He also manages to set himself up as something of a local revolutionary hero and military leader in his attempt to both impress the lady of his heart’s desire and to elevate himself from the role of country bumpkin.
Al in all a fun read and good continuation of the series, though I have discovered, with some chagrin, that most of the English translations of the next volume in the series, _The Countess de Charny_, are heavily abridged. Maybe it’s finally time to try and read some Dumas in French.
We continue where Dumas left us at the end of volume 1 of _Ange Pitou_. The first ¾ of the book are taken up with the main action of the burgeoning Revolution in Paris. True to character Marie Antoinette’s pride and disdain increase as her scope for power and domination decrease; the King continues to vacillate, wanting to please everyone and ultimately pleasing no one; Gilbert seems to be an ally to both sides as he attempts to steer the monarchy through the troubled political waters that threaten to engulf them on the one hand, and on the other tries to promote the ideas of fraternity, equality, and liberty that are the ostensible aims of the Revolution; Father Billot continues to take part in momentous events in the city while it slowly dawns on him that the early ideals of political change are not adhered to by all and his horror at the events he witnesses enacted in the name of liberty grows. The final ¼ of the book follows our boorish, though well-meaning, hero Ange Pitou as he travels back to Villers-Cotterêts with Gilbert’s son Sebastien in tow for safe-keeping.
Ok pet peeve number 1: Despite it being the lynch-pin of the cliffhanger ending of the last volume Dumas does not, anywhere in volume 2, disclose the secret of Gilbert’s casket which was so central a MacGuffin to the plot of volume 1. I think I know what it contains, but damn, c’mon Alexandre…it better be in the next book in the series! Pet peeve number 2: not enough Gilbert and mesmerism…don’t set the dude up as the second coming of Cagliostro and then give him a desk job! Aside from that this was a satisfying “conclusion” to the story of the taking of the Bastille and the birth of the French Revolution (or at least as satisfying as any story with a blatant cliff-hanger ending can be). The first part of the book allows Dumas to paint his picture of the Revolution and its principle movers and shakers (with a few of his own invention) in broad, colourful strokes and I enjoyed it. The second part shows Dumas in melodrama mode as poor Ange Pitou finds himself unlucky in love and the entanglements of romance become bound up in the political agitation of the day. He also manages to set himself up as something of a local revolutionary hero and military leader in his attempt to both impress the lady of his heart’s desire and to elevate himself from the role of country bumpkin.
Al in all a fun read and good continuation of the series, though I have discovered, with some chagrin, that most of the English translations of the next volume in the series, _The Countess de Charny_, are heavily abridged. Maybe it’s finally time to try and read some Dumas in French.
March 26, 2020
Slightly spoilerish below:
Consider this a review of both volumes of Ange Pitou. This sweeping novel of the early stages of the French Revolution show the people's actions in all their multifaceted, complex, troubling, and heroic legacy, from the glorious and just (e.g. the storming of the Bastille; noble Lafayette; Monsieur Bailly), to the depraved and inhumane (the assassinations of de Launay, Flesselles, Berthier, etc.). Dumas provides real insight into the people and history of the time, at the same time that he builds a fictionalized world in which he crafts a truly compelling narrative that builds on his earlier Antoinette romances.
I had read a bowdlerized version of Memoirs of a Physician that had entirely stripped out Gilbert's crime against Andree. I'd love to know how those publishers treat with it's aftermath in Ange Pitou, because there's honestly no way around it. Not only is poor tormented Andrée forced to reckon with Gilbert's sudden reappearance, but Sebastien's very existence is the product of his earlier actions.
Our new hero, Ange, is a (mostly) sympathetic country lad whose simple honesty, courage, and faithfulness make him a refreshing contrast to the machinations and ruthlessness of the rabble in Paris and the egotists in Versailles. It's a shame that his behavior towards Catherine veers toward becoming creepy/stalkerish, although after what we know of Gilbert and Balsamo, maybe we should just be thankful that he draws the line where he does.
Consider this a review of both volumes of Ange Pitou. This sweeping novel of the early stages of the French Revolution show the people's actions in all their multifaceted, complex, troubling, and heroic legacy, from the glorious and just (e.g. the storming of the Bastille; noble Lafayette; Monsieur Bailly), to the depraved and inhumane (the assassinations of de Launay, Flesselles, Berthier, etc.). Dumas provides real insight into the people and history of the time, at the same time that he builds a fictionalized world in which he crafts a truly compelling narrative that builds on his earlier Antoinette romances.
I had read a bowdlerized version of Memoirs of a Physician that had entirely stripped out Gilbert's crime against Andree. I'd love to know how those publishers treat with it's aftermath in Ange Pitou, because there's honestly no way around it. Not only is poor tormented Andrée forced to reckon with Gilbert's sudden reappearance, but Sebastien's very existence is the product of his earlier actions.
Our new hero, Ange, is a (mostly) sympathetic country lad whose simple honesty, courage, and faithfulness make him a refreshing contrast to the machinations and ruthlessness of the rabble in Paris and the egotists in Versailles. It's a shame that his behavior towards Catherine veers toward becoming creepy/stalkerish, although after what we know of Gilbert and Balsamo, maybe we should just be thankful that he draws the line where he does.
May 29, 2016
The sequel to "Le Collier de la Reine," and in its turn followed by : "La Comtesse de Charny." This (Ange Pitou) was to have been written with Auguste Maquet, who doubtless helped a little with the first plan, but the financial difficulties which parted the two men left Dumas to his own resources. Pressed by the publishers or the editors, he drew upon his boyhood's memories, and undoubtedly some of his finest passages in the work are those which reveal to us the inhabitants and the life of the district of Villers-Cotterets and its forest. Moreover the contrast of these with the turmoil in Paris is both artistic and effective.
Historically the period dealt with is that of the weeks immediately preceding and succeeding the fall of the Bastille in 1789.
The original French text is available at La Bibliothèque électronique du Québec.
4* The Count of Monte Cristo
4* The Black Tulip
5* The Two Dianas
3* La chemise de la Sainte Vierge
3* La Comtesse De Salisbury
3* Les mille et un fantômes
3* Les Frères corses
TR Ascanio
TR Georges, Or, the Isle of France
TR The Women's War
TR The woman with the velvet necklace
TR The Prussian Terror
The D'Artagnan Romances series
4* The Three Musketeers
4* Twenty Years After
4* Vicomte de Bragelonne
4* Ten Years Later
TR Louise de La Vallière
4* The Man in the Iron Mask
The Last Valois series
5* Queen Margot, or Marguerite de Valois
4* Chicot the Jester (La Dame de Monsereau)
4* The Forty-Five Guardsmen
The Marie Antoinette Romances series
4* Joseph Balsamo
4* Le Collier de la Reine
4* Taking the Bastille
TR The Countess de Charny
TR The Knight of Maison-Rouge
The Sainte-Hermine Cycle series
TR The Companions of Jehu
TR The Whites and the Blues
TR The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon
Celebrated crimes series
TR The Borgias
TR The Cenci
TR Massacres of the South
TR Mary Stuart Queen of Scots
TR Karl Ludwig Sand
TR Urbain Grandier Celebrated Crimes
TR Nisida
TR Derues Celebrated Crimes
TR La Constantin
TR Joan of Naples
TR Martin Guerre Celebrated Crimes
TR Ali Pacha
TR The Countess Of Saint Geran Celebrated Crimes
TR Murat
TR The Marquise de Brinvilliers
TR Vaninka Celebrated Crimes
TR The Marquise de Ganges
Auto-biography
5* My Memoirs, Vol. 1
4* My Memoirs, Vol. 2
5* My Memoirs, Vol. 3
4* My Memoirs, Vol. 4
3* My Memoirs, Vol. 5
5* My Memoirs, Vol. 6
Historically the period dealt with is that of the weeks immediately preceding and succeeding the fall of the Bastille in 1789.
The original French text is available at La Bibliothèque électronique du Québec.
4* The Count of Monte Cristo
4* The Black Tulip
5* The Two Dianas
3* La chemise de la Sainte Vierge
3* La Comtesse De Salisbury
3* Les mille et un fantômes
3* Les Frères corses
TR Ascanio
TR Georges, Or, the Isle of France
TR The Women's War
TR The woman with the velvet necklace
TR The Prussian Terror
The D'Artagnan Romances series
4* The Three Musketeers
4* Twenty Years After
4* Vicomte de Bragelonne
4* Ten Years Later
TR Louise de La Vallière
4* The Man in the Iron Mask
The Last Valois series
5* Queen Margot, or Marguerite de Valois
4* Chicot the Jester (La Dame de Monsereau)
4* The Forty-Five Guardsmen
The Marie Antoinette Romances series
4* Joseph Balsamo
4* Le Collier de la Reine
4* Taking the Bastille
TR The Countess de Charny
TR The Knight of Maison-Rouge
The Sainte-Hermine Cycle series
TR The Companions of Jehu
TR The Whites and the Blues
TR The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon
Celebrated crimes series
TR The Borgias
TR The Cenci
TR Massacres of the South
TR Mary Stuart Queen of Scots
TR Karl Ludwig Sand
TR Urbain Grandier Celebrated Crimes
TR Nisida
TR Derues Celebrated Crimes
TR La Constantin
TR Joan of Naples
TR Martin Guerre Celebrated Crimes
TR Ali Pacha
TR The Countess Of Saint Geran Celebrated Crimes
TR Murat
TR The Marquise de Brinvilliers
TR Vaninka Celebrated Crimes
TR The Marquise de Ganges
Auto-biography
5* My Memoirs, Vol. 1
4* My Memoirs, Vol. 2
5* My Memoirs, Vol. 3
4* My Memoirs, Vol. 4
3* My Memoirs, Vol. 5
5* My Memoirs, Vol. 6
August 23, 2017
Alexandre Dumas is one of my favorite authors. I can't out his books down - they are fun and keep you on the edge of your seat, plus the time period they are all set in in my favorite.
February 26, 2018
I enjoyed the second part better than the first. Dumas does write really good stories.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews