Book review of The Three Musketeers.docx

Book review of The Three Musketeers.docx

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BookreviewofTheThreeMusketeers

BookreviewofTheThreeMusketeers

IntroductionofAlexandreDumas:

AlexandreDumas（bornDumasDavydelaPailleterie,24July1802–5December1870）,alsoknownasAlexandreDumas,père,wasaFrenchwriter,bestknownforhishistoricalnovelsofhighadventure.Translatedintonearly100languages,thesehavemadehimoneofthemostwidelyreadFrenchauthorsintheworld.Manyofhisnovels,includingTheCountofMonteCristo,TheThreeMusketeers,TwentyYearsAfter,andTheVicomtedeBragelonne:

TenYearsLaterwereoriginallypublishedasserials.Hisnovelshavebeenadaptedsincetheearlytwentiethcenturyfornearly200films.Dumas'lastnovel,TheKnightofSainte-Hermine,unfinishedathisdeath,wascompletedbyascholarandpublishedin2005,becomingabestseller.ItwaspublishedinEnglishin2008asTheLastCavalier.

Prolificinseveralgenres,Dumasbeganhiscareerbywritingplays,whichweresuccessfullyproducedfromthefirst.Healsowrotenumerousmagazinearticlesandtravelbooks;hispublishedworkstotaled100,000pages.Inthe1840s,DumasfoundedtheThéâtreHistoriqueinParis.

Bornandraisedinpoverty,ashisfatherdiedwhenhewasfour,DumasfaceddiscriminationbecauseofhisethnicAfricanancestry,althoughhewasthree-quartersFrench.Throughhisfather,whowasborninSaint-Domingue,hewasthegrandsonofaFrenchnoblemanandablackslave.HismotherwasFrench.Asayoungman,Dumas'aristocraticrankhelpedhimacquireworkwithLouis-Philippe,DukeofOrléans.

WiththeelectionofLouis-NapoléonBonapartein1851,Dumasfellfromfavor,andleftFranceforBelgium.Afterseveralyears,hemovedontoRussiaforafewyears,beforegoingtoItaly.In1861hefoundedandpublishedthenewspaper,L'Indipendente,whichsupportedtheItalianunificationeffort.In1864hereturnedtoParis.

Married,Dumasalsohadnumerousaffairs,saidtototal40.Hewasknowntohaveatleastfourillegitimateor"natural"children,includingaboynamedAlexandreDumasafterhim.Thissonbecameasuccessfulnovelistandplaywright,andwasknownasAlexandreDumas,fils（son）,whiletheelderDumasbecameconventionallyknowninFrenchasAlexandreDumas,père（father）.Amonghisaffairs,in1866DumashadonewithAdahIsaacsMenken,anAmericanactressthenattheheightofhercareerandlessthanhalfhisage.Twentieth-centuryscholarshavefoundthatDumasfatheredanotherthreenaturalchildren.

Earlylife

DumasDavydelaPailleterie（laterknownasAlexandreDumas）wasborninVillers-CotterêtsinthedepartmentofAisne,inPicardy,France.Hehadanoldersister,Marie-Alexandrine（b.before1798）.TheirfatherwasThomas-AlexandreDumas,bornintheFrenchcolonyofSaint-Domingue（nowHaiti）,themixed-racesonofthemarquisAlexandre-AntoineDavydelaPailleterie,aFrenchnoblemanandgénéralcommissaireintheartilleryofthecolony,andMarie-CessetteDumas,aslavewhowasofAfro-Caribbeanancestry.ItisnotknownwhethershewasborninSaint-DomingueorinAfrica（althoughthefactthatshehadaFrenchsurnameprobablymeansthatshewasCreole）,norisitknownfromwhichAfricanpeopleherancestorscame.BroughtbacktoFrancebyhisfather,Thomas-Alexandrewaseducatedinamilitaryschoolandjoinedthearmyasayoungman.HemarriedMarie-LouiseÉlisabethLabouret,thedaughterofaninnkeeper.Hetookhismother'sname,Dumas,afterabreakwithhisfather.Thomas-Alexandrewaspromotedtogeneralbytheageof31,thefirstofAfro-AntillesorigintoreachthatrankintheFrencharmy.HeservedwithdistinctionintheFrenchRevolutionaryWars.AlthoughageneralunderBonaparteintheItalianandEgyptiancampaigns,Thomas-Alexandrehadfallenoutoffavorby1800andrequestedleavetoreturntoFrance.Onhisreturn,hisshiphadtoputintoSicily,whereheandotherswereheldasprisonersofwar.Duringhistwo-yearimprisonment,hishealthwasruined.AtthetimeofAlexandre'sbirth,hisfatherwasimpoverished.

Thefatherdiedofcancerin1806whenAlexandrewasfour.Hiswidowedmothercouldnotprovidehersonwithmuchofaneducation,butDumasreadeverythinghecould.Hismother'sstoriesofhisfather'sbraveryduringthecampaignsoftheRevolutionaryWarsinspiredtheboy'svividimagination.Althoughpoor,thefamilyhadtheirfather'sdistinguishedreputationandaristocraticrank.In1822,aftertherestorationofthemonarchy,20-yearoldAlexandremovedtoParis.HeacquiredapositionatthePalaisRoyalintheofficeofLouis-Philippe,DukeofOrléans.

Career

WhileworkingforLouis-Philippe,Dumasbeganwritingarticlesformagazinesandplaysforthetheatre.Asanadult,heusedhisslavegrandmother'ssurnameofDumas,ashisfatherhadasanadult.Hisfirstplay,HenryIIIandHisCourts,producedin1829whenhewas27yearsold,metwithacclai