Dumas, Alexandre
Dumas, Alexandre ( 1802 – 70 ),French novelist and playwright, known as ‘Dumas père’. One of the pioneers of the Romantic theatre in France, he achieved great popularity with a series of colourful, swiftly moving dramas mostly on historical subjects, including: Henri III et sa cour ( 1829 ), Antony ( 1831 , dealing with contemporary social life), La Tour de Nesle ( 1832 ), and Kean ( 1836 , in which the English tragedian is the central character of a comedy). The historical novels on which his reputation now chiefly rests began to appear serially at prodigious speed around 1840 . Les Trois Mousquetaires ( 1844 ); Vingt ans après ( 1845 ), and Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ( 1848 – 50 ), set in the 17th cent., follow the adventures of d'Artagnan, who comes from Gascony to Paris in the reign of Louis XIII to join the king's musketeers, and shares the fortunes and...
[The entire page is 276 words long]