Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) led a life as colourfl and romantic as any of his novels; in the revolution of 1830, for example, he played a role that could have come sraight from The Three Musketeers. Poor and ill-educated, he was forced to live by his wits from an early age and like d’Artagnan, went to Paris to seek his fortune At the age of 27 his play Henry III brought him overnight success and an assured entry into a glittering society of actreses, writers and aristocats. In the 1840s he began his series of great romances taken from episodes in French history, which founded his lasting reputation. His fame was now international — it was said by Thackeray that he ‘could read about Athos from sunrise to sunset with the utmost contentment of mind’. In 1860 Dumas joined Garibaldi and, red-shirted, entered Naples with its liberator.