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Alexandre Dumas

I read Robin Hood Prince of Outlaws and its sequel Robin Hood le proscrit a few years ago. I still remember how I couldn't stop crying in the laundry room of my dormitory when I finished the second book.

I'm not clear if it was actually Dumas who wrote them though... It seems that in Dumas' day it wasn't uncommon to translate someone else's work and put your name on it, almost as if to endorse it. If anyone knows anything on the subject I'd love to learn more. Both books are worth the read if you can find a copy.
 
HermioneWeasley said:
the books i've read by him:

the count of monte cristo(english)
the three musketeers(english)
twenty years after(english)
10 years after(english)-divided into three parts:
-the vicomte de bragelonne
-louise de la valliere
-the main in the iron mask
the black tulip(english)
the chevalier d'Harmental(french)
Queen Margot(english)
currently reading: la dame de monsoreau(french)
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I also read around 95% of the above list - when I was between 12 and 18 years old. I remember that it was so romantic! So magic! So adventurous!

But I am glad I read those book THEN. NOW it simply would not work. Now I am too rooted to the earth. I took once Monte Cristo as a re-read, and I regretted that I did so. Now it seemed to be so shallow, so schematic. So I closed it immediately, and it got another chance to stay in my memories as magic and pure as it was when I'd been 12-18 years old...

Here is a classic example of each book having its own time... If I ever have a kid, I will give those books to him/her when it turn around 12 years old....
 
Adele Mighton -
I'm not sure how common it was to translate works in his time and put your name on it, but what Dumas did was either a)translate works and put his name on it or b)read a story and then rewrite it. For example, he wrote his own version of Hamlet. He also did a lot of research about history and literature and a lot of his writing came from that.However, this particular work is a translation of Robin Hood and Little John, or the merry men of Sherwood forest. Dumas also later translated Scott's Ivanhoe and published it under his name. I'm definately planning to read Dumas's translations as well as the originals, because I'm fascinated by the sources that Dumas used.

p.s. if you have any other questions on Dumas I'd love to answer them - he's one of my great interests and favorite authors.

the waveguide:
I sort of understand what you mean. Of course the books are very romantic and very sentimental, and of course the real world isn't like that. But I'm a very down to earth person and I still enjoy those books as a nice escape from the world and a nice entertainment.
 
I have but 200 pages left of Twenty Years After, but I have enjoyed it a great deal so far. Still I don't see how Mordaunt is considered to be such a demon. He seems no more diabolical than other antagonists. At any rate I am looking forward to reading The Man in the Iron Mask.
 
Well, it is Dumas, after all - there has to be an antagonist. I see how you could understand Mordaunt's plight(I can just see someone writing a book: Mordaunt: the other side of the story), but he's just playing the function of an antagonist, a sort of diabolical one.

p.s. the man in the iron mask is the third part of 10 years after, which follows 20 years after. the first part is the Vicomte de Bragelonne.
 
I guess it's a case of sympathy for the devil then, huh? Mazarin seems more a villain than Mordaunt, and I was more hoping he would perish. I must say that I liked the scene describing Charles I's execution. Would it be too much to say that it was beautifully written? Or at least I thought so.

I was thinking about getting the missing books to read before Iron Mask, but I might just wait and get them later. It won't be the first time I've read a series out of order. ;) My copy of The Man in the Iron Mask has a brief overview of the previous two installments so I'm not at a complete loss as to what's been going on.
 
I think that Alexandre Dumas is an excellent author and has a great immagination to be able to write historical fiction while putting some of himself into each character he created. :) I just finished reading the Count of Monte Cristo for the first time and I enjoyed it alot with Dumas's descriptive words and attention to detail everyplace the count would go. It was an awesome book!!!

ilove2read
 
I'm glad you enjoyed it...Have you thought about reading any other books by Dumas?

I feel like an advertisor/promotional agent...Except that I"m not paid and I love Dumas so much I feel like I have to force him on everyone.
 
something to say about it

is that I too have read Monte Cristo in French and I was really affected, especially, of the place after he had been arrested when in jail, the sentence Assis l'envers sur la pierre humide, il a soudainement pensé qu'il reviendrait un jour et faire revenir.
 
It just came to me and maybe it is obvious but have you read the Capitain Alatriste series,Fencing master by Arturo Perez Reverte. It sure should be very close to your taste.Plenty of sword fight,honor,even the duke of Buckingam is of the party!!I found it very close to Dumas,and astonishing from a contemporan writer.
 
I'm not worried,Club Dumas is the one i liked the least.But Capitain Alatriste should come as a very nice surprise.you could read one knowing you have another 3 to go?
 
Yes...well, you see, I have a huge problem with translations. It just feels to me that I'm not reading what the author actually wrote. So I can bear to wait...but barely.

Btw, for anyone here who has read Dumas's Queen Margot: I'm rereading it now, and it's just as amazing as the first time - and really confusing, too. Or is it just me?
 
HermioneWeasley said:
Yes...well, you see, I have a huge problem with translations. It just feels to me that I'm not reading what the author actually wrote. So I can bear to wait...but barely.

Btw, for anyone here who has read Dumas's Queen Margot: I'm rereading it now, and it's just as amazing as the first time - and really confusing, too. Or is it just me?
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Have you seen the french movie la reine margot?
Quiet good ,interesting anyway
 
I've seen it. I didn't enjoy it much. They chose good actors for Margot and La Mole, but all the others were terrible casting, and the movie was just so..inaccurate and so HOllywood. I prefer the Russian version, which is longer, more accurate, has better casting, chose a better actor for Henri of Navarre, and just isn't so...repulsive, I have to say.
 
I haven't read that book yet. So many Dumas books to read! I bought a copy of The Vicomte de Bragelonne not too long ago, and I look forward to beginning that one.
 
Yep, I know..he's written so much that I read him non stop and still have tons of books to read.

Have you read 20 years after, the prequel to Viscount of Bragelonne?
 
I am currently reading 'The Three Musketeers' and have already bought 'The Count of Monte Cristo' which I plan to read next.
Dumas is indeed a writer of great caliber.
I seem to have acquired HermioneWeasley's penchant for Alexandre Dumas
 
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