大仲马介绍 世界名人传记系列.pdfVIP

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) BLACK EUROPEANS: A British Library Online Gallery feature by guest curator Mike Phillips Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was the son of Marquis Alexandre-Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, and a slave, Louise-Céssette Dumas, from the Caribbean island colony of Saint Domingue (or Santo Domingo, known as Haiti after 1804). Returning to France in 1780, De La Pailleterie consented to his son joining the army on condition that he did not use his name. Thomas-Alexandre Dumas’ courage and strength became legendary and by 1793 he was a general at 31. Following a successful campaign with Napoleon in Egypt, Dumas seemed set for a brilliant future but, because of his involvement in a republican plot, he was despatched to France, captured during the journey and imprisoned. Freed after 20 months, he was lame, deaf in one ear, partly paralysed and penniless. At the age of 35 he was obliged to retire to Villers-Cotterêts, a quiet village near Paris where he had married Marie-Louise Elizabeth Labouret in 1792. Alexandre was born on 24 July 1802. Madame Dumas was in raptures because of his fair skin and blue eyes. A few days before she had seen a puppet show with a black devil called Berlick, and she had been terrified at the prospect of giving birth to a Berlick. Alexandre adored his father, who died in 1806. Told that his father been taken away by God the four-year-old Dumas angrily declared his intention of going up to heaven and demanding satisfaction. In adult life he was to fictionalise many of his father’s real life exploits in his famous novel The Three Musketeers. Madame Dumas now lived with her parents in their hôtel, and the young Dumas spent his time wandering out of doors in the woods, catching birds, hunting, and exploring the neighbourhood. He learnt fencing from the local fencing-master, and at 10 years old harangued adults with complete assurance. Around this time his mother decided to send him to the local seminary to