Alexandre dumas essays

General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, father of Alexandre Dumas. Alexandre Dumas, engraving by Antoine Maurin. Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (later known as Alexandre Dumas) was born in 1802 in Villers-Cotterêts in the department of Aisne, in Picardy, France.

Here, at Alexandre Dumas Works, you can find the best of this scintillating author’s historical novels, essays, plays, and travel books. We also have a biography of Alexandre Dumas, recounting a personal life as tumultuous as the fiction he penned, as well as a constantly updated selection of his quotes, anecdotes, and timeless wisdom.

Dumas collaborated with Augustin Grisier, his fencing master, in his 1840 novel, The Fencing Master. The story is written as Grisier's account of how he came to witness the events of the Decembrist revolt in Russia.

Though married, in the tradition of Frenchmen of higher social class, Dumas had numerous affairs (allegedly as many as 40). He was known to have had at least four illegitimate children, although twentieth-century scholars believe it was seven. He acknowledged and assisted his son, Alexandre Dumas, to become a successful novelist and playwright.