Alexandre Dumas 1802—1870

Alexandre Dumas (Père) was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, and The Man in the Iron Mask were serialized, and he also wrote plays and magazine articles and was a prolific correspondent. In 1829 his first solo play, Henry III and his Court, was produced, meeting with great public acclaim and after writing many successful plays, he turned his efforts to novels.

Dumas made extensive use of the aid of numerous ghost-writers of which Auguste Maquet was the best known. It was Maquet who outlined the plot of The Count of Monte Cristo and made substantial contributions to The Three Musketeers and its sequels, as well as several other novels. When working together, Maquet proposed plots and wrote drafts, while Dumas added the details, dialogues, and the final chapters.

Despite his success and aristocratic connections, being of mixed-blood would affect him all his life. In 1843, he wrote a short novel, Georges, which addressed some of the issues of race and the effects of colonialism. Nevertheless, racist attitudes impacted his rightful position in France’s history long after his death in 1870. (source: Wikipedia)