爱华网AlexandreDumas, fils
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AlexandreDumas, fils (French: [alɛksɑ̃dʁ dyma fis]; 27 July 1824 – 27November 1895) was a French writer and dramatist, best known forCamille (a.k.a. The Lady of the Camellias). He was the son ofAlexandre Dumas, père, also a writer andplaywright.
Biography
Dumas was bornin Paris, France, the illegitimate child of Marie-Laure-CatherineLabay (1794–1868), a dressmaker, and novelist Alexandre Dumas.During 1831 his father legally recognized him and ensured that theyoung Dumas received the best education possible at the InstitutionGoubaux and the Collège Bourbon. At that time, the law allowed theelder Dumas to take the child away from his mother. Her agonyinspired Dumas fils to write about tragic female characters. Inalmost all of his writings, he emphasized the moral purpose ofliterature and in his play The Illegitimate Son (1858) he espousedthe belief that if a man fathers an illegitimate child then he hasan obligation to legitimize the child and marry the woman. Inboarding schools, Dumas fils was constantly taunted by hisclassmates because of his family situation. These issues profoundlyinfluenced his thoughts, behaviour, andwriting.Dumas'paternal great-grandparents were Marquis Alexandre-Antoine Davy dela Pailleterie, a French nobleman and Général commissaire in theArtillery in the colony of Saint-Domingue—now Haiti—andMarie-Cesette Dumas, an Afro-Caribbean Creole of mixed French andAfrican ancestry.During 1844Dumas moved to Saint-Germain-en-Laye to live with his father.There, he met Marie Duplessis, a young courtesan who would be theinspiration for his romantic novel The Lady of the Camellias (LaDame aux camélias), wherein Duplessis was named MargueriteGauthier. Adapted into a play, it was titled Camille in English andbecame the basis for Verdi's 1853 opera, La Traviata, Duplessisundergoing yet another name change, this time to ViolettaValery.Although headmitted that he had done the adaptation because he needed themoney, he had great success with the play. Thus began the career ofDumas fils as a dramatist, which was not only more renowned thanthat of his father during his lifetime but also dominated theserious French stage for most of the second half of the 19thcentury. After this, he virtually abandoned writing novels (thoughhis semi-autobiographical L'Affaire Clemenceau (1867) achieved somesolid success).On 31 December1864, in Moscow, Dumas married Nadezhda von Knorring (1826 – April1895), daughter of Johan Reinhold von Knorring and widow ofAlexander Grigorievich Narishkin. The couple had two daughters:Marie-Alexandrine-Henriette Dumas, born 20 November 1860, whomarried Maurice Lippmann and was the mother of Serge NapoléonLippmann (1886–1975) and Auguste Alexandre Lippmann (1881–1960);and Jeanine Dumas (3 May 1867 – 1943), who married Ernest d'Hauterive (1864–1957), son of George Lecourt d' Hauterive and hiswife Léontine de Leusse. After Nadezhda's death, Dumas marriedHenriette Régnier de La Brière (1851–1934) in June 1895, withoutissue.During 1874,he was admitted to the Académie française and in 1894 he wasawarded the Légion d'honneur.AlexandreDumas fils died at Marly-le-Roi, Yvelines, on 27 November 1895 andwas interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris. His grave is,perhaps coincidentally, only some 100 metres away from that ofMarie Duplessis.
Bibliography
NovelsThe Lady ofthe Camellias (Camille) (1848)L'AffaireClemenceau (The Clemenceau Case) (1867)Opera[edit]Verdi's LaTraviata (based on The Lady of the Camellias)Plays[edit]Atala(1848)The Lady ofthe Camellias (1848)Diane de Lys(1853)Le Bijou de lareine (1855)Le Demi-monde(1855)La Questiond'argent (1857)Le Filsnaturel (The Illegitimate Son, 1858)Un Pèreprodigue (1859)Un Mariagedans un chapeau (1859) coll. VivierL'Ami desfemmes (1864)Le Suppliced'une femme (1865) coll. Emile de GirardinHeloiseParanquet (1866) coll. DurentinLes Idees deMadame Aubray (1867)Le Filleul dePompignac (1869) coll. FrancoisUne Visite denoces (1871)La PrincesseGeorges (1871)La Femme deClaude (1873)MonsieurAlphonse (1873)L'Étrangère(1876)Les Danicheff(1876) coll. de CorvinLa ComtesseRomani (1876) coll. Gustave FouldLa Princessede Bagdad (1881)Denise(1885)Francillon(1887)La Route deThebes (unfinished)
References
Maurois, André(1957). The Titans, a three-generation biography of the Dumas.trans. by Gerard Hopk ins. New York: Harper & BrothersPublishers. OCLC 260126.Lewis, H. D.(1982). A Critical Edition of the Manuscripts of 'La Route deThebes' by Alexandre Dumas fils. Doctorate, University ofLeeds.
Externallinks
Works byAlexandre Dumas, fils at Project GutenbergWorks by orabout Alexandre Dumas, fils in libraries (WorldCatcatalog)
