Alexander Dumas, Jr. was a French writer and novelist, author of the well-known rose novel The Lady of the Camellias, adapted for opera in Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata, as well as in numerous theatrical productions and films.
Natural son of Alexander Dumas and Marie-Catherine Labay, seamstress, he was, like his father, a world-renowned author. He was born in France on July 27, 1824 .
In 1831, his father recognized him legally and provided him with the best possible education at the Goubaux institution and the Bourbon academy. The laws, at that time, allowed Dumas Sr. to separate his son from his mother and her agony inspired Dumas Jr. in his writings on feminine and tragic characters. In almost all of his work he emphasized the moral purpose of literature and, in his novel The Natural Son (1858), he put forward the theory that he who brings an illegitimate child into the world has a moral obligation to legitimize him and marry the woman.
In addition to enduring the stigma of illegitimacy, Dumas Jr. carried black blood. His father was a quadroon descendant of a French nobleman and a Haitian black woman. In school boarding schools, Dumas Jr. was always reviled by his classmates. All of these experiences determined his thoughts, behavior, and writing. In his first book of poems, Sins of Youth (1847) he denounced, in some way, the dissipated life he led in his youth, denying it.
In 1844, Dumas moved to Saint-Germain-en-Laye to live with his father. That same year, in Paris, he met Marie Duplessis, a young courtesan who would inspire his romantic novel The Lady of the Camellias (1848). Adapted as a play, it was so successful that Dumas was encouraged to pursue his career as a playwright. It was titled, in English Camille, and formed the basis for Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, La Traviata (1853). In his plays, loaded with moral teachings, he denounces the social prejudices of the time and advocates for the rights of women and children.
In 1864, Alexander Dumas, Jr., married Princess Nadeja Naryschkine (better known as Nadine Dumas), with whom he would have a daughter. After her death, he married Henriette Régnier.
In the course of his life, Dumas wrote twelve other novels and several plays. In 1867, he published his semi-autobiographical novel “The Clemenceau Affair”, considered by many to be one of his best literary works.
He was elected to the French Academy in 1874 despite stubborn opposition from Victor Hugo. In 1894 he was awarded the Legion of Honor.
He died on November 27, 1895 on his property in Marly-le-Roi (Yvelines), and was buried in the Montmartre cemetery (Paris).
Here are 10 of the best phrases of Alexander Dumas Jr.
“It is easier to be good for all people than for someone”
“There are women who love their husbands so much that, not to use them, they take their friends'”
«I can’t understand how, being children so clever, adults are so stupid. It must be the fruit of education”
«Who reads a lot knows a lot; but whoever observes knows even more »
“Hope is the best doctor I know”
How is it that, with children being so intelligent, most men are so stupid? It must be the fruit of education”
“Opinions are like nails: the more you hit them, the more they penetrate”
«Do not estimate money neither more nor less than what it is worth: he is a good servant and a lousy master»
«I prefer the wicked to the imbeciles, because those, at least, leave some respite»
“Anything that can be easily replaced can be more easily abandoned”
