The French Revolution began in 1789, when representatives of France’s middle classes (those with some wealth but without noble titles and inherited land) demanded a set of reforms to the French government that eventually included the abdication of the King, Louis XVI, and the creation of a government by common people. Dumas’ legacy is not strictly literary: his son, Alexandre Dumas (“fils,” or Jr.) was also a prolific writer, and Dumas also had at least one other child out of wedlock, as he was known for having many affairs.
His two monumental novels of love, adventure, vengeance, and exotic locales- The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers-are his most lasting works. While he cut his teeth writing plays, Dumas wrote in many different genres throughout his life, including essays, short stories, travelogues, and novels (the genre for which he is best known). His plays The Tower of Nesle (1832) and Kean (1836) were also hits. He achieved notoriety in France in 1829 for his play Henry III and His Court. As a young man, Dumas worked as a notary and scribe, but his passion was literature. While Dumas did not attend university, his mother valued education and worked hard to make sure her son attended secondary school.
Dumas’ father assumed the name “Dumas” (his Haitian mother’s surname) during his military career, and he died when the young Dumas was a toddler, leaving the family to struggle. His father, the illegitimate child of a French marquis and a Haitian slave, rose in the French army to the rank of general: the highest rank of any black soldier in a European army at that time. Alexandre Dumas was born in Villers-Cotterets, France to a military family.
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