The Three Dumas

After Henri Clouard's biography of Alexandre Dumas, which happily brought back into the spotlight the novelistic genius of the great man who wrote The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, it is now M. André Maurois's turn. From its title, The Three Dumas, one can see the difference between Maurois's book and Clouard's, which it does not erase, but only complements by offering a different perspective. Henri Clouard had given all the attention to Dumas père alone, Alexandre the Great or the Unique. Maurois presents him flanked by the other two, his father and his son, the general and the playwright. Clouard had given more prominence to the writer. More than the work, it is the man through the novelist that matters to André Maurois, and it is in this sense that he has oriented his portrayal, in his own way, as a psychological biographer. Ultimately, with all the vivid documents at his disposal, André Maurois very fairly gave his Three Dumas their chances. But the situation remains unchanged. There is still only one who counts, and that is the father, the brilliant and charming storyteller of The Three Musketeers, who had the most talent, and who was the most generous. All is well as it is.

FIRST EDITION on publisher's paper.