Alexandre Dumas fils

Overview

Alexandre Dumas fils (Paris 27 July 1824 – Marly-le-Roi 27 November 1895), French novelist and dramatist, author of the novel La Dame aux camélias (1848; the source of Verdi's La Traviata) and of the social plays of the Second Empire; elected to the Académie française in 1874. He is distinct from his father Alexandre Dumas père, who died in 1870, before the diary begins (ALEXANDRE_DUMAS). (Sources: Wikipedia, «Alexandre Dumas fils»; Mon Journal indexes, which separate «Dumas père» from «Dumas fils» in t.2, t.4, t.12, t.13, t.14, t.15 and t.16.)

Relevance to Marie

Dumas fils is the contemporary writer Marie admires most, and the one she most wants to know.

• Reading. Paul «ne lit que du Dumas fils» (008.0038); she reads La Dame aux perles (073.0073, quoted at length 073.0129), Le roman d'une femme (1848), which revolts her (083.0569–0570, 085.0427), L'Homme-femme (084.0043), Un cas de rupture (084.0148), his pamphlet on divorce (087.0445) and Les femmes qui votent et les femmes qui tuent (089.0671), and she follows his remarks on love, which she disputes for months: «ce que M. Dumas fils appelle l'amour» (089.0646–0650; 096.0149, 096.0152; 100.0359).
• The letters. On 22 November 1875 she writes him an anonymous, disguised letter (050.0123–0143, signed T.P.L.; kind: letter). In January 1879 she sees him («on m'a montré Alexandre Dumas», 084.0030) and resolves «il faut que je voie Dumas. Je le consulterai comme on consulte un prêtre» (084.0039); on 19–20 March 1879 she writes to him (084.0501–0523, «toute la correspondance dans l'enveloppe page 144»); a rebuff is implied («Je suis fâchée jusqu'aux larmes de ce que vous avez pensé», 084.0520), and she announces «celui de mon adoration avec votre personne» (084.0522). Later «Dumas m'a donné ce conseil soporifique» (084.0560).
• Later. In 1880 she is vexed that Dumas, «chez lequel on dit du mal de nous», is marrying his daughter to M. Lipermann (087.0881); Julian speaks of her in Dumas's circle (098.0013); on 25 August 1883 Dumas contributes to the Ischia earthquake charity journal (101.0241); on 18 April 1884 «Dumas fils en a soixante. C'en est un pourtant que j'ai adoré d'admiration» (104.0016).

Père and fils

The tagger often confused the two. Paragraphs that are about the father: 024.0279 (Mousquetaires, Louis XIV: «Dumas père»), 084.0250 («Thérèse», Dumas père's drama), and possibly 084.0025 («Alexandre Dumas qui disait qu'une mauvaise pièce…»; the speaker is not identified). 059.0065 is probably the son (see the RSR note on it). 084.0221 («Alexandre Dumas père et fils») and 090.0079 («les deux Dumas») name both.

References in Diary

• First mentioned: 1873-08-16 (008.0038). 67 tagged paragraphs in carnets 008–104; densest in 084 (January–March 1879).