Le Roman d'une femme (Dumas fils)

Overview

Le Roman d'une femme is an early novel by Alexandre Dumas fils (1824–1895), the author of La Dame aux camélias. It appeared in the years after that book (1848 per the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica; 1849 per Wikipedia's bibliography). This entry does not summarise the plot, as the novel was not read for it; Marie's comments below are the only description.

Marie and this work

8 January 1879 (083.0569–0570): "Je viens de lire 'Le roman d'une femme' par Dumas fils. Rarement on rencontre des choses plus révoltantes et plus odieuses. C'est immoral et pourtant cela fait horreur, donc ce n'est plus immoral n'étant pas tentant." She objects that Dumas himself "se méprend sur le sens du mot" when he paints Marie, the heroine, as the ideal of innocence: nocens ("nocens ou nocoens" in her spelling) means harmful or guilty, so innocent must mean not guilty, not harmful, and "si Marie était innocente, Le roman d'une femme n'existerait pas".

21 June 1879 (085.0427), discussing some other horrible story, she compares it to "l'invraisemblable, l'infâme et le révoltant 'Roman d'une femme' de Dumas fils": events over which centuries pass but which stay "navrants et horribles".

Identification note

Not to be confused with other books of the same title. The diary footnote at 083.0569 gives 1848 and Dumas fils as author, matching the title. Supersedes nothing (no stub existed under this title); the author stubs DUMAS_FILS and ALEXANDRE_DUMAS_FILS remain people entries.

References in Diary

Sources