View source for Alexandre Dumas fils

{{short description|French writer and dramatist (1824–1895)}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Alexandre Dumas ''fils''}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| name          = Alexandre Dumas {{lang|fr|fils}}
| image         = File:Alexandre Dumas fils.jpg
| caption       = Alexandre Dumas {{lang|fr|fils}}
| birth_name    = Alexandre Dumas
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1824|7|27|df=y}}
| birth_place   = Paris, France
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1895|11|27|1824|6|27|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Marly-le-Roi]], [[Yvelines]], France
| resting_place = [[Montmartre Cemetery]]
| occupation    = Writer, novelist, playwright
| period        = [[Romanticism]]
| genre         = [[Historical novel]], [[romantic novel]]
| spouse        = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Nadezhda von Knorring|1864|1895|end=d}}
* {{marriage|Henriette Régnier de La Brière|1895}}
}}
| children      = 2, {{ill|Colette Dumas||Colette Dumas Lippmann|fr}}, {{ill|Jeannine Dumas Hauterive|fr}}
| parents       = [[Alexandre Dumas]]<br>{{ill|Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay|ru|Лабе, Катрина}}
| relatives     = [[Alexandre Lippmann]] (grandson)<br>[[Thomas-Alexandre Dumas]] (grandfather)
| awards        = [[Légion d'honneur]] (1894)
| signature     = ALEXANDRE DUMAS FILS Autographe.JPG
}}

'''Alexandre Dumas {{lang|fr|fils}}''' ({{IPA|fr|alɛksɑ̃dʁ(ə) dymɑ fis|lang}}; 27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) was a French author and playwright, best known for the [[Romanticism|romantic novel]] ''[[La Dame aux Camélias]]'' (''The Lady of the Camellias'', usually titled ''[[Camille (novel)|Camille]]'' in English-language versions), published in 1848, which was adapted into [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s 1853 opera ''[[La traviata]]'' (''The Fallen Woman''), as well as numerous stage and film productions.

Dumas {{lang|fr|[[Suffix (name)#Generational titles|fils]]}} ([[French language|French]] for "son") was the son of [[Alexandre Dumas]] {{lang|fr|père}} ("father"), also a well-known playwright and author of classic works such as ''[[The Three Musketeers]]'' and ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]''. Dumas {{lang|fr|fils}} was admitted to the {{lang|fr|[[Académie française]]}} (French Academy) in 1874 and awarded the [[Legion of Honour]] in 1894.

==Biography==
{{original research section|date=February 2025}}
[[File:ADumas hijo 00.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Alexandre Dumas {{lang|fr|fils}}, in his youth]]
[[File:Alexandre Dumas Fils.jpg|thumb|upright|Bust of Alexander Dumas {{lang|fr|fils}}, by the sculptor [[Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux]], [[Orsay Museum]]]]
[[File:Tomb of Alexandre Dumas, fils.jpg|thumb|upright|Tomb, [[Montmartre Cemetery]], Paris]]
Dumas was born in Paris, France, the [[illegitimate]] child of {{ill|Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay|ru|Лабе, Катрина}} (1794–1868), a [[dressmaker]], and novelist [[Alexandre Dumas]]. In 1831 his father legally recognized him and ensured that the young Dumas received the best education possible at the ''[[Lycée Condorcet|Collège Bourbon]]''. At that time, the law allowed the elder Dumas to take the child away from his mother. Her agony inspired the younger Dumas to write about tragic female characters. In almost all of his writings, he emphasized the moral purpose of literature; in his play {{ill|The Illegitimate Son|qid=Q110866398|s=1|v=sup|italic=y}} (1858) he espoused the belief that if a man fathers an illegitimate child, then he has an obligation to legitimize the child and marry the woman (see [[Illegitimacy in fiction]]). At boarding schools, he was constantly taunted by his classmates because of his family situation. These issues profoundly influenced his thoughts, behaviour, and writing.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

Dumas' paternal great-grandparents were Marquis Alexandre-Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a [[Saint Dominicans|Saint Dominican]] nobleman and ''Général commissaire'' in the Artillery in the colony of [[Saint-Domingue]]—now [[Haiti]]—and [[Marie-Cessette Dumas]], an African woman  enslaved by the Marquis. Their son [[Thomas-Alexandre Dumas]] became a high-ranking [[general]] of [[Revolutionary France]].<ref>{{cite book|title=[[The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo]]|last=Reiss|first=Tom|publisher=Crown Publishers|year=2012|isbn=978-0-307-38246-7|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/blackcountgloryr0000reis/page/190 190–204]}}</ref>

In 1844, Dumas moved to [[Saint-Germain-en-Laye]], near Paris, to live with his father. There he met [[Marie Duplessis]], a young [[courtesan]] who would be the inspiration for the character Marguerite Gauthier in his romantic novel ''[[La Dame aux camélias]]'' (''The Lady of the Camellias''). Adapted into a play, it was titled ''Camille'' in English and became the basis for [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi's]] 1853 opera, ''[[La traviata]]'', Duplessis undergoing yet another name change, this time to Violetta Valéry.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

Although he admitted that he had done the adaptation because he needed the money, he had great success with the play, which started his career as a dramatist. He was not only more renowned than his father during his lifetime, but also dominated the serious French stage for most of the second half of the 19th century. After this, he virtually abandoned writing novels, though his semi-autobiographical ''Affaire Clémenceau'' (1866) achieved some solid success.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

On 31 December 1864, in Moscow, Dumas married {{ill|Нарышкина, Надежда Ивановна|lt=Nadezhda von Knorring|ru}} (1826–April 1895), daughter of Johan Reinhold von Knorring and widow of Alexander Grigorievich Narishkin. The couple had two daughters: {{ill|Colette Dumas|lt=Marie-Alexandrine-Henriette "Colette" Dumas|fr}} (born 20 November 1860), who married Maurice Lippmann and was the mother of Serge Napoléon Lippmann (1886–1975) and [[Alexandre Lippmann|Auguste Alexandre Lippmann]] (1881–1960); and Jeanine Dumas (3 May 1867–1943), who married Ernest Lecourt d'Hauterive (1864–1957), son of George Lecourt d'Hauterive and his wife, Léontine de Leusse. After Nadezhda's death, Dumas married Henriette Régnier de La Brière (1851–1934) in June 1895, without issue.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

In 1874, he was admitted to the [[Académie française]] and in 1894 he was awarded the ''[[Légion d'honneur]]''.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

Dumas died at [[Marly-le-Roi]], [[Yvelines]], on 27 November 1895, and was interred in the [[Montmartre Cemetery]] in Paris. His grave is some {{convert|100|m}} away from that of [[Marie Duplessis]].{{cn|date=September 2022}}

==Bibliography==

===Novels===
*''Aventures de quatre femmes et d'un perroquet'' (1847)
*''Césarine'' (1848)
*''[[La Dame aux Camélias|La Dame aux camélias]]'' (1848) ({{ISBN|2-87714-205-1}}). Texte online (Gallica)), with a version illustrated by Albert Besnard English titled as ''Camellias''
*''Le Docteur Servan'' (1849)
*''Antonine'' (1849)
*''Le Roman d'une femme'' (1849)
*''Les Quatre Restaurations''. Series of historical novels in ''La Gazette de France'' titled ''Tristan le Roux'', ''Henri de Navarre'', ''Les Deux Frondes'' (1849–51)
*''Tristan le Roux'' (1850)
*''Trois Hommes forts'' (1850)
*''Histoire de la loterie du lingot d'or'' (1851)
*''Diane de Lys'' (1851)
*''Le Régent Mustel'' (1852)
*''Contes et Nouvelles'' (1853)
*''La Dame aux perles'' (1854)
*''L'Affaire Clémenceau, Mémoire de l'accusé'' (1866), illustrations by Albert Besnard
*''L'Homme-femme'' (1872)

===Opera===
* [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s ''[[La traviata]]'' (based on ''The Lady of the Camellias'')

===Plays===
* ''Atala'' (1848)
* ''[[The Lady of the Camellias]]'' (1852)
* ''Diane de Lys'' (1853)
* ''Le Bijou de la reine'' (1855)
* ''Le Demi-monde'' (1855)
* ''La Question d'argent'' (1857)
* ''Le Fils naturel'' (''The Illegitimate Son'', 1858)
* ''Un Père prodigue'' (1859)
* ''Un Mariage dans un chapeau'' (1859) coll. Vivier
* ''L'Ami des femmes'' (1864)
* ''Le Supplice d'une femme'' (1865) coll. Emile de Girardin
* ''Héloïse Paranquet'' (1866) coll. Durentin
* ''Les Idées de Madame Aubray'' (1867)
* ''Le Filleul de Pompignac'' (1869) coll. Francois
* ''Une Visite de noces'' (1871)
* ''La Princesse Georges'' (1871)
* ''La Femme de Claude'' (1873)
* ''Monsieur Alphonse'' (1873)
* ''L'Étrangère'' (1876)
* ''Les Danicheff'' (1876) coll. de Corvin
* ''La Comtesse Romani'' (1876) coll. Gustave Fould
* ''La Princesse de Bagdad'' (1881)
* ''Denise'' (1885)
* ''Francillon'' (1887)
* ''La Route de Thèbes'' (unfinished)

==See also==
* [[Illegitimacy in fiction#Victorian|Illegitimacy in fiction]]
* [[Legitimacy (family law)#Notable people|Legitimacy (family law)]]
* [[Museum Alexandre Dumas]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Alexandre Dumas, fils|Alexandre Dumas fils}}
{{Commons}}
{{Wikisource|Author:Alexandre Dumas (1824-1895)|Alexandre Dumas fils}}
* {{cite book|last=Maurois|first=André|author-link=André Maurois|others=trans. by Gerard Hopkins|title=The Titans, a three-generation biography of the Dumas|url=https://archive.org/details/titansthreegener00maur|url-access=registration|year=1957|publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York|oclc=260126}}
* Lewis, H. D. (1982). ''A Critical Edition of the Manuscripts of 'La Route de Thebes' by Alexandre Dumas fils''. Doctorate, University of Leeds.
* {{gutenberg author|id=672|name=Alexandre Dumas {{lang|fr|fils|nocat=y}}}}
* {{Internet Archive author|dname=Alexandre Dumas {{lang|fr|fils|nocat=y}}}}
* {{Librivox author|id=5190|title=Alexandre Dumas {{lang|fr|fils|nocat=y}}}}
* {{LCAuth|n81120314|Alexandre Dumas|213|ue}}
* [https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/finding-aids/AD88 Alexandre Dumas papers], Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, [[University of Rochester]]

{{Académie française Seat 2|state=expanded}}
{{The Lady of the Camellias}}
{{Alexandre Dumas}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumas, Alexandre, fils}}
[[Category:1824 births]]
[[Category:1895 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:19th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Alexandre Dumas|*]]
[[Category:Burials at Montmartre Cemetery]]
[[Category:French people of Haitian descent]]
[[Category:Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:Dumas family]]
[[Category:French male novelists]]
[[Category:French male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:French historical novelists]]
[[Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages]]
[[Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period]]