Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) was a French novelist and playwright, the grandson of an enslaved woman from Saint-Domingue and a French marquis, whose father rose to general under Napoleon. Dumas first made his name with Romantic dramas in the 1820s, then turned to serialized fiction and produced, with the help of collaborators, an enormous body of historical adventure: The Three Musketeers and its sequels, The Count of Monte Cristo, and the true-crime narratives collected as Celebrated Crimes. He earned and spent fortunes, built a château he named Monte Cristo, and died in debt. His son, also Alexandre, wrote The Lady of the Camellias.