Dumas, Alexandre

DAVY, one of the most popular and prolific of all modern French romance-writers, B. at Villers-Cotterets, 1803. M. Dumas was a Creole by extraction, - Gen. Alexandre Davy Dumas, his father, who distinguished himself during the war arising out of the revolution, being the illegitimate son, by a colored woman, of the Marquis de la Pailléterie, a wealthy planter of St. Domingo. A. D. began his literary career at an early age, and to the remarkable gift of his facile diction has added a fecundity of thought and power of delineation that, despite the immense tax made on his imagination for so many years, seems as vigorous and prolific in his creations now as when he first startled the reading world by the originality and vigor of his scenes and characters. As an expeditious, imaginative, and exciting writer of fiction, D. is unrivalled. His works constitute in number a perfect library, exceeding 1,200 volumes, embracing, in this vast catalogue, nearly a hundred acted dramas, historical, social, and domestic novels and romances, besides travels, memoirs, and histories. A man of such unquestioned ability as A. D., and an author of such universal popularity, may be allowed the harmle exercise of personal vanity; still it must be confe ed that his egotism, as exhibited in his travels and biographical sketches, is as transcendent as his literary talent is unquestionable. Out of the extensive list of this author's productions, the works on which his fame most deservedly merits to rest, are Les Trois Mousquetaires, and Monte Chris to, -romances which po e great originality of construction, conjoined to powerful situations, natural dialogue, and a vigorous delineation of character. D. 1870. A. DUMAS (father) A. DUMAS (son). Fig . 883. DUMAS, ALEXANDRE, & French novelist and dramatio writer, son of the above, born at Paris, 1824. He was early introduced into the society of literary men, actors, and actre es, and became conspicuous for his wit and precocity. Dumas fils, as he was commonly styled, seemed to have a microscopical power of delineating and magnifying the worst side of society in his dramas. He belonged to the sensuous school of French literature, and was considered by the public the greatest living dramatist of the dem i-monde. His principal work of fiction, La Dame aux Camélias , created a great sensation, and was reproduced in Verdi's opera, La Traviata. D. file was not nearly so prolific as his father; he neverthele wrote many dramatic pieces which have been generally succe ful. In 1875 he became a member of the Academy. Died November 27, 1895.