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Dumas was the son of a general of the French Revolutionary armies, his grandfather was from a noble family but his grandmother had been a slave. Much to Dumas' dismay, his father died when he was just four years old which left the family very poor. Dumas grew up to be a poor student in class but he had one important notable quality, incredible handwriting. This began his studies to become a notary and also his interest in writing musical comedies. Roughly from 1802-1813 -
Dumas was born in Villers-Cotterets, France on July 24, 1802. His mother was Marie Louise Labouret and his father was General Thomas-Alexandre Davy. His family name, Dumas was adopted from Alexandre's grandmother. -
The biography of Alexandre Dumas
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When Alexandre began to write musical comedies and also historical plays with one of his friends names Adolphe de Leuven, he began to seek out work. Alexandre found work as a secretary to the Duke of Orleans in Paris, France. He picked up and moved to France to immerse himself not only in his new found job but also in literature. -
Amongst his talents and ventures in the world of literature, Dumas had a son also with the name Alexandre, with Marie Laure Catherine Labay. His son followed in his footsteps and also went down the literary path. In 1840 Dumas married an actress named Ida Ferrier, but he continued to have affairs amongst other women and he later had a daughter outside of marriage. -
Dumas proved himself to be a prolific writer of many forms of writing such as essays, short stories, novels, and plays. He was interested in crime and scandals and wrote eight volumes of essays on various crime cases. With his talent in literature, he wrote the infamously successful novels such as "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Musketeers". He also had a specific talent for writing romantic novels such as the series of Valois, The Man in the Iron Mask, and Twenty Years After. -
In 1853 Dumas returned to Paris and started the daily paper, the paper survived until 1857. In 1860 he was named the keeper of the museums in Naples, Italy. He remained there for four years and then returned to Paris only to find himself in an extreme amount of debt. In an effort to repay his debts he began producing lower quality literature all of which were not very successful. His last years of life were spent unhappy, and plagued by debt. He died on December 5, 1870.