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Căpitanul Richard. Stăpînul muntelui
542 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1989
5 people want to read
About the author
Alexandre Dumas
5,783 books12.6k followersThis note regards Alexandre Dumas, père, the father of Alexandre Dumas, fils (son). For the son, see Alexandre Dumas fils.
Alexandre Dumas père, born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a towering figure of 19th-century French literature whose historical novels and adventure tales earned global renown. Best known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other swashbuckling epics, Dumas crafted stories filled with daring heroes, dramatic twists, and vivid historical backdrops. His works, often serialized and immensely popular with the public, helped shape the modern adventure genre and remain enduring staples of world literature.
Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a celebrated general in Revolutionary France and the highest-ranking man of African descent in a European army at the time. His father’s early death left the family in poverty, but Dumas’s upbringing was nonetheless marked by strong personal ambition and a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. He moved to Paris as a young man and began his literary career writing for the theatre, quickly rising to prominence in the Romantic movement with successful plays like Henri III et sa cour and Antony.
In the 1840s, Dumas turned increasingly toward prose fiction, particularly serialized novels, which reached vast audiences through French newspapers. His collaboration with Auguste Maquet, a skilled plotter and historian, proved fruitful. While Maquet drafted outlines and conducted research, Dumas infused the narratives with flair, dialogue, and color. The result was a string of literary triumphs, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both published in 1844. These novels exemplified Dumas’s flair for suspenseful pacing, memorable characters, and grand themes of justice, loyalty, and revenge.
The D’Artagnan Romances—The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne—cemented his fame. They follow the adventures of the titular Gascon hero and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, blending historical fact and fiction into richly imagined narratives. The Count of Monte Cristo offered a darker, more introspective tale of betrayal and retribution, with intricate plotting and a deeply philosophical core.
Dumas was also active in journalism and theater. He founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris, which staged dramatizations of his own novels. A prolific and energetic writer, he is estimated to have written or co-written over 100,000 pages of fiction, plays, memoirs, travel books, and essays. He also had a strong interest in food and published a massive culinary encyclopedia, Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine, filled with recipes, anecdotes, and reflections on gastronomy.
Despite his enormous success, Dumas was frequently plagued by financial troubles. He led a lavish lifestyle, building the ornate Château de Monte-Cristo near Paris, employing large staffs, and supporting many friends and relatives. His generosity and appetite for life often outpaced his income, leading to mounting debts. Still, his creative drive rarely waned.
Dumas’s mixed-race background was a source of both pride and tension in his life. He was outspoken about his heritage and used his platform to address race and injustice. In his novel Georges, he explored issues of colonialism and identity through a Creole protagonist. Though he encountered racism, he refused to be silenced, famously replying to a racial insult by pointing to his ancestry and achievements with dignity and wit.
Later in life, Dumas continued writing and traveling, spending time in Belgium, Italy, and Russia. He supported nationalist causes, particularly Italian unification, and even founded a newspaper to advocate for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though his popularity waned somewhat in his final years, his literary legacy grew steadily. He wrote in a style that was accessible, entertaining, and emotionally reso
Alexandre Dumas père, born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a towering figure of 19th-century French literature whose historical novels and adventure tales earned global renown. Best known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other swashbuckling epics, Dumas crafted stories filled with daring heroes, dramatic twists, and vivid historical backdrops. His works, often serialized and immensely popular with the public, helped shape the modern adventure genre and remain enduring staples of world literature.
Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a celebrated general in Revolutionary France and the highest-ranking man of African descent in a European army at the time. His father’s early death left the family in poverty, but Dumas’s upbringing was nonetheless marked by strong personal ambition and a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. He moved to Paris as a young man and began his literary career writing for the theatre, quickly rising to prominence in the Romantic movement with successful plays like Henri III et sa cour and Antony.
In the 1840s, Dumas turned increasingly toward prose fiction, particularly serialized novels, which reached vast audiences through French newspapers. His collaboration with Auguste Maquet, a skilled plotter and historian, proved fruitful. While Maquet drafted outlines and conducted research, Dumas infused the narratives with flair, dialogue, and color. The result was a string of literary triumphs, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both published in 1844. These novels exemplified Dumas’s flair for suspenseful pacing, memorable characters, and grand themes of justice, loyalty, and revenge.
The D’Artagnan Romances—The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne—cemented his fame. They follow the adventures of the titular Gascon hero and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, blending historical fact and fiction into richly imagined narratives. The Count of Monte Cristo offered a darker, more introspective tale of betrayal and retribution, with intricate plotting and a deeply philosophical core.
Dumas was also active in journalism and theater. He founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris, which staged dramatizations of his own novels. A prolific and energetic writer, he is estimated to have written or co-written over 100,000 pages of fiction, plays, memoirs, travel books, and essays. He also had a strong interest in food and published a massive culinary encyclopedia, Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine, filled with recipes, anecdotes, and reflections on gastronomy.
Despite his enormous success, Dumas was frequently plagued by financial troubles. He led a lavish lifestyle, building the ornate Château de Monte-Cristo near Paris, employing large staffs, and supporting many friends and relatives. His generosity and appetite for life often outpaced his income, leading to mounting debts. Still, his creative drive rarely waned.
Dumas’s mixed-race background was a source of both pride and tension in his life. He was outspoken about his heritage and used his platform to address race and injustice. In his novel Georges, he explored issues of colonialism and identity through a Creole protagonist. Though he encountered racism, he refused to be silenced, famously replying to a racial insult by pointing to his ancestry and achievements with dignity and wit.
Later in life, Dumas continued writing and traveling, spending time in Belgium, Italy, and Russia. He supported nationalist causes, particularly Italian unification, and even founded a newspaper to advocate for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though his popularity waned somewhat in his final years, his literary legacy grew steadily. He wrote in a style that was accessible, entertaining, and emotionally reso
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September 15, 2021
La vreo optsprezece leghe distanță de München, oraș pe care Ghidul Germaniei, întocmit de domnii Richard și Quetin, îl desemnează drept unul dintre cele mai alese, nu numai ale Bavariei, ci chiar ale Europei, la nouă leghe de Augsburg, așezarea renumită prin dieta la care Melanchton a redactat, în 1530, catehismul credinței luterane; la douăzeci și două de leghe de Regensburg, unde în sălile întunecate ale primăriei s-au ținut între 1662 și 1806 adunările statelor Imperiului German, stă de strajă asemeni unei santinele în poziție avansată, deasupra cursului Dunării, micul oraș Donauwörth.
Patru drumuri duc la vechea cetate, unde Ludovic cel Sever, în temeiul unei nedrepte bănuieli de necredință a pus să fie decapitată nefericita Maria de Brabant; două care vin dinspre Stuttgart, adică din Franța, cel de la Nordlingen și cel de la Dillingen, și două care vin din Austria, cel dinspre Augsburg și cel dinspre Aichach. Primele două merg de-a lungul malului stâng al Dunării, celelalte două, de pe malul drept al fluviului, îl traversează ajungând la Donauwörth pe un simplu pod de lemn.
Astăzi, când pe la Donauwörth trece calea ferată, iar vapoarele coboară Dunărea de la Ulm la Marea Neagră, orașul și-a redobândit întrucâtva importanța și pare să aibă o viață de oarecare strălucire, dar nu așa stăteau lucrurile la începutul acestui secol.
Și cu toate acestea, vechiul oraș liber care în vremuri obișnuite părea un templu închinat zeițelor Singurătății și Tăcerii, înfățișa la 17 aprilie 1809 un spectacol atât de neobișnuit pentru cei două mii cinci sute de locuitori ai săi, încât, cu excepția copiilor din leagăn și a bătrânilor paralitici, siliți să stea acasă unii din cauza slăbiciunii, iar ceilalți din cauza infirmității, toată populația se îngrămădea pe străzi, în piețe, și, în mod special, pe strada în care dau cele două drumuri care vin de la Stuttgart și în piața Castelului.
Ȋntr-adevăr, din seara de 13 aprilie ― când trei trăsuri de poștă, însoțite de furgoane și de căruțe se opriseră la Hotelul Racul, și când din prima coborâse un general purtând, ca împăratul, o pălărioară și o redingotă pe deasupra uniformei, iar din celelalte două un întreg stat-major ― se răspândise zvonul că învingătorul de la Marengo și de la Austerlitz alesese orășelul Donauwörth ca punct de pornire a operațiilor în noua campanie care avea să înceapă împotriva Austriei.
Patru drumuri duc la vechea cetate, unde Ludovic cel Sever, în temeiul unei nedrepte bănuieli de necredință a pus să fie decapitată nefericita Maria de Brabant; două care vin dinspre Stuttgart, adică din Franța, cel de la Nordlingen și cel de la Dillingen, și două care vin din Austria, cel dinspre Augsburg și cel dinspre Aichach. Primele două merg de-a lungul malului stâng al Dunării, celelalte două, de pe malul drept al fluviului, îl traversează ajungând la Donauwörth pe un simplu pod de lemn.
Astăzi, când pe la Donauwörth trece calea ferată, iar vapoarele coboară Dunărea de la Ulm la Marea Neagră, orașul și-a redobândit întrucâtva importanța și pare să aibă o viață de oarecare strălucire, dar nu așa stăteau lucrurile la începutul acestui secol.
Și cu toate acestea, vechiul oraș liber care în vremuri obișnuite părea un templu închinat zeițelor Singurătății și Tăcerii, înfățișa la 17 aprilie 1809 un spectacol atât de neobișnuit pentru cei două mii cinci sute de locuitori ai săi, încât, cu excepția copiilor din leagăn și a bătrânilor paralitici, siliți să stea acasă unii din cauza slăbiciunii, iar ceilalți din cauza infirmității, toată populația se îngrămădea pe străzi, în piețe, și, în mod special, pe strada în care dau cele două drumuri care vin de la Stuttgart și în piața Castelului.
Ȋntr-adevăr, din seara de 13 aprilie ― când trei trăsuri de poștă, însoțite de furgoane și de căruțe se opriseră la Hotelul Racul, și când din prima coborâse un general purtând, ca împăratul, o pălărioară și o redingotă pe deasupra uniformei, iar din celelalte două un întreg stat-major ― se răspândise zvonul că învingătorul de la Marengo și de la Austerlitz alesese orășelul Donauwörth ca punct de pornire a operațiilor în noua campanie care avea să înceapă împotriva Austriei.
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