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The Two Dianas Vol 1
In regard to the customer reviews, all formatting errors have been corrected. Enjoy the book. This is one of three volumes.
Alexandre Dumas, père (French for "father", akin to 'Senior' in English), born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870) was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were serialized. He also wrote plays and magazine articles and was a prolific correspondent.
The Two Dianas ( Les Deux Diane, 1846) tells the fictionalized story of Gabriel, comte de Montgomery, who mortally wounded King Henry II of France. The two Dianas in the title refer to Henry II's favorite, Diana de Poitiers, and her daughter, Diana de Castro. The novel also includes a fictionalization of the Martin Guerre story.*
* -- Martin Guerre, a French peasant of the 16th century, was at the center of a famous case of imposture. Several years after he had left his family, a man claiming to be Guerre took his name and lived with Guerre's wife and son for three years. The false Martin Guerre was tried, discovered to be a man named Arnaud du Tilh and executed. The case continues to be studied and dramatized to this day.
Alexandre Dumas, père (French for "father", akin to 'Senior' in English), born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870) was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were serialized. He also wrote plays and magazine articles and was a prolific correspondent.
The Two Dianas ( Les Deux Diane, 1846) tells the fictionalized story of Gabriel, comte de Montgomery, who mortally wounded King Henry II of France. The two Dianas in the title refer to Henry II's favorite, Diana de Poitiers, and her daughter, Diana de Castro. The novel also includes a fictionalization of the Martin Guerre story.*
* -- Martin Guerre, a French peasant of the 16th century, was at the center of a famous case of imposture. Several years after he had left his family, a man claiming to be Guerre took his name and lived with Guerre's wife and son for three years. The false Martin Guerre was tried, discovered to be a man named Arnaud du Tilh and executed. The case continues to be studied and dramatized to this day.
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About the author
Alexandre Dumas
6,979 books12.5k 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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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 7, 2022
Free download available at Project Gutenberg
I made the proofing this book for Free Literature and Project Gutenberg will publish it.
Who really wrote this book, Paul Meurice or Alexandre Dumas? Hard to say.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The claim of Alexandre Dumas to be considered
first among historical romancists, past or present, can
hardly be disputed; and his magic pen finds abundant,
rich material for the historical setting of the
tale told in the following pages. The period in which
the action of "The Two Dianas" is supposed to take
place, covers the later years of Henri II. and the
brief and melancholy reign of his oldest son, François
II., the ill-fated husband of Mary Stuart, whose
later history has caused her brief occupancy of the
throne of France to be lost sight of. This period
saw the germination and early maturity, if not the
actual sowing, of the spirit of the Reformation in
France. It was during these years that the name
of John Calvin acquired the celebrity which has
never waned, and that his devoted followers, La
Renaudie, Théodore de Bèze, Ambroise Paré, the
famous surgeon, and the immortal Coligny began
the crusade for freedom of worship which
was steadily maintained, unchecked by Tumult of
Amboise, or Massacre of St. Bartholomew, until
Henri of Navarre put the crown upon their heroic
labors, and gave them respite for a time with the
famous "Edict of Nantes," made more famous still
by its "Revocation" a century later under the
auspices of Madame de Maintenon, at the instigation
of her Jesuit allies. Those portions of the
story which introduce us to the councils of the Reformers
are none the less interesting because the
characters introduced are actual historical personages,
nor can it fail to add interest to the encounter
between La Renaudie and Pardaillan to know that
it really took place, and that the two men had
previously been to each other almost nearer than
brothers. It was but one of innumerable heartrending
incidents, inseparable from all civil and
religious conflicts, but in which those presided over
by the Florentine mother of three Valois kings of
France were prolific beyond belief.
I made the proofing this book for Free Literature and Project Gutenberg will publish it.
Who really wrote this book, Paul Meurice or Alexandre Dumas? Hard to say.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The claim of Alexandre Dumas to be considered
first among historical romancists, past or present, can
hardly be disputed; and his magic pen finds abundant,
rich material for the historical setting of the
tale told in the following pages. The period in which
the action of "The Two Dianas" is supposed to take
place, covers the later years of Henri II. and the
brief and melancholy reign of his oldest son, François
II., the ill-fated husband of Mary Stuart, whose
later history has caused her brief occupancy of the
throne of France to be lost sight of. This period
saw the germination and early maturity, if not the
actual sowing, of the spirit of the Reformation in
France. It was during these years that the name
of John Calvin acquired the celebrity which has
never waned, and that his devoted followers, La
Renaudie, Théodore de Bèze, Ambroise Paré, the
famous surgeon, and the immortal Coligny began
the crusade for freedom of worship which
was steadily maintained, unchecked by Tumult of
Amboise, or Massacre of St. Bartholomew, until
Henri of Navarre put the crown upon their heroic
labors, and gave them respite for a time with the
famous "Edict of Nantes," made more famous still
by its "Revocation" a century later under the
auspices of Madame de Maintenon, at the instigation
of her Jesuit allies. Those portions of the
story which introduce us to the councils of the Reformers
are none the less interesting because the
characters introduced are actual historical personages,
nor can it fail to add interest to the encounter
between La Renaudie and Pardaillan to know that
it really took place, and that the two men had
previously been to each other almost nearer than
brothers. It was but one of innumerable heartrending
incidents, inseparable from all civil and
religious conflicts, but in which those presided over
by the Florentine mother of three Valois kings of
France were prolific beyond belief.
April 18, 2021
Exceeding Dumas' usual outstanding standard, this novel has astonished me. From adventure to adventure, Gabriel poses under the name of Viscount d'Exmès, in order to avenge his father, collaborating with the renowned Duke de Guise. Meanwhile, Diana de Poitiers (the mistress of Henri II) and her beautiful daughter feature prominently in this blend of history, adventure and romance.
I really recommend this excellent, 5 star novel, particularly to Dumas fans.
I really recommend this excellent, 5 star novel, particularly to Dumas fans.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews