The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas; Intro and reading schedule (July 2016)

[Tracey]

Hi everyone, Thanks for voting for this book which I nominated. I will be leading the discussion. It is not until July but I am putting up the thread now. I hope this is ok. I always like to be early prepared for any task I am responsible for.

I have not read this book before but I wanted to read it based on reviews.
Here is a link to information about Dumas:

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/e...

The book is available on-line so you do not need to buy the book. I prefer to read from the page rather than a screen so have purchased mine. Here is the link:

http://literature.org/authors/dumas-a...

The book has 32 chapters and a conclusion, making it 33.

The reading schedule will be:
July 1-7: ch 1-9
July 8-14: ch 10-18
July 15-21: ch 19-27
July 21-28: ch 28- the end.

That will be 9 chapters per week but only 6 for the last week to allow a discussion of the book as a whole.

I look forward to leading this discussion.

[Janice]

Looking forward to the read!

[Renee, Moderator]

Looking forward to this! I've read several Dumas but not this one. It looks quite exciting.

[Veronique]

Same here :O)

[Tracey]

From the introduction of the Penguin Classics I found the following interesting:

1. The book is set in Holland which is a country formed out of the 7 northern provinces of Spanish Netherlands (the lower 10 became Belgium.) These Northern Provinces declared their independence from Spain in1579 under the leadership of William the Silent, Prince of Orange.

2. William of Orange was not a monarch but a Stadhouder, the head of state and military commander, who ruled in conjuction with the State-general lead by the Raadpensionaris.

3. In 1650 the post of Stadhouder was left vacant and in 1653, the leader of the Republican factor, Johan de Witt became the Raadpensionaris and eventually abolished the office of Stafhouder,

4. De Witt was a brilliant statesman and diplomat who devoted himself to maintain the country's independence. However in 1672 William of Orange was made Stadhouder and De Witt was charged with treason.

5.This is more or less the point in history where Dumas begins The Black Tulip.

Hope this little intro helps :)

[Tracey]

Reading through the introduction and the first few chapters to get a feel for the book, I was surprised how witty Dumas is. Having never read one of his books before, I am ashamed to say, I am already loving this book.

I will say no more except that there are some historical mistakes in the text that I will try to highlight as we go along. They do not distract from the story but if, like me, you like accuracy in any historical fiction, then we can discuss these points as they arise.

I am not sure what copies everyone has but the Penguin Classics one I am reading states that it is, 'better translated and unabridged version' and does have good notes, introduction and further reading.

[Renee, Moderator]

Thanks for the historical references, Tracey.

Here's a Wikipedia link for anyone interested in a little more info on Orange. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princ...

It begins with...
The Principality of Orange (in French la Principauté d'Orange) was, from 1163 to 1713, a feudal state in Provence, in the south of modern-day France, on the left bank of the River Rhone north of the city of Avignon.


(I only knew a tiny bit related to William III of Orange being William III of England, he of William and Mary. Of course, this novel is set well before that so a bit of background helped me set the stage in my head.)

[Tracey]

Renee wrote: "Thanks for the historical references, Tracey.

Here's a Wikipedia link for anyone interested in a little more info on Orange. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princ...

It begins with..."

Dumas confused the issue and called him William the Silent which was in fact William III great-grandfather.

[Dee]

I just downloaded this from Project Gutenberg, and looking forward to reading :)

[Renee, Moderator]

Okay, thanks, Tracey. William, the Silent = William, the First. The novel starts with William III, but not yet of England.

On a side note, has anyone else seen The First Churchills. It follows the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, and consequently the monarchy including William and Mary.

[Clarissa]

Renee wrote: "
On a side note, has anyone else seen The First Churchills. It follows th..."

I think you can get 'The First Churchills' on youtube. I've read a book about them before, I am not sure how historically accurate it was, but they made the Duchess of Marlborough out to be very conniving!

[Renee, Moderator]

Thanks, Clari! I'll try there and at my library. I'm not sure about the accuracy either, but it was certainly fun to watch. :D

[Tracey]

The First Churchills indeed were very much the social 'climbers' of the day and did everything they could to increase their wealth and status. They ended up with a palace bigger than the ruling monarch had.