Twenty Years After

Twenty Years After is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized from January-August 1845. A book of The d'Artagnan Romances, it is a sequel to The Three Musketeers (1844) and precedes the 1847-1850 novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne (which includes the sub-plot, "Man in the Iron Mask").

     The novel follows events in France during the Fronde, during the childhood reign of Louis XIV, and in England near the end of the English Civil War, leading up to the victory of Oliver Cromwell and the execution of King Charles I. Through the words of the main characters, particularly Athos, Dumas comes out on the side of the monarchy in general, or at least the text often praises the idea of benevolent royalty. His musketeers are valiant and just in their efforts to protect young Louis XIV and the doomed Charles I from their attackers.

The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers is a historical novel by Alexandre Dumas. Set in 1625-1628, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan (based on Charles de Batz-Castelmore d’Artagnan) after he leaves home to travel to Paris to join the Musketeers of the Guard. Although d'Artagnan is not able to join this elite corps immediately, he befriends the three most formidable musketeers of the age: Athos, Porthos, and Aramis and gets involved in affairs of the state and court.

    In genre The Three Musketeers is primarily a historical and adventure novel; however, Dumas also frequently works into the plot various injustices, abuses, and absurdities of the old regime, giving the novel an additional political aspect at a time when the debate in France between republicans and monarchists was still fierce. The story was first serialized from March-July 1844, during the July Monarchy, four years before the French Revolution of 1848 violently established the Second Republic. The author’s father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, had been a well-known General in France’s Republican army during the French Revolutionary Wars.

    The story of d'Artagnan is continued in Twenty Years After and The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later.

The Count of Monte Cristo

Le Comte de Monte-Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas completed in 1844. It is one of the author’s most popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.

     The story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815-1839: the era of the Bourbon Restoration through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France. It begins just before the Hundred Days period (when Napoleon returned to power after his exile.) The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book, an adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness. The plot centers around a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune, and conspires revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment; however, his plans have devastating consequences for the innocent as well as the guilty. In addition it is a story involving romance, loyalty, betrayal, and selfishness, shown throughout the story as characters slowly reveal their true inner nature. The book is considered a literary classic today.