{"product_id":"alexandre-dumas-the-king-of-romance-paperback","title":"Alexandre Dumas: The King of Romance - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eF. W. J. Hemmings\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe last of Alexandre Dumas's many mistresses, the American actress Adah Menken, called him \"the king of romance.\" She was not thinking only of his immensely popular novels \u003ci\u003eThe Three Musketeers\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Count of Monte Cristo\u003c\/i\u003e - everything about Dumas was touched with the spirit of romance, and it is that spirit which this exhilarating biography captures.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was romance in Dumas's ori­gins. He grew up in the country, the son of a general who fought under Napoleon in Egypt and Italy and whose own parents were a French marquis and a slave from Haiti. As a boy, Dumas's closest friends were local poachers and a gardener whom he once watched cut open a grass snake to lib­erate a frog. The world was full of magical possibilities, and, in his twen­ties, after moving to Paris and working as a clerk under the Due d'Orleans, Dumas established himself, with Victor Hugo, as one of the leading Romantic playwrights.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn its scope and richness, Dumas's life bears comparison to those of his fictional heroes. Drawing on Dumas's memoirs and surviving correspon­dence, Professor Hemmings constructs a fascinating story of a writer whose novels continue to excite our imagi­nation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrederick William John Hemmings (1920-1997) was born in Southampton. Hemmings did war service decrypting German codes in the Army Intelligence Corps but in 1946 he returned to academic life in Oxford, completing his DPhil in 1949, a groundbreaking study that was published the following year by Oxford University Press, \u003ci\u003eThe Russian Novel in France 1884-1914\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHemmings really made his mark as a pioneer of Zola studies and is known as the foremost Zola critic in the English-speaking world. Further studies on Zola and Stendhal unfailingly appeared in later years, as did books on two other major 19th-century French writers: \u003ci\u003eThe King of Romance: A Portrait of Alexandre Dumas\u003c\/i\u003e (1979) and \u003ci\u003eBaudelaire the Damned\u003c\/i\u003e (1982). This project of Balzacian and Zolaesque proportions was realized all the more remarkably during a busy nine-year term of office as head of the French department at Leicester University. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHemmings was a hugely respected literary scholar and Professor of French Literature, Leicester University 1963-85; twice married (one son, one daughter); died Leicester 9 May 1997.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 352\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.73 x 9.21 x 6.14 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e December 20, 2012\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48778365272312,"sku":"9781448205271","price":32.32,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0698\/5629\/7208\/files\/3lBMBbwVDS9781448205271.webp?v=1780419028","url":"https:\/\/barneysbooksellers.com\/products\/alexandre-dumas-the-king-of-romance-paperback","provider":"Barney's Book Sellers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}