The not-quite-so-swashbuckling duel of Alexandre Dumas

A belated Happy New Year to all my followers. If you did not know, this post is reproduced on my website and blog at www.deborahswift.com, where all my posts  are now appearing. I posted here, just in case you missed my previous posts.

I had a wonderful Christmas in which I got a whole pile of books, one of which was 'Love Sex Death and Words - surprising tales from a year in literature', by John Sutherland and Stephen Fender. This is a marvellous book about writers past and present, and has a diary entry for each day. Highly recommemded for anyone who loves literature!

The entry for the 5th January is about Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers. Now Dumas has been on my mind recently because of the new blockbuster TV series coming our way this Spring, The Musketeers. The new series stars Luke Pasqualino as d'Artagnan and Maimie McCoy as Milady de Winter. The cast also includes Peter Capaldi and Tom Burke.

I can't wait for this, as it ties in nicely with the 17th century swordsmanship I wrote about in A Divided Inheritance. Of course the series is mostly set in France, whereas my book featured a sword school in Spain. But I have always loved swashbuckling films, so this one is definitely on my list.

More information and pictures on the BBC website  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/galleries/p01mb177

Back to the story about Dumas - 

In his memoirs he recalls fighting a duel with someone who had criticized his somewhat dandy-ish dress. Initially the duel was to be fought with pistols, in a snow-swept quarry. Later the weapons were changed to swords, but the duel soon fell into farce with his adversary's braces giving way, and Dumas discovering his sword was much shorter than his opponent's. In the event, the dispute was settled when Dumas drew blood. No fight to the death for him.

A colourful character in real life, Dumas was said to have had over forty affairs. He was known to have at least four illegitimate or "natural" children, including a son who shared his name. This son also became a successful novelist and playwright, and was known in France as Alexandre Dumas, fils (son), while the elder Dumas became known as Alexandre Dumas, père (father). 

 "the most generous, large-hearted being in the world. He also was the most delightfully amusing and egotistical creature on the face of the earth. His tongue was like a windmill – once set in motion, you never knew when he would stop, especially if the theme was himself." Watts Phillips

Once The Musketeers starts, please feel free to chat with me about it on twitter @swiftstory

Alexandre Dumas

BBC TV's "The Georgians"



Rousham House where Robert Dormer
kept tyrannical control over his wife

Just finished watching the BBC TV programme about the Georgians, and wanted to say what fantastic viewing it has been. The wonderful Professor Amanda Vickery is a presenter that never gets in the way of the material but presents it with insight and humour. Some of the stories from the diaries of the period would make great novels.

Today we were treated to the diary of poor persecuted Ann Dormer who was kept a virtual prisoner by her jealous husband. The fact that her house was a gorgeous mansion hardly made up for the fact that she was spied upon night and day, even in the gardens.

We were also treated to a close-up of the bane of the historical novelist's life - pockets. (If you put them in your historical novel, you get complaints from readers that pockets did not exist then, but of course they did, just not in the form they are today - and where else is a lady to store her whalebone comb, the key to her secretaire, her much-thumbed love letters?)

These two items were just a couple of the treats we were shown on tonight's episode - I hope they bring it out on DVD - I for one will be adding it to my collection.

The pocket picture is from the lovely blog titled the Gossip Guide to the Eighteenth Century, why not check it out - georgianaduchessofdevonshire.blogspot.com