1.
Alexandre Dumas, fils
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Dumas, fils was the son of Alexandre Dumas, père, also a well-known playwright and author of classics such as The Three Musketeers. Dumas, fils was admitted to the Académie française in 1874, Dumas was born in Paris, France, the illegitimate child of Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay, a dressmaker, and novelist Alexandre Dumas. In 1831 his father recognized him and ensured that the young Dumas received the best education possible at the Institution Goubaux. At that time, the law allowed the elder Dumas to take the child away from his mother and her agony inspired the younger Dumas to write about tragic female characters. At boarding schools, he was taunted by his classmates because of his family situation. These issues profoundly influenced his thoughts, behaviour, and writing, in 1844, Dumas moved to Saint-Germain-en-Laye to live with his father. There he met Marie Duplessis, a courtesan who would be the inspiration for the character Marguerite Gauthier in his romantic novel La Dame aux camélias. Adapted into a play, it was titled Camille in English and became the basis for Verdis 1853 opera, La Traviata, Duplessis undergoing yet another name change, this time to Violetta Valéry. Although he admitted that he had done the adaptation because he needed the money, he had success with the play. He was not only more renowned than his father during his lifetime, after this, he virtually abandoned writing novels. On 31 December 1864, in Moscow, Dumas married Nadezhda von Knorring, daughter of Johan Reinhold von Knorring, after Nadezhdas death, Dumas married Henriette Régnier de La Brière in June 1895, without issue. In 1874, he was admitted to the Académie française and in 1894 he was awarded the Légion dhonneur, Dumas died at Marly-le-Roi, Yvelines, on 27 November 1895, and was interred in the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. His grave is, perhaps coincidentally, only some 100 metres away from that of Marie Duplessis, aventures de quatre femmes et d’un perroquet Césarine La Dame aux camélias. Texte online ), with an illustrated by Albert Besnard English titled as Camellias Le Docteur Servan Antonine Le Roman d’une femme Les Quatre Restaurations. Vivier LAmi des femmes Le Supplice dune femme coll, emile de Girardin Héloïse Paranquet coll. Durentin Les Idées de Madame Aubray Le Filleul de Pompignac coll, francois Une Visite de noces La Princesse Georges La Femme de Claude Monsieur Alphonse LÉtrangère Les Danicheff coll. de Corvin La Comtesse Romani coll. Gustave Fould La Princesse de Bagdad Denise Francillon La Route de Thèbes Illegitimacy in fiction Legitimacy Maurois, the Titans, a three-generation biography of the Dumas. New York, Harper & Brothers Publishers, a Critical Edition of the Manuscripts of La Route de Thebes by Alexandre Dumas fils
2.
Dead Souls
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Dead Souls is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The purpose of the novel was to demonstrate the flaws and faults of the Russian mentality, Gogol portrayed those defects through Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov and the people whom he encounters in his endeavours. These people are typical of the Russian middle-class of the time, Gogol himself saw it as an epic poem in prose, and within the book as a novel in verse. Despite supposedly completing the second part, Gogol destroyed it shortly before his death. Although the novel ends in mid-sentence, it is regarded as complete in the extant form. The original title, as shown on the illustration, was The Wanderings of Chichikov, poema, which contracted to merely Dead Souls. In the Russian Empire, before the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, serfs were for most purposes considered the property of the landowner, who could buy, sell or mortgage them, as any other chattel. To count serfs, the word soul was used, e. g. six souls of serfs. The plot of the novel relies on dead souls which are accounted for in property registers. On another level, the title refers to the souls of Gogols characters. It is also described as a novel, the literary genre virtually non-existent in Russian literature of the times. The first part of the novel was intended to represent a modern-day Inferno of the Divine Comedy, Gogol reveals to his readers an encompassing picture of the ailing social system in Russia after the war of 1812. As in many of Gogols short stories, the criticism of Dead Souls is communicated primarily through absurd. Unlike the short stories, however, Dead Souls was meant to offer solutions rather than simply point out problems. This grander scheme was largely unrealized at Gogols death, the work was never completed, and it is primarily the earlier, darker part of the novel that is remembered. In their studies of Gogol, Andrey Bely, D. S. Mirsky, Vladimir Nabokov, the novel has a circular structure, following Chichikov as he visits the estates of landowners living around the capital of a guberniya. Every reader of The Iliad was struck by this device, too, Nabokov also pointed out the Homeric roots of the complicated absurdist technique of Gogols comparisons and digressions. Of all Gogols creations, Chichikov stands out as the incarnation of poshlost and his psychological leitmotiv is complacency, and his geometrical expression roundness
3.
Charles Dickens
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Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the worlds best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era and his works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity, born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors prison. Dickenss literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers, within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the publication of narrative fiction. The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audiences reaction, and he modified his plot. For example, when his wifes chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities and his plots were carefully constructed, and he often wove elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the poor chipped in hapennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up. Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age and his 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also adapted, and, like many of his novels. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London, Dickens has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for his realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of depth, loose writing. The term Dickensian is used to something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812, at 1 Mile End Terrace, Landport in Portsea Island and his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office and was temporarily stationed in the district. He asked Christopher Huffam, rigger to His Majestys Navy, gentleman, Huffam is thought to be the inspiration for Paul Dombey, the owner of a shipping company in Dickenss eponymous Dombey and Son. In January 1815 John Dickens was called back to London, when Charles was four, they relocated to Sheerness, and thence to Chatham, Kent, where he spent his formative years until the age of 11. His early life seems to have been idyllic, though he himself a very small. Charles spent time outdoors but also read voraciously, including the novels of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding, as well as Robinson Crusoe
4.
Bleak House
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Bleak House is one of Charles Dickenss major novels, first published as a serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has characters and several sub-plots, and the story is told partly by the novels heroine, Esther Summerson. At the centre of Bleak House is the legal case, Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Though the legal profession criticised Dickenss satire as exaggerated, this novel helped support a reform movement. There is some debate among scholars as to when Bleak House is set, the English legal historian Sir William Holdsworth sets the action in 1827, however, reference to preparation for the building of a railway in Chapter LV suggests the 1830s. Sir Leicester Dedlock and his wife Lady Honoria live on his estate at Chesney Wold, unknown to Sir Leicester, Lady Dedlock had a lover, Captain Hawdon, before she married – and had a daughter by him. Lady Dedlock believes her daughter is dead, the daughter, Esther, is in fact alive, and being raised by Miss Barbary, Lady Dedlocks sister. Esther does not know Miss Barbary is her aunt, after Miss Barbary dies, John Jarndyce becomes Esthers guardian and assigns the Chancery lawyer Conversation Kenge to take charge of her future. After attending school for six years, Esther moves in with him at Bleak House, Jarndyce simultaneously assumes custody of two other wards, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare. They are beneficiaries in one of the wills at issue in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, their guardian is a beneficiary under another will, and the two wills conflict. Richard and Ada soon fall in love, but though Mr Jarndyce does not oppose the match, Richard first tries a career in medicine, and Esther meets Allan Woodcourt, a physician, at the house of Richards tutor. When Richard mentions the prospect of gaining from the resolution of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, meanwhile, Lady Dedlock is also a beneficiary under one of the wills. Early in the book, while listening to the reading of an affidavit by the solicitor, Mr Tulkinghorn. The sight affects her so much she almost faints, which Tulkinghorn notices and investigates and he traces the copyist, a pauper known only as Nemo, in London. Lady Dedlock is also investigating, disguised as her maid, Mademoiselle Hortense and she pays Jo to take her to Nemos grave. Meanwhile, Tulkinghorn is concerned Lady Dedlocks secret could threaten the interests of Sir Leicester and he also enlists Inspector Bucket to run Jo out of town, so that there are no loose ends that might connect Nemo to the Dedlocks. Esther sees Lady Dedlock at church and talks with her later at Chesney Wold – though neither woman recognises their connection, later, Lady Dedlock does discover that Esther is her child. However Esther has become sick after nursing the homeless boy Jo, Lady Dedlock waits until she has recovered before telling her the truth
