Dumas' Three Musketeers
Posted by: JamieWednesday on 05 March 2007
Fancy reading this. Anyone know the best/most enjoyable translation?
Posted on: 05 March 2007 by Mick P
Jamie
The Three Musketeers is the first of 5 books on the life of D'Artagnan and his three Musketeer friends, Athos, Portos and Aramis.
Most people assume that this story is fiction but it is in fact based on truth.
D'Artagnan was a Musketeer and he rose through the Ranks and became a General. He was killed at Maestrict. The Maestrict Hotel has a brilliant restaurant called the D'Artangan suite and the dinners are excellent. Go there if you are nearby.
The three Musketeers were in fact two secret agents (Athos and Pothos) and the Names were code names in the Kings secret service. Aramis was a Jesuit and liased between the King and the Pope.
The first most commonly known novel is the Three Musketeers which chronicles the meeting of D'Artagnan and the three Musketeers when they were young men at the start of their careers and the dealings with the Duke of Buckingham and the Lady de Winter.
This is followed by Twenty Years After when Louis X1V is a prince under the rule of Cardinal Mazarin. Mazarin is my all time hero. He rose from a poor family in Italy and became the French Prime Minister and a patron of the arts and very wealthy. The death of King Charles is the main point of this story and the Musketeers are summoned out of retirement twenty years later to organise his escape. They failed but the ruthless Arimis used it to start his Jesuit career.
The third novel is Louise De La Valliere and the fourth the Vicomte De Bragelonne which is a mixture of a love story (son of Athos and Louise de la Valliere) and political fact and intrique. It centers around the death of Mazarin and his successor Foquet.
The fifth and final story is the Man in the Iron Mask which again is suppose to be based on a fact that Louis had a twin brother locked up in the bastille but it is somewhat fictional. There is certainly eveidence that a prisoner was locked up for years in an iron mask and he disappeared on day without trace.
This is the novel where D'Artagnan dies. His friendship with Athos and Porthos remains intact but Aramis is disowned for a succession of treachery in his climb up the greasy pole in the Jesuit fraternity.
Best bet is to buy a set on ebay. They go for peanuts.
If you want any more info, just ask.
Regards
Mick
The Three Musketeers is the first of 5 books on the life of D'Artagnan and his three Musketeer friends, Athos, Portos and Aramis.
Most people assume that this story is fiction but it is in fact based on truth.
D'Artagnan was a Musketeer and he rose through the Ranks and became a General. He was killed at Maestrict. The Maestrict Hotel has a brilliant restaurant called the D'Artangan suite and the dinners are excellent. Go there if you are nearby.
The three Musketeers were in fact two secret agents (Athos and Pothos) and the Names were code names in the Kings secret service. Aramis was a Jesuit and liased between the King and the Pope.
The first most commonly known novel is the Three Musketeers which chronicles the meeting of D'Artagnan and the three Musketeers when they were young men at the start of their careers and the dealings with the Duke of Buckingham and the Lady de Winter.
This is followed by Twenty Years After when Louis X1V is a prince under the rule of Cardinal Mazarin. Mazarin is my all time hero. He rose from a poor family in Italy and became the French Prime Minister and a patron of the arts and very wealthy. The death of King Charles is the main point of this story and the Musketeers are summoned out of retirement twenty years later to organise his escape. They failed but the ruthless Arimis used it to start his Jesuit career.
The third novel is Louise De La Valliere and the fourth the Vicomte De Bragelonne which is a mixture of a love story (son of Athos and Louise de la Valliere) and political fact and intrique. It centers around the death of Mazarin and his successor Foquet.
The fifth and final story is the Man in the Iron Mask which again is suppose to be based on a fact that Louis had a twin brother locked up in the bastille but it is somewhat fictional. There is certainly eveidence that a prisoner was locked up for years in an iron mask and he disappeared on day without trace.
This is the novel where D'Artagnan dies. His friendship with Athos and Porthos remains intact but Aramis is disowned for a succession of treachery in his climb up the greasy pole in the Jesuit fraternity.
Best bet is to buy a set on ebay. They go for peanuts.
If you want any more info, just ask.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 05 March 2007 by chiba
It's out of copyright, so Gutenberg have it:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1257
The rest of his work is here, some translated, some not:
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/d#a492
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1257
The rest of his work is here, some translated, some not:
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/d#a492
Posted on: 05 March 2007 by JamieWednesday
Have you read the Dumas Club by Arturo Perez-Reverte? Jolly good I thought.
Made into The Ninth Gate on film which is alright.
Mick, I suspect I've hit on a pet love of yours...
Made into The Ninth Gate on film which is alright.
Mick, I suspect I've hit on a pet love of yours...
Posted on: 05 March 2007 by Mick P
Jamie
If the question was directed at me, the answer is no.
I am looking for a complete set of leather bound works so I can read them when I eventually get around to retiring.
Dumas mastered the mix of fact and fiction and I really rate his stuff. The stories are good and it accurately sums up ambition, treachery, the way people lived and everything else.
Regards
Mick
If the question was directed at me, the answer is no.
I am looking for a complete set of leather bound works so I can read them when I eventually get around to retiring.
Dumas mastered the mix of fact and fiction and I really rate his stuff. The stories are good and it accurately sums up ambition, treachery, the way people lived and everything else.
Regards
Mick