Parisians and Provincials Author:Alexandre Dumas, A. Craig Bell (Translator) In an exciting and productive life, Alexandre Dumas produced a number of novels, plays and poetry, celebrated in France and Europe, some of which were made into films, teledramas, radio plays, etc. Here, for the first time in English is a translation of one of Dumas' forgotten gems, a novella, first published in a French journal... more » in 1885.
Set in Dumas' birthplace, Villiers-Cotterets, and amongst the Parisian bourgeoisie of the mid-19th century, it tells the story of romance - the marriage of the merchant bourgeois, prosy and pompous Monsieur Peluche, manufacturer and dealer of artificial fruit and flowers, and his easy going, sporting friend in the country, Madeleine. The former is the father of a beautiful, rosy, innocent daughter, Camille, the latter the father-figure for his dead best friend's son, Henri. Written with a keen sense of irony, satire, and twists in plotting, the novel reveals Dumas' keen eye for romance and also exhibits his interest in matters of race.« less