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8
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Alex. DUMAS. Charles VII amongst his Great Vassals.
See original version (French)
8
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Alex. DUMAS. Charles VII amongst his Great Vassals.
See original version (French)
Estimate €80 - €120
Voluntary lot
Description
Alex. DUMAS. Charles VII amongst his Great Vassals. A Tragedy in Five Acts. Second edition, expanded to include a preface. Paris, Publications de Charles Lemesle, Sold by Ve Charles-Béchet, Werder, Lecointe and Pougin, Riga…, 1831.
In-8, fawn half-basane, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, small gilt fleur-de-lis and dates on the spine, title label in aubergine morocco.
[2 ff.], 124 pp.
The play was first performed at the Théâtre de l’Odéon on 20 October 1831, starring Mlle George, Alexandrine Noblet, and Delafosse in the role of Charles VII.
Whilst he chose the classical form of a five-act tragedy and took Racine as his model, Dumas presented the audience with a genuine Romantic drama, the plot of which he summarised in a single sentence: a woman drives the man she does not love to kill the man she loves.
The play is in fact a series of twists and turns, featuring, in succession, a murder, a death sentence, the king’s pardon, another murder and the final suicide.
Although the king lends his name to the play, he is in fact merely a bit-part character, and the true hero is Yaqoub, the Arab slave of the Count of Savoisy, who secretly loves the Countess Bérangère and who, ‘longing for his native land, [is] held in the land of exile by a chain stronger than that of his slavery.’ (Dumas, Mémoires, chap. CCIX).
The play baffled the public; the classicists found it too violent, whilst the Romantics found it too classical. Dumas achieved only a limited success. In the preface to this second edition, Dumas defends himself, stating in particular: ‘ I am not quite sure how the Count of Savoisy died, but, in all fairness, that is how he ought to have died.’ This was a way of silencing the critics. The play continued to be performed throughout the nineteenth century and was even revived at the Odéon in 1909.
Munro, 22.
Spine worn, damage to the top cap, corners scuffed, a few stains.
A play in which Dumas attempted the impossible fusion of romantic drama with classical tragedy.
One of Dumas’s earliest melodramas in a contemporary binding.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
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