Alexandre Dumas, página 19 de 69

The reader guesses beforehand whom the usher preceded in announcing the courier from Bretagne. This messenger was easily recognized. It was DArtagnan, his clothes dusty, his face inflamed, his hair dripping with sweat, his legs stiff; he lifted his feet painfully at every step, on which resounded the clink of his bloodstained spurs. He perceived in the doorway he was passing through, the superintendent coming out. Fouquet bowed with a smile to him who, an hour before, was bringing him ruin and death. DArtagnan found in his goodness of heart, and in his inexhaustible vigor of body, enough presence of mind to remember the kind reception of this man; he bowed then, also, much more from benevolence and compassion, than from respect. He felt upon his lips the word which had so many times been repeated to the Duc de Guise: "Fly." But to pronounce that word would have been to betray his cause; to speak that word in the cabinet of the king, and before an usher, would have been to ruin himself gratuitously, and could save nobody. DArtagnan then, contented himself with bowing to Fouquet and entered. At this moment the king floated between the joy the last words of Fouquet had given him, and his pleasure at the return of DArtagnan.

The winter of 1784, that monster which devoured half France, we could not see, although he growled at the doors, while at the house of M. de Richelieu, shut in as we were in that warm and comfortable dining-room.A little frost on the windows seems but the luxury of nature added to that of man. Winter has its diamonds, its powder, and its silvery embroidery for the rich man wrapped in his furs, and packed in his carriage, or snug among the wadding and velvet of a well-warmed room. Hoar-frost is a beauty, ice a change of decoration by the greatest of artists, which the rich admire through their windows. He who is warm can admire the withered trees, and find a somber charm in the sight of the snow-covered plain. He who, after a day without suffering, when millions of his fellow-creatures are enduring dreadful privations, throws himself on his bed of down, between his fine and well-aired sheets, may find out that all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.But he who is hungry sees none of these beauties of nature; he who is cold hates the sky without a sun, and consequently without a smile for such unfortunates. Now, at the time at which we write, that is, about the middle of the month of April, three hundred thousand miserable beings, dying from cold and hunger, groaned in Paris alonein that Paris where, in spite of the boast that scarcely another city contained so many rich people, nothing had been prepared to prevent the poor from perishing of cold and wretchedness.

Rastreando en legajos olvidados y haciéndoseeco de las historias que la tradición popular había convertidoen verdaderas leyendas, Alexandre Dumas fue entregando a la imprentala reconstrucción fidedigna de todos aquellos crimenes historicosque habian llegado a ser celebres, ya fuera por lo macabroy sangriento de su ejecucion, o por el horror de la propia justiciade la epoca, que aplicaba la tortura mas inhumana para conseguirlas confesiones de los condenados. El misterio, el horror, las escenasde pesadilla, la tortura, el desenfreno de las pasiones... son los elementosde los que se nutre la literatura gotica, y que Dumas recogiode la realidad para dar cumplido testimonio a sus lectores del tenebrosocorazon de los hombres. De esta diversidad de dramas judiciarios,tan del gusto de un publico romantico avido de horrores,hemos escogido tres casos que destacan por su truculencia e intensidaddramatica: La Marquesa de Brinvilliers, UrbanoGrandier y Vaninka.

Alejandro Dumas visito España en 1846, viajó como cronista de la Corte francesa, dando fe de todo aquello que más le llamo la atención en un viaje apasionante desde París a Cádiz.

Ebook con un sumario dinámico y detallado: Alexandre Dumas, conocido en los países hispanohablantes como Alejandro Dumas, fue un novelista y dramaturgo francés. Su hijo, Alexandre Dumas, fue también

"I do not say there is no character as well-drawn in Shakespeare [as DArtagnan]. I do say there is none that I love so wholly." Robert Louis Stevenson"A masterpiece which remains as fresh and living as if it were written yesterday." Jean Lucas-Dubreton"Dumas had genius of a certain kind the genius that comes of vigour and a sense of the dramatic." Andre MauroisOne of the most celebrated and popular historical romances ever written, The Three Musketeers tell the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon gentleman dArtagnan and his three friends from the regiment of the Kings Musketeers: Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.Under the watchful eye of their patron M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards of the Cardinal Richelieu and the honor of the queen against the machinations of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of 17th-century France are vividly played out in the background.But their most dangerous encounter is with the Cardinals spy: Milady, one of literatures most memorable female villains.

On the left bank of the Rhine, near the spot where the Selz rivulet springs forth, the foothill ranges rise of many mountains, of which the bristling humps seem to rush northerly like herds of frightened buffaloes, disappearing in the haze. These mountains tower over a deserted region, forming a guard around one more lofty than the rest, whose granite brow, crowned with a ruined monastery, defies the skies. It is Thunder Mount.On the sixth of May, 1770, as the great river wavelets were dyed in the rainbow hues of the setting sun, a man who had ridden from Maintz, after a journey through Poland, followed the path out of Danenfels Village until it ended, and, then, alighting and leading his steed, tied it up in the pine woods."Be quiet, my good Djerid (javelin)," said the horseman to the animal with this Arabian name which bespoke its blood, and its speed; "and good-bye, if we never meet again."He cast a glance round him as if he suspected he were overheard.The barb neighed and pawed with one foot."Right, Djerid, the danger is around us."But as if he had made up his mind not to struggle with it, the venturesome stranger drew the charges from a pair of splendid pistols and cast the powder and bullets on the sward before replacing them in the holsters. He wore a steel-hilted sword which he took off with the belt, and fastened it to the stirrup leather so as to hang from the saddle-horn point down.These odd formalities being done, he ungloved, and searching his pockets produced nail-scissors and pocket-knife, which he flung over his shoulder without looking to see whither they went.Drawing the longest possible breath, he plunged at random into the thicket, for there was no trace of a path.

Translator: Florencio S. de Yarza Language: Spanish

The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, pere. It is often considered, along with The Three Musketeers, as Dumas most popular work. It is also among the highest selling books of all time. The writing of the work was completed in 1844. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from the plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the historical events of 18151838 (from just before the Hundred Days through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. It is primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, forgiveness and death, and is told in the style of an adventure story.

This carefully crafted ebook: "THE THREE MUSKETEERS - Complete Collection: The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, The Vicomte of Bragelonne, Ten Years Later, Louise da la Valliere & The Man in the Iron Mask" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents.Set in 1625, "The Three Musketeers" recounts the adventures of a young man named dArtagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. Although DArtagnan is not able to join this elite corps immediately, he befriends the three most formidable musketeers of the age: Athos, Porthos and Aramis and gets involved in affairs of the state and court. Dumas frequently works into the plot various injustices, abuses and absurdities of the old regime, giving the story an additional political aspect at a time when the debate in France between republicans and monarchists was still fierce.The novel Twenty Years After follows events in France during the Fronde, during the childhood reign of Louis XIV. The musketeers are valiant and just in their efforts to protect young Louis XIV and the doomed Charles I from their attackers.The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere and The Man in the Iron Mask are set between 1660 and 1667 against the background of the transformation of Louis XIV from child monarch to Sun King.Alexandre Dumas, pere (1802-1870) was a French writer whose works have been translated into nearly 100 languages and he is one of the most widely read French authors. His most famous works are The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.

En sus Crímenes célebres, Dumas recrea algunos de los dramas históricos que habían perdurado en la memoria popular europea. En ésta, la primera traducción al español de su obra Cárlos Luis Sand, de 1841, refiere la historia de este joven prusiano estudiante de teologia y del dramaturgo August von Kotzebue, espia al servicio de Rusia en los inicios del siglo XIX.