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The slightly musty smell of old
book still lingers in my nostrils. As a youngster, I used to spend every summer
I could with my grandparents. As much as I loved seeing them, I loved spending
time there because they had a huge library, filled to the brim with varied and
assorted books.
The Odyssey, numerous Ancient
Roman and Greek Myths, complete volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and
more. But what I loved most of all were the high adventure novels. I was
scarcely more than 10, and for a boy my age, that stuff was crack. I devoured
The Count of Monte Cristo and ‘The Three Musketeers’ in one summer and it was
only some years after that I would learn more about their prolific author.
Alexandre Dumas born ‘Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie’, was a prolific
French author and playwright, author of such classics as ‘The Count of Monte
Cristo’ and ‘The Three Musketeers’. He
is perhaps the most widely read French Novelist of all time, and this belies
his humble beginnings.
He was born destitute, the grandson of a French Nobleman and a Haitian
Slave, and despite a lack of formal education, he was a voracious reader, and
would eventually parlay his skills as a writer into a lucrative career. Despite
his great success, he never received the respect he deserved during his
lifetime, due to discrimination as a result of his mixed-race heritage. It
would only be upon his death that he would receive the recognition that he
truly deserved.
I still love his books and I admire his character above that. He did what
he loved, and he did it well.
Greatest Quote:
As a general rule...people ask for
advice only in order not to follow it; or if they do follow it, in order to
have someone to blame for giving it.”
“One's work may be finished
someday, but one's education never.”
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