Alexander Dumas Sr.
(1802-1870)
French author, member of the 'Hashish Club'.
One of the most famous French writers of the 19th century. Dumas is best known for the historical novels The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both written within the space of two years, 1844-45, and which belong to the foundation works of popular culture. He was among the first, along with Honoré de Balzac and Eugène Sue, who fully used the possibilities of roman feuilleton, the serial novel. Dumas is credited with revitalizing the historical novel in France, although his abilities as a writer were under dispute from the beginning. Dumas' works are fast-paced adventure tales. They are not faithful to the historical facts, but blend skillfully history and fiction.
-- "'Diable!' he said, after having swallowed the divine preserve. 'I do not know it the result will be as agreeable as you describe, but the thing does not appear to me as palatable as you say.'
--'Because your palates has not yet been attuned to the sublimity of the substances it flavours. Tell me, the first time you tasted oysters, tea, porter, truffels, and sundry other dainties which you now adore, did you like them? Could you comprehend how the Romans stuffed their pheasants with assafœtida, and the Chinese eat swallows' nests? Eh? no! Well, it is the same with hashish; only eat for a week and nothing in the world will seem to you to equal the delicacy of its flavor, which now appears to you flat and distasteful. Let us now go into the adjoining chamber, which is your apartment, and Ali will bring us coffee and pipes.'" (from The Count of Monte Cristo)
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