Alexandre Dumas, the legendary writer of historical and adventure novels is one of the most widely read French authors of all time. Born as Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, the prolific author began his career as a playwright producing several successful plays before moving on to write novels. He has also written several essays, articles and travel books. The son of a French Army General, he grew up hearing stories of his father’s bravery in the wars which kindled in him a profound interest in historical events. His father died when Alexandre was just four years of age. This caused great financial distress to his mother, who could not provide for her son’s education. The would-be author had an innate love for the words and read whatever books he could lay his hands on; he even taught himself Spanish through self-education. He began his writing career by penning down articles, essays and plays. The success of his plays motivated him to write novels, which he published first in a serialized format in newspapers. In collaboration with other writers, the most notable of whom was Auguste Maquet, he produced several works of fiction which made him immensely popular. His works have been translated into nearly 100 languages and adapted into over 200 films — a fact which makes him one of the best loved authors of the 19th century.