The Count of Monte-Cristo, Volume 1

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Chapman and Hall, 1846 - Fiction - 636 pages
The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas completed in 1844. It is one of the author's most popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.The story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815-1839: the era of the Bourbon Restoration through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France. It begins just before the Hundred Days period (when Napoleon returned to power after his exile). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book, an adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness. It centres around a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune, and sets about getting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. However, his plans have devastating consequences for the innocent as well as the guilty. In addition, it is a story that involves romance, loyalty, betrayal, and selfishness, shown throughout the story as characters slowly reveal their true inner nature.The book is considered a literary classic today. According to Luc Sante, "The Count of Monte Cristo has become a fixture of Western civilization's literature, as inescapable and immediately identifiable as Mickey Mouse, Noah's flood, and the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
 

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Page 1 - Notre-Dame de la Garde signalled the three-master, the Pharaon, from Smyrna, Trieste, and Naples. As usual, a pilot put off immediately, and, rounding the Chateau d'lf, got on board the vessel between Cape Morgion and the Isle of Rion.
Page 147 - In two or three hours," thought Dantes, "the turnkey will enter my chamber, find the body of my poor friend, recognize it, seek for me in vain, and give the alarm. Then the tunnel will be discovered; the men who cast me into the sea and who must have heard the cry I uttered, will be questioned. Then boats filled with armed soldiers will pursue the wretched fugitive. The cannon will warn every one to refuse shelter to a man wandering about naked and famished. The police of Marseilles will be on the...
Page 150 - That's not fair," said the seaman who had saved Dantes; "for you know more than we do." "What is that to you, Jacopo?" returned the captain. "Every one is free to ask what he pleases.
Page 146 - Edmond felt the rock beneath which he lay tremble, the waves, dashing themselves against the granite rock, wetted him with their spray. In safety, as he was, he felt himself become giddy in the midst of this war of the elements and the dazzling brightness of the lightning. It seemed to him that the island trembled to its base, and that it would, like a vessel at anchor, break her moorings and bear him off into the centre of the storm.
Page 142 - ... hoping that the weight would not be too heavy for him to support. If he was deceived in this and the earth proved too heavy, he would be stifled, and then, so much the better, all would be over. Dantes had not eaten since the previous evening, but he had not thought of hunger or thirst, nor did he now think of it.
Page 148 - ... direction they were pursuing. They were rapidly leaving the Chateau d'lf behind. Dantes was so exhausted that the exclamation of joy he uttered was mistaken for a sigh. As we have said, he was lying on the deck, a sailor was rubbing his limbs with a woollen cloth ; another, whom he recognised as the one who had cried out
Page 247 - One evening a wolf emerged from a pine wood near which they were usually stationed, but had scarcely advanced ten yards ere he was dead. Proud of this exploit, Vampa took the dead animal on his shoulders, and carried him to the farm. All these circumstances had gained Luigi considerable reputation. The man of superior abilities always finds admirers, go where he will. He was spoken of as the most adroit, the strongest, and the most courageous contadino for ten leagues round ; and although Teresa...
Page 146 - Then all became dark again. Dantes ran down the rocks at the risk of being himself dashed to pieces ; he listened, he strove to examine, but he heard and saw nothing, — all human cries had ceased ; and the tempest alone continued to rage. By degrees the wind abated ; vast grey clouds rolled towards the west ; and the blue firmament appeared studded with bright stars.
Page 284 - A man has carried off your mistress, a man has seduced your wife, a man has dishonoured your daughter; he has rendered the whole life of one who had the right to expect from heaven that portion of happiness God has promised to every one of his creatures, an existence of misery and infamy; and you think you are avenged because you send a ball through the head, or pass a sword through the breast, of that man who has planted madness in your brain, and despair in your heart.
Page 49 - Stop a moment," said the deputy, as Dantes took his hat and gloves. "To whom is it addressed?" "To Monsieur Noirtier, Rue Coq-Heron, Paris." Had a thunderbolt fallen into the room, Villefort could not have been more stupefied. He sank into his seat, and hastily turning over the packet, drew forth the fatal letter, at which he glanced with an expression of terror. "M. Noirtier, Rue Coq-Heron, No. 13," murmured he, growing still paler. "Yes," said Dantes; "do you know him?" "No," replied Villefort;...

About the author (1846)

After an idle youth, Alexandre Dumas went to Paris and spent some years writing. A volume of short stories and some farces were his only productions until 1927, when his play Henri III (1829) became a success and made him famous. It was as a storyteller rather than a playwright, however, that Dumas gained enduring success. Perhaps the most broadly popular of French romantic novelists, Dumas published some 1,200 volumes during his lifetime. These were not all written by him, however, but were the works of a body of collaborators known as "Dumas & Co." Some of his best works were plagiarized. For example, The Three Musketeers (1844) was taken from the Memoirs of Artagnan by an eighteenth-century writer, and The Count of Monte Cristo (1845) from Penchet's A Diamond and a Vengeance. At the end of his life, drained of money and sapped by his work, Dumas left Paris and went to live at his son's villa, where he remained until his death.

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