Château de Monte-Cristo

Literary Tourism, Part 2

- ZACHARY PETIT

July 25, 1847. Le Port-Marly, just outside Paris.

Alexandre Dumas had sent out a mere 50 invitations to his party-but naturally, some 600 people show up.

It's a testament to his larger-than-life character ... and a development the author likely takes in stride (with great pride). Tables dot the lawn. A gratuitous feast is prepared. Dumas' pet monkeys frolic about. As André Maurois would detail in a biography a century later, "Radiant, Dumas circulates among his guests. His coat glitters with crosses and badges; his brilliant waistcoat is festooned with a heavy chain of massive gold; he kisses the beautiful ladies and tells marvelous stories the whole night. Never has he been happier ..."

All the while, the incredible castle he now calls home looms over the proceedings. And rightly so-for this is a housewarming party.

Sometimes, life reflects art. But in the greatest literary destinations and writer homes, the line between the two all but disappears. Here, Dumas has quite literally become the Count of Monte Cristo.

Dumas first came to Paris in 1823, when he was 21. He had no money, but he had a penchant for words and before becoming the novelist he is remembered as today, he achieved notoriety as a playwright. By the mid-1830s, newspaper serials had taken off, and The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo soon sprang forth from Dumas' pen, alongside hordes of other characters. By the end of his life, The Guardian estimates he had banked more than 4,000 primary characters, 9,000 secondary ones, and 25,000 walk-ons across hundreds of books.