Finding Monte Cristo: Alexandre Dumas and the French Atlantic World

215 Pages·2018·4.5 MB·English

by  Eric Martone

Finding Monte Cristo
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Finding Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas and
the French Atlantic World
Eric Martone
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
LibraryoFCongrEssCataLoguing-in-PubLiCationData
names: Martone, Eric, author.
title: Finding Monte Cristo : alexandre Dumas and the French
atlantic world / Eric Martone.
Description: Jefferson, north Carolina : McFarland & Company,
inc., Publishers, 2018 | includes bibliographical references
and index.
identifiers: LCCn 2018023997 | isbn 9781476673202 (softcover :
acid free paper)
♾
subjects: LCsH: Dumas, alexandre, 1802–1870—influence. |
France—Colonies—america—intellectual life. | France—
Colonies—africa—intellectual life. | France—Colonies—
america—race relations. | France—Colonies—africa—race
relations. | France—race relations.
Classification: LCC PQ2230 .M317 2018 | DDC 843/.7—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018023997
britisHLibraryCataLoguingDataarEavaiLabLE
ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-7320-2
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-3339-8
© 2018 Eric Martone. all rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover: alexandre Dumas in an 1855 photograph;
background map of the atlantic ocean, 1831 (istock)
Printed in the united states of america
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
tomychildren,
Domenic and gianna
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table of Contents
acknowledgments viii
Preface 1
introduction 3
1. “black skin, White Masks” in nineteenth- Century
France: alexandre Dumas and His Experiences as
an Exotic other, 1829–1870 13
2. a Hero of assimilation: alexandre Dumas and
the French Caribbean, 1848–1930 50
3. Creating a Local black identity in a global Context:
alexandre Dumas as an african american Lieu de
Mémoire, 1840–1930 67
4. Forgetting alexandre Dumas: Négritude and
the French Caribbean and africa in the
Mid- twentieth Century, 1930–1970 94
5. alexandre Dumas Métissé: Celebrating Dumas
as a symbol of a Diverse France, 1946–2002 111
Chapter notes 151
bibliography 180
index 201
vii
acknowledgments
iwouldliketothankthepeerreviewersfortheirconstructivefeed-
back and many useful suggestions for revision that helped improve the
final product.
i would also like to thank some of my former mentors, past students,
and current colleagues at Mercy College for their support, including
Michael nolan at Western Connecticut state university, who guided me
into the world of being a historian of modern France and to whom i owe
much thanks; benjamin Freud; andrew Peiser; Mel Wermuth; and Howard
Miller. in various ways, talking to them about European and French his-
tory, Dumas, or academia helped me improve my work and maintain a
degree of sanity and/or encouraged me along the path toward the com-
pletion of this book.
Chapter 3 presents a slightly revised version of my article “Creating
a Local black identity in a global Context: the French Writer alexandre
Dumas as an african american Lieu de Mémoire,” which appeared in the
Journal of Global History 5, no. 3 (2010): 395–422, published by Cam-
bridge university Press. it is reprinted with permission. i would like to
thank the journal’s editors for believing in my work and their willingness
to work with me through several revisions at the start of my academic
career. Further, some of the material in this book, particularly in Chapter
5, includes revised elements of my introduction to a collection i edited,
The Black Musketeer: Reevaluating Alexandre Dumas in the Francophone
World, which was published by Cambridge scholars in 2011, and re-
appropriated in this book with permission. all images and photographs
are my own unless otherwise indicated.
the research that went into some of the chapters of my doctoral dis-
sertation at stony brook university inspired what ultimately became this
book. at stony brook, i would particularly like to thank my advisor, Wolf
viii
Acknowledgments
schäfer, and dissertation committee member Larry Frohman for their
help, guidance, and encouragement. other members of the History
Department i would like to acknowledge with my appreciation include
shirley Lim and Herman Lebovics, my initial advisor, who assisted me
through my first year of doctoral studies and encouraged me to pursue a
dissertation topic on Dumas and French identity. i would also like to thank
E. anthony Hurley of the africana studies Department for serving as a
member of my dissertation committee. i am indebted to them for their
willingness to involve themselves in my academic development at that
stage, as it allowed me to ascend to my current professional career path
and the realization of many longtime goals.
over the course of its many incarnations, this project has received
funding in the form of a bernadotte E. schmitt grant from the american
Historical association and a faculty development grant from Mercy Col-
lege. the institute for European studies at indiana university, blooming-
ton, also financially supported work on an interdisciplinary secondary
school unit, which is available on its website, based on some of the research
that found its way into this book.
Finally, but certainly not least, i would to thank my wife, nicole; our
two children, Domenic and gianna; and the rest of my family for their
love and support.
ix