Alexandre Dumas's rise to fame was boosted by changes in France's social fabric. Literacy was surging, newspapers were booming, and the general population was clamoring for something to read. Dumas gave them what they wanted:page-turning thrills and romance. Elitist critics accused him of pandering to the coarse tastes of the common people, but such criticisms went virtually unnoticed. When The Count of Monte Cristo appeared in serial form in 1844, it became a sensation. Within months, it had been translated into ten languages and could count the highest intellects of the era among its fans. William Makepoace Thackeray and Robert Lores Stevenson sang its praises unabashedly. Its popularity has hardly dimmed in more than 150 years. Since the dawn of motion pictures and television, it has been adapted no fewer than fifty times.

INTRODUCTION

CHRONOLOGY OF ALEXANDRE DUMAS’S LIFE AND WORK

HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF The Count of Monte Cristo

  THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

I    MARSEILLES--THE ARRIVAL

II   FATHER AND SON

III   THE CATALANS

IV    THE BETROTHAL FEAST

V    THE DEPUTY PROCUREUR DU RoI

VI    THE EXAMINATION

VII   THE CHATEAU D’IF

VIII   VILLEFORT AND MERCEDES

IX    THE LITTLE CABINET OF THE TUILERIES

X    THE OGRE

XI    THE HUNDRED DAYS

XII   NUMBERS 34 AND 27

XIII   AN ITALIAN SCHOLAR

XIV  THE TREASURE

XV   THE THIRD ATTACK

XVl   THE CEMETERY OF THE CHATEAU D’IF

XVII   THE ISLE OF TIEOULEN

XVIII  THE ISLE OF MONTE CRISTO

XIX   THE TREASURE CAVE

XX    THE STRANGER

xxI   THE PONT DU CARD INN

XXII   CADEROUSSE’S STORY

XXIII  THE PRISON REGISTER

XXIV   MORREL AND SON

XXV   THE FIFTH OF SEPTEMBER

xxvI   ROMAN BANDITS

XXVII  THE APPARITION

XXVIII  THE CARNIVAL AT ROME

XXIX   THE CATACOMBS OF ST SEBASTIAN

XXX   THE GUESTS