The Three Musketeers

Les Trois Mousquetaires

Alexandre Dumas · 1844 · French

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What it is

In 1625 the hot-headed young Gascon d'Artagnan rides to Paris to join the King's Musketeers, and on his first day challenges three of them, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, to duels; they become his firm friends. Together they cross swords with Cardinal Richelieu's guards and spies, above all the beautiful, deadly Milady de Winter, to save the Queen's honour.

Why it matters

The model of the swashbuckler, whose motto, all for one and one for all, became proverbial. Written with Auguste Maquet, it opened a three-novel saga and has been filmed again and again since the silent era.

Reading it

About 700 pages. Easy to read: plain prose for a general reader.

Where to buy

Buy on Amazon

Your notes

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Influenced by1

Built on
Ivanhoe · Walter Scott · 1819 (dated 1820)
Dumas learned from Scott's historical romances, Ivanhoe the most famous of them, and The Three Musketeers takes their brand of adventure into the French past.
Wikipedia, Walter Scott, Legacy; Wikidata, Q38337 (P737)

Influenced0

No later works recorded yet.

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