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A review by korrick
Georges by Alexandre Dumas
3.0
3.5/5
Not all books are created equal. In this particular work's case, we have a 134 year difference between the time of composition and the time of publication in a certain land of the free, as well as a concerted effort by readers far and wide to forget that the author is black. Add in a slave rebellion as subject material and a main character who happens to be mulatto, and you have a recipe for the sort of obfuscation that leads people to believe that [b:The Book of Night Women|4682558|The Book of Night Women|Marlon James|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1442717381s/4682558.jpg|4733113] could have not been published to the acclaim it received any earlier than it was. Now, this isn't me saying that this is a forgotten classic, although one could make the argument based on Dumas' well established reputation in the canon. It's been a very long time since I read [b:The Count of Monte Cristo|7126|The Count of Monte Cristo|Alexandre Dumas|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1309203605s/7126.jpg|391568], but various adaptations, including one particularly phenomenal piece of animation, have kept its memory fresh in my mind to the point that I can honestly say that the work that derived a great deal of source material from its predecessor, having begun its composition the year after Georges was published, is the far better one. What is lacking, then, is quality critical attention paid to the whole of Dumas, père's bibliography. Blackness and all.
In terms of the writing, it is of the stirring adventure sort that is very easy to visualize and be carried along by. To Dumas' credit, it does not obfuscate enough in the Faulknerian way to the render the reader an empty vessel to anything that is said prettily enough, and so the international stage is displayed in all its author's personally biased glory. More often than not, this is of an admirable nature, as Dumas touches upon both Chinese immigrants and the multicultural spread of Islam with a careful sense of incorporation that does not use the excuse of home territory to forgo diplomacy in its entirety. However, when it came to the topic of antiblack slavery, the narrative often tread into the territory from which stereotypes are born, and while the stunt of the 'tragic mulatto' was avoided, the white-woman-love-as-proof-of-defeat-of-antiblackness was a bit much. Not to mention the inebriation trope that served as the veritable climax of the entire novel. However, a black writer tackling these topics is still far better than the non-black person's efforts, in that the black writer's efforts is worth something and the non-black person's efforts is worth null and void. If you as a white person want to complain about this, go yell at your ancestors for inventing an entire system of pseuoscientific/genocidal reasoning that's benefiting you to this day. If you as someone who isn't white or black want to complain about this, I suggest you talk to someone who is black about it.
Middle-of-the-road as this reading was, the context that, judging by its number of ratings, continues to hide it away today need far more attention than it has been so far receiving. The whole is a greater than the sum of its parts, and what occurs in [b:The Count of Monte Cristo|7126|The Count of Monte Cristo|Alexandre Dumas|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1309203605s/7126.jpg|391568] and [b:The Three Musketeers|7190|The Three Musketeers|Alexandre Dumas|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1320436982s/7190.jpg|1263212] and [b:The Man in the Iron Mask|54499|The Man in the Iron Mask (The D'Artagnan Romances, #3.3)|Alexandre Dumas|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1348990897s/54499.jpg|2971402] could not have happened without the existence of [b:Georges|333333|Georges|Alexandre Dumas|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1320436294s/333333.jpg|2666641]. If nothing else, this reading has got me hankering after a reread of the Count something fierce, especially now that I have a better understanding of its origins.
Not all books are created equal. In this particular work's case, we have a 134 year difference between the time of composition and the time of publication in a certain land of the free, as well as a concerted effort by readers far and wide to forget that the author is black. Add in a slave rebellion as subject material and a main character who happens to be mulatto, and you have a recipe for the sort of obfuscation that leads people to believe that [b:The Book of Night Women|4682558|The Book of Night Women|Marlon James|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1442717381s/4682558.jpg|4733113] could have not been published to the acclaim it received any earlier than it was. Now, this isn't me saying that this is a forgotten classic, although one could make the argument based on Dumas' well established reputation in the canon. It's been a very long time since I read [b:The Count of Monte Cristo|7126|The Count of Monte Cristo|Alexandre Dumas|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1309203605s/7126.jpg|391568], but various adaptations, including one particularly phenomenal piece of animation, have kept its memory fresh in my mind to the point that I can honestly say that the work that derived a great deal of source material from its predecessor, having begun its composition the year after Georges was published, is the far better one. What is lacking, then, is quality critical attention paid to the whole of Dumas, père's bibliography. Blackness and all.
In terms of the writing, it is of the stirring adventure sort that is very easy to visualize and be carried along by. To Dumas' credit, it does not obfuscate enough in the Faulknerian way to the render the reader an empty vessel to anything that is said prettily enough, and so the international stage is displayed in all its author's personally biased glory. More often than not, this is of an admirable nature, as Dumas touches upon both Chinese immigrants and the multicultural spread of Islam with a careful sense of incorporation that does not use the excuse of home territory to forgo diplomacy in its entirety. However, when it came to the topic of antiblack slavery, the narrative often tread into the territory from which stereotypes are born, and while the stunt of the 'tragic mulatto' was avoided, the white-woman-love-as-proof-of-defeat-of-antiblackness was a bit much. Not to mention the inebriation trope that served as the veritable climax of the entire novel. However, a black writer tackling these topics is still far better than the non-black person's efforts, in that the black writer's efforts is worth something and the non-black person's efforts is worth null and void. If you as a white person want to complain about this, go yell at your ancestors for inventing an entire system of pseuoscientific/genocidal reasoning that's benefiting you to this day. If you as someone who isn't white or black want to complain about this, I suggest you talk to someone who is black about it.
Middle-of-the-road as this reading was, the context that, judging by its number of ratings, continues to hide it away today need far more attention than it has been so far receiving. The whole is a greater than the sum of its parts, and what occurs in [b:The Count of Monte Cristo|7126|The Count of Monte Cristo|Alexandre Dumas|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1309203605s/7126.jpg|391568] and [b:The Three Musketeers|7190|The Three Musketeers|Alexandre Dumas|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1320436982s/7190.jpg|1263212] and [b:The Man in the Iron Mask|54499|The Man in the Iron Mask (The D'Artagnan Romances, #3.3)|Alexandre Dumas|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1348990897s/54499.jpg|2971402] could not have happened without the existence of [b:Georges|333333|Georges|Alexandre Dumas|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1320436294s/333333.jpg|2666641]. If nothing else, this reading has got me hankering after a reread of the Count something fierce, especially now that I have a better understanding of its origins.
God shall judge between slaves and masters, between the weak and the strong, between martyrs and their executioners.