Three Musketeers (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Read Free

the inserted material provides important background information about the young man and, by diverting attention from the initial narrative thread, creates suspense. On the other hand, it also allows for the physical expansion of the text and thus helps the author to satisfy his contractual obligation to provide a specified quantity of words or lines of text.
    16. On several occasions in the novel, Dumas indicates that minor events and/or private conflicts can have a significant impact on national or international affairs.
    17. Christophe Miller has studied the role of inns in his article ”Les Auberges dans la trilogie des Mousquetaires” in “Les Trois Mousquetaires”, “ Le Comte de Monte-Cristo”: Cent cinquante ans après (edited by Fernande Bassan and Claude Schopp; Marly-le-Roi, France: Editions Champflour, 1995, pp. 45—49)- It is important to note that until late in the book, D’Artagnan is not yet a Musketeer and would not necessarily serve alongside his friends. Meals are an occasion on which they could plausibly meet.
    18. See Dumas on Food: Selections from “Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine” (translated by A. and J. Davidson; Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1987). The most recent French edition is Alexandre Dumas, Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine (Paris: Phébus, 2000).
    19. See Alexandre Dumas, Pauline (edited by Anne-Marie Callet-Bianco; Paris: Editions Gallimard, 2002).
    20. Consider the following description:
    At length after a journey of nearly an hour, the carriage stopped before an iron gate, which closed an avenue leading to a castle severe in form, massive, and isolated. Then, as the wheels rolled over a fine gravel, Milady could hear a vast roaring, which she recognized at once as the noise of the sea dashing against some steep cliff.
    The carriage passed under two arched gateways, and at length stopped in a court large, dark, and square....
    [She] passed with [Felton] under a low arched door, which by a vaulted passage, lighted only at the farther end, led to a stone staircase around an angle of stone. They came to a massive door, which after the introduction into the lock of a key which the young man carried with him, turned heavily upon its hinges, and disclosed the chamber destined for Milady (pp. 534-535).
    21. One recent exploration of this topic can be found in the article by Jacques Goimard, “La Bande des farceurs: l’humour dans Les Trois Mousquetaires,” in “Les Trois Mousquetaires, ” “Le Comte de Monte-Cristo”: Cent cinquante ans après (edited by Fernande Bassan and Claude Schopp; Marly-le-Roi, France: Editions Champflour, 1995, pp. 67-73).
    22. . Indeed, Grimaud’s behavior here strikes me as reminiscent of that of the alternately brave and timorous servant, Sosie, in Molière’s play Amphitryon (1668).
    23. “After the soup the maid brought a boiled fowl—a piece of magnificence which caused the eyes of the [other] diners to dilate in such a manner that they seemed ready to burst.... The poor fowl was thin, and covered with one of those thick, bristly skins through which the teeth cannot penetrate with all their efforts. The fowl must have been sought for a long time on the perch, to which it had retired to die of old age.
    ‘The devil!’ thought Porthos, ‘this is poor work. I respect old age but I don’t much like it boiled or roasted“’ (p. 373).
    24. His mea culpa is expressed in terms that would be perfectly suited to the confessional (“I admit my patience failed me”), but are rather amusing coming from a man who, whatever his future plans, is currently a Musketeer. Note that the phrases ”throwing himself upon me” and “he let [my sword] pass through his body” grammatically diminish Aramis’s moral responsibility for wounding and/or killing his opponent. This would seem to be an attempt to cast his actions as a venial sin.
    25. One of the most biased and racist critics was Eugène de Mire-court, Fabrique de romans: Maison