Alexandre Dumas┬а(1802тАУ1870) lived a life as romantic as that depicted in his famous novels. He was born in Villers-Cotter├кts, France. His early education was scanty, but his beautiful handwriting secured him a position in Paris in 1822 with the duтАЩOrl├йans, where he read voraciously and began to write. His first play,┬аHenri III et sa cour┬а(1829), scored a resounding success for its author and the romantic movement. His lavish spending and flamboyant habits led to the construction of his fabulous Ch├вteau de Monte-Cristo, and in 1851 he fled to Belgium to escape creditors. DumasтАЩs overall literary output reached more than 277 volumes, but his brilliant historical novels made him the most universally read of all French novelists. With collaborators, mainly Auguste Maquet, Dumas wrote such works as┬аThe Three Musketeers┬а(1843тАУ1844); its sequels,┬аTwenty Years After┬а(1845) and the great mystery┬аThe Man in the Iron Mask┬а(1845тАУ1850); and┬аThe Count of Monte Cristo┬а(1844). His work ignored historical accuracy, psychology, and analysis, but its thrilling adventure and exuberant inventiveness continued to delight readers, and Dumas remains one of the prodigies of nineteenth-century French literature.