Dumas

Dumas, name of two 19th-century French authors, a father and his illegitimate son. Alexandra Dumas père (1802–70) wrote the famous historical novels The Three Musketeers (1844) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1845). Alexandra Dumas fils (1824–95), his son, won fame with his tragic play La Dame aux Camélias (Camille; 1812), which formed the basis of Verdi's opera La Traviata. He also wrote moralizing plays aimed at the reform of social evils.