SOURCE: "The Neglected Side of Dumas," in The National and English Review, July, 1952, pp. 32-60

In the following essay, Bell briefly examines more than a dozen of Dumas's lesser-known novels and other works.

On July 24 this year the Mayor of Villers-Cotterets is unveiling a new statue¹ to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the little town's most illustrious citizen—Alexandre Dumas. The ceremony will be attended by admirers from all over the world; for despite austere critics and academic historians of literature, Dumas continues to hold the attention of posterity.

Anniversaries of the births and deaths of great writers have in reality little significance; if their works survive at all they are timeless, and if they do not live in the affection and esteem of posterity no amount of eulogy, however erudite, will give them new life. Nevertheless they provide occasion and material for the pointing...