'Why, the only one', meaning Dumaspère. I hope that I may succeed
in persuading so fair-minded a critic to amend that view. Little is
known of the life of Dumasfils. I have here utilized a great deal of
hitherto unpublished material. His letters, greatly superior to those of
Dumaspère, will help the reader to know him better, who will be able,
I trust, to realize that the work of the younger Dumas in the theatre,
though it astonished and, sometimes, shocked contemporary audiences,
responded to what in him was a deeply felt need.

In point of fact, and in spite of appearances, father and son were
very close to one another. They both of them had the 'family sinews'
which they inherited from General Dumas. Both had had, early in
life, to fight against painful injustices. Dumaspère suffered from racial
prejudice; Dumas fils from the stigma of illegitimacy. Both had to
prove to their own satisfaction that they were worth as much as, and
more than, other men. Their favourite heroes were 'Righters of
Wrongs'; musketeers, with Dumaspère; moralists, with Dumas fils.

In the case of the father, the 'purging of passions' was achieved by
a refusal to bear the burden of reality. He was looked upon as a
braggart, whereas the truth would seem to be that, like Balzac, he was
incapable of seeing the boundary which separates the real from the
imaginary. For the son, the paternal example was a constant lesson.
The prodigal father engendered a prudent son; the libertine, a strict
mentor. Dumasfils, after a wild youth, forced himself to take his life
in hand, and so to shape it that it would coincide with his moral
principles. That he failed to do so is his own particular drama. Dumas
fils, in real life, was for ever acting in a play by Dumasfils. I have done
my best to paint a true picture of that tormented face.

My debts of gratitude are numerous. Many people, personally
unknown to me, hearing that I was engaged on a book about the Dumas,
were kind enough to entrust to me precious and unpublished letters.
Alexandre Lippmann, grandson and great-grandson of the two Alex-
anders, let me see his father's diary. Madame Balachowsky-Petit, who
has given to the Bibliothèque Nationale the papers of Dumasfils, was
introduced to me by my old friend and colleague, Émile Henriot, with
the result that she most generously gave me free access to her private
collection. A similar kindness was shown me by Madame Alexandre
Sienkiewicz, Madame Théodore Rousseau, Madame H. Dumesnil,
Francis Ambrière, Monsieur Alphandéry, Monsieur Alfred Dupont,
Madame Georges Privat, Monsieur Daniel Thirault, Monsieur Raoul

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