Edmond Dantès
Dantès the White
Synopsis
An interesting concept, and one, that Alexandre Dumas himself employed when writing. The Three Musketeers was merely in his view a lost manuscript that he came across, that he then conveyed to his audience; the memoirs of Athos. Similarly, J.R.R Tolkien also made use of this technique, with more subtlety in The Lord of the Rings via the Red Book of Westmarch and in other writings via Aelfwine/Eriol the Englishman, who had the history of the Elder Days conveyed to him by Pengolodh the Sage and thus Tolkien himself found this lost manuscript to be conveyed to his audience.
As for Dumas, not only did he make use of the aforementioned technique, his narratorial style was rather intrusive, evident in many of his romances. To take one example from Louise de La Vallière (the middle volume of the The Vicomte de Bragelonne):
"But we, whose mission it is to interpret all things, as it is also to communicate our interpretations to our readers, we should fail in our duty, if we we were to leave them in ignorance of the result of this interview. It will be found sufficiently detailed, at least we hope so, in the following chapter."
This is precisely the manner in which the Holy Ghost Writer presents The Count, using the only passable English translation.
One wonders though , as to the identity of this mysterious author, who has taken it upon itself to carry on, if you will, the legacy of the King of Romance.
