In this let­ter to Alexan­dre Dumas, the author cel­e­brates Dumas’s vast and gold­en lit­er­ary lega­cy, liken­ing it to a sol­id foun­da­tion more endur­ing than rock. Dumas, despite a moment of late-life doubt where he envi­sioned his works as imper­ma­nent as struc­tures on sand, is reas­sured of his ever­last­ing impact on lit­er­a­ture, akin to the immor­tal sto­ries from the “Ara­bi­an Nights” or tales of Boc­cac­cio. Esteemed for intro­duc­ing a “greater and more kind­ly” influ­ence in mod­ern lit­er­a­ture, Dumas’s cre­ativ­i­ty, ini­tial­ly sparked by Wal­ter Scott, is her­ald­ed for its mirac­u­lous breadth and unfail­ing strength.

Empha­siz­ing Dumas’s unpar­al­leled vig­or and the joy his books emanate, the let­ter prais­es the live­ly, gal­lant char­ac­ters of Dumas’s cre­ation who embody the spir­it of adven­ture with their brav­ery and love for life. It address­es the unfound­ed crit­i­cisms levied against Dumas for his alleged reliance on ghost­writ­ers, argu­ing that any col­lab­o­ra­tor’s suc­cess was derived sole­ly from Dumas’s own inex­haustible vivac­i­ty. These col­lab­o­ra­tors, absent Dumas’s inspi­ra­tion, accom­plished lit­tle on their own, their works quick­ly fad­ing into obscu­ri­ty.

Dumas is laud­ed for his capa­bil­i­ty to engage and enter­tain with­out suc­cumb­ing to base­ness or moral cor­rup­tion, pre­sent­ing tales of hon­or, love, and friend­ship that lead through delight­ful adven­tures. The let­ter high­lights the endur­ing human­i­ty and real­ism of Dumas’s char­ac­ters, par­tic­u­lar­ly from his most cel­e­brat­ed series—the Cycle of the Val­ois and the Cycle of Louis XIII and Louis XIV—as well as the stand­alone mas­ter­piece, “Monte Cristo.”

Fur­ther, it defends Dumas against accu­sa­tions of friv­o­li­ty and super­fi­cial­i­ty, posit­ing that his works’ endurance is tes­ta­ment to their depth and sub­stance, tran­scend­ing the fleet­ing pref­er­ences for pes­simism and over­wrought real­ism. The bright­ness of Dumas’s dia­logue, the excite­ment of his bat­tles and duels, and the Home­r­ic grandeur of his nar­ra­tives are par­tic­u­lar­ly extolled.

In con­clu­sion, the let­ter asserts that Dumas’s lega­cy, char­ac­ter­ized by live­li­ness and wit, will out­live the crit­i­cisms and remain a beloved refuge from the more sor­did and tedious tales of con­tem­po­rary lit­er­a­ture. Dumas’s spir­it, likened to the epic heroes of old, endows his sto­ries with a time­less appeal, cel­e­brat­ing the virtues of chival­ry, friend­ship, and hon­or above all.