DA THE GUARDIAN
Film reignites literary debate over Alexandre Dumas's ghostwriter
Scholars clash over Auguste Maquet's role in creating masterpieces such as The Three Musketeers
Lizzy Davies in Paris
He spent his life in the shadow of one of France's most celebrated authors and in death has become a mere footnote in literary history. Despite having co-written some of the most popular tales in the French language, Auguste Maquet has been forgotten by all but the most erudite of scholars.
Now, however, the quietly creative ghostwriter whose crucial role in the production of some of Alexandre Dumas's most famous novels has gone unacknowledged for more than 150 years is finally having his moment in the limelight. A film released in French cinemas tomorrow seeks to shed new light on the man who fans say was the true genius behind The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.
Starring Gérard Depardieu as the colourful Dumas and Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde as his downtrodden employee, L'Autre Dumas (The Other Dumas) mixes fiction with fact as it traces Maquet's attempts to outshine his master in the public eye. Through its retelling of the collaboration, the film has reignited a vigorous debate in Parisian literary circles about the real nature of the duo's professional teamwork.
Devotees of Dumas, one of the stars of 19th-century French literature, whose remains were transferred amid great pomp to the hallowed tomb of the Panthéon in 2002, insist Maquet was merely a dogsbody whose capacity for hard work was his greatest talent. They claim his only role as one of the great man's many assistants was to provide the basics on which Dumas could then build his masterpieces.
Others, however, insist that without Maquet's creativity and precision of thought the erratic and uncontrollable Dumas would have been lost. "There is a tendency to dismiss [Maquet] as a drudge and that's just wrong," said Bernard Fillaire, a novelist who has written an essay in support of the ghostwriter's rehabilitation. "Of course he wasn't a Balzac or a Dickens … but he definitely had talent."
The pair began working together in the 1840s, when Maquet provided the already illustrious Dumas with a manuscript which would go on to be published – under Dumas's name – as the novel Le Chevalier d'Harmental. Over the next decade, the two men would go on to produce dozens of novels and plays together, with mystery always surrounding the extent of Maquet's involvement.
In 1858, frustrated with his lack of recognition, the assistant turned on his master and took him to court in an attempt to gain the joint rights to their body of work. Maquet was awarded financial damages for unpaid fees, but Dumas retained his sole ownership of their output. While he admitted that he had been helped in his efforts, Dumas insisted he was the one true creator.
For loyal Dumasiens, this was a just ruling which vindicated their idol's brilliance. Theirs is a view shared by Safy Nebbou, director of L'Autre Dumas, for whom Maquet was an able accomplice but little more. "Maquet did not have the genius of Dumas; he could spend hours and hours writing but it didn't change anything. You can't learn genius," he said.
But many, including Nebbou, believe Maquet was an essential component of Dumas's success, if not his equal in terms of flair. And supporters of Maquet, who after the acrimonious split with his master wrote a series of moderately successful novels under his own name, agree. "There was this extraordinary alchemy between them," said Fillaire. "They needed each other. When Maquet left Dumas, neither did anything else that was really excellent. But Dumas did nothing more of any note, while Maquet went on to write a lot."
Later in life, once he had earned enough money from his own writings, Maquet bought himself a chateau in the French countryside. Literary legend has it that, in his library, he had a copy of The Three Musketeers rebound and retitled: "By A Dumas and A Maquet."
Film reignites literary debate over Alexandre Dumas's ghostwriter
Scholars clash over Auguste Maquet's role in creating masterpieces such as The Three Musketeers
Lizzy Davies in Paris
He spent his life in the shadow of one of France's most celebrated authors and in death has become a mere footnote in literary history. Despite having co-written some of the most popular tales in the French language, Auguste Maquet has been forgotten by all but the most erudite of scholars.
Now, however, the quietly creative ghostwriter whose crucial role in the production of some of Alexandre Dumas's most famous novels has gone unacknowledged for more than 150 years is finally having his moment in the limelight. A film released in French cinemas tomorrow seeks to shed new light on the man who fans say was the true genius behind The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.
Starring Gérard Depardieu as the colourful Dumas and Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde as his downtrodden employee, L'Autre Dumas (The Other Dumas) mixes fiction with fact as it traces Maquet's attempts to outshine his master in the public eye. Through its retelling of the collaboration, the film has reignited a vigorous debate in Parisian literary circles about the real nature of the duo's professional teamwork.
Devotees of Dumas, one of the stars of 19th-century French literature, whose remains were transferred amid great pomp to the hallowed tomb of the Panthéon in 2002, insist Maquet was merely a dogsbody whose capacity for hard work was his greatest talent. They claim his only role as one of the great man's many assistants was to provide the basics on which Dumas could then build his masterpieces.
Others, however, insist that without Maquet's creativity and precision of thought the erratic and uncontrollable Dumas would have been lost. "There is a tendency to dismiss [Maquet] as a drudge and that's just wrong," said Bernard Fillaire, a novelist who has written an essay in support of the ghostwriter's rehabilitation. "Of course he wasn't a Balzac or a Dickens … but he definitely had talent."
The pair began working together in the 1840s, when Maquet provided the already illustrious Dumas with a manuscript which would go on to be published – under Dumas's name – as the novel Le Chevalier d'Harmental. Over the next decade, the two men would go on to produce dozens of novels and plays together, with mystery always surrounding the extent of Maquet's involvement.
In 1858, frustrated with his lack of recognition, the assistant turned on his master and took him to court in an attempt to gain the joint rights to their body of work. Maquet was awarded financial damages for unpaid fees, but Dumas retained his sole ownership of their output. While he admitted that he had been helped in his efforts, Dumas insisted he was the one true creator.
For loyal Dumasiens, this was a just ruling which vindicated their idol's brilliance. Theirs is a view shared by Safy Nebbou, director of L'Autre Dumas, for whom Maquet was an able accomplice but little more. "Maquet did not have the genius of Dumas; he could spend hours and hours writing but it didn't change anything. You can't learn genius," he said.
But many, including Nebbou, believe Maquet was an essential component of Dumas's success, if not his equal in terms of flair. And supporters of Maquet, who after the acrimonious split with his master wrote a series of moderately successful novels under his own name, agree. "There was this extraordinary alchemy between them," said Fillaire. "They needed each other. When Maquet left Dumas, neither did anything else that was really excellent. But Dumas did nothing more of any note, while Maquet went on to write a lot."
Later in life, once he had earned enough money from his own writings, Maquet bought himself a chateau in the French countryside. Literary legend has it that, in his library, he had a copy of The Three Musketeers rebound and retitled: "By A Dumas and A Maquet."
