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AEXANDRE DUMAS INTERRED AT PANTHEON
Posted by RUNOKO RASHIDI
THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
H I S T O R Y N O T E S
AEXANDRE DUMAS INTERRED AT PANTHEON
Posted by RUNOKO RASHIDI
Paris, AFP
Alexandre Dumas, the 19th century author of hosts of swashbuckling yarns including the Three Musketeers, will be granted the supreme national homage tomorrow when his remains are interred alongside other French heroes at the Pantheon in Paris.
The body of the writer, who was born exactly 200 years ago, was exhumed earlier this week as his home of Viller-Cotterets, and it is being transferred in pomp to the Senate on the eve of tomorrow's service.
President Jacques Chirac is to preside over the ceremony during which Dumas will be carried into the national mausoleum with the escort of four musketeers. The velvet drape over the coffin will be inscribed with the Musketeer's motto: "All for one and one for all."
Actors lining the street will read passages from his works, and the public are being urged to carry one of his books. The grandson of a Haitian slave, Dumas produced more than 250 works including plays, novels, political tracts and one cookbook.
Despite his popularity he was until recently disdained by the literary establishment, and his elevation is a sign of changing values.
Because of his colour--in his lifetime he was nicknamed "the mulatto"--he is increasingly seen as an exemplar of black emancipation, while the popular accessibility of his adventure stories is no longer regarded as a sign of weakness.
"In his lifetime he was never recognised as one of the greats," said historian Alain Decaux, who will deliver the eulogy at the Pantheon.
"It was conceded he gave pleasure as a writer but that was the problem: he was read by too many people."
"All for one and one for all...that's a powerful phrase," said Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, who has designed the costume and decor.
"It's one that gives cause for reflection today in a world which drives us to individualism and egotism. It's an idea that has real meaning."
Carried in the Bangkok Post November 29, 2002
Copyright © 1998 Runoko Rashidi. All rights reserved.
Posted/Revised: April 06, 2003.
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