March Group Read: The Three Musketeers

Welcome to the group read of The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père!

Some background: According to Wikipedia, this novel was first published in serial format between March and July 1844 in the newspaper Le Siècle. The story, set in the 1620's of France, recounts the adventures of a poor young man named d'Artagnan as he leaves his family in Gascony to travel to Paris to join the fighting company of the military branch of the Royal Household of the French Monarchy, known as the Musketeers of the Guard. Originally written in French, the story was translated into three English versions in 1846. To conform to 19th century English standards, all of the explicit and many of the implicit references to sexuality were removed, adversely affecting the readability of several scenes. The most recent and now standard English translation is by Richard Pevear (2006), who in his introduction notes that most of the modern translations available today are "textbook examples of bad translation practices" which "give their readers an extremely distorted notion of Dumas' writing." As I intend to read one of the earlier English translations (via Project Gutenberg), I figured this was probably good information to know and share here.

Adaptations: Numerous adaptations of the story have been made over the years, from theatre, to films, records, television and even games. Some film versions members of this tread can recommend - as well as up and coming adaptations - (with links to YouTube trailers) are:



The Three Musketeers (1948 film), an MGM production starring Gene Kelly, Van Heflin, Lana Turner, and June Allyson
The Three Musketeers (1973 film), a film adaptation starring Michael York, Charlton Heston, Raquel Welch, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain, and Spike Milligan.
The Three Musketeers (1993 film), a Disney production starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, Oliver Platt, and Tim Curry.
The Three Musketeers (2011 film), a 3D version of the film directed by Paul W.S. Anderson starring Logan Lerman, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Christoph Waltz, Mads Mikkelsen, Orlando Bloom, Milla Jovovich and Matthew Macfadyen. Good, if you like a fantasy/steampunk styled version of this adventure/ political intrigue story.
The Musketeers (2014) - BBC1 TV series staring Peter Capaldi (as Cardinal Richelieu), and others. ;-)

d'Artagnan Romances series:
The Three Musketeers is the first book in what is known as the d'Artagnan Romances series and is continued in Twenty Years After and The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. I intend to read all three books in the d'Artagnan Romances series over the course of this year and I would be happy to set up group reads for those books if there is interest from other readers for group reads of those books.

Group Read format: Do we want to leave this an open ended group read with readers posting comments as they read (marking any spoilers) or do we want to save the book discussion for the last week of March after readers have completed or made good headway with their reading?

I plan to start reading on March 1st.

Thanks for setting up the thread!

Speaking of translations, I found an interesting comparison of some of them: http://literarytransgressions.wordpress.com/2010/05/07/rereadings-a-dumas-first-...

I have the Puffin Classics abridgement by Lord Sudley, which is unsurprisingly rather basic. One of these days I will either read the original French or pick up the Pevear translation, but for now the basic version will do, especially because I've been bogged down in so many big books this year!

And I really want to see the recent BBC adaptation, The Musketeers! Peter Capaldi looks like a fantastic Cardinal Richelieu.

I love this book! I have read it several times so I won't be joining in this group read, but hope that everyone enjoys it as much as I do...

Oh, and I like the 1940s film version with Gene Kelly and June Allyson.

Thanks for setting this up, Lori. I have my book ready and hope to start it soon.

I have an audio version for this group read. Looking forward to it!

> #2 - Ooooohhh.... that looks good!

> #3 - feel free to chime into the discussion!

Movie trailers for both have been added to the opening post! I love this story - from watching the movies - and look forward to finally reading it!

I'm in too, Lori! I started and put aside this book a year or two ago and look forward starting again with this group.

I read the entire d'Artagnan Romances over a period of 2-3 years from The Three Musketeers to The Man in the Iron Mask. There is one book in between which is kind of a drag, but imho, it pays off to persevere with the series.

Hi Lori, thanks for setting up the group. I'm in, it seems that the second year reading, with the group, is the good one for me, as so far I've participated in the different CATs. I've read the book in junior high and when I was at the university, but all details are pretty fuzzy so it'll be good to re-read it. My copy is this one: Les Trois Mousquetaires.

Oh, how cool! I was just looking through the wiki in GR organizational thread and found you through there! I recently got this audiobook from the library, so I'll be happy to join along. I feel especially lucky that I am able to listen/read the original French version, now you've told us about the poor translations out there; glad to know Pevear has put out a decent translation at least.

Sort of OT, but I was just thinking today how much I would love to be able to read in the original Russian too...

I just read this last year, so I won't join in the group read. :) But I wanted to say that I read the Pevear translation and enjoyed it. (Of course, since I don't read or speak French, I can't speak to the faithfulness of the translation; but it is very readable!)

Great to see the postings here!

> #7 - I am looking forward to the group read, Lynda! Hopefully it will help people to get through the book and the discussion will help explain some of the details of the story to other readers. I am pretty sure something will go over my head that I will be asking about.

> #8 - Good to know, Piyush! Feel free to chime in on the conversations here as the more the merrier.

> #9 - Great to see you have your copy ready to go, electrice!

> #10 - Ilana, I am so happy you will be joining the group read! I love your idea of an audiobook. I am struggling with Bleak House at the moment and as soon as I say thew audiobook mention, I went to see if my local library has a copy for download. They have an audiobook narrated by Simon Vance so I am hoping between the audiobook and the e-book I am now ready for this one. I would absolutely love if you read the original French and are able to explain the 'gaps' the older English translations appear to have in them. I was a little worried when they Wikipedia article mentioned that the earlier English translations may impact the readers understanding of certain parts of the story.

Russian - would that be to be able to appreciate the Russian novels out there? if so, I agree with you and wish languages had been something that I had learned when I was younger.

> #11 - Glad to see that the Pevear translation was highly readable and enjoyable, Christina! As mentioned about, feel free to chime in on the conversation here if it strikes your fancy or if some twigs that you want to mention. All comments are welcome here.

I started reading my e-book copy of The Three Musketeers on Sunday and I will be alternating between reading and listening to the audiobook narrated by Simon Vance. So far, I am enjoying the fun pace the story has kicked off with. I am currently 4 chapters in and I envision a lot of swords play and political intrigue to come! I will try to make notes of the oddities I encounter for comment here.

It doesn't look as though we have decided on specific group read format - hold back comments until the last week of March so that readers have an opportunity to complete the story or provide general spoiler-free comments while reading? If a spoiler thread is required, that can easily be set up or everyone can make use of the spoiler feature where comments that contain spoilers can be hidden form view unless clicked upon - like this this.

Thoughts everyone?

I have made an interesting observation this evening: The e-book and audiobook that I am alternating between have subtle differences. I thought I would finish listening to chapter 4 and read along with the narrator in my e-book before flipping over to the e-book as my bedtime read, only to discover a number of subtle differences - not enough to impact the story - but enough for me to know that I cannot read and listen at the same time without getting sidetracked by those differences. Looks like the version of The Three Musketeers that I will be enjoying during this group read will be a hybrid of more than one translation. ;-)

I have my copy on my kindle and about 3 chapters in so not bad.

>14 lkernagh: I am guessing that the differences are due to different translations? I have never thought about that before. I also have the Simon Vance audiobook (which I haven't listened to yet) and my old, well-thumbed paperback edition.

I'm going to listen to the Simon Vance audio version as well. Looking forward to it!
ETA: Oh poop. Mine is read by John Lee, not Simon... Oh well.

I've been wanting to read this for some time, so I will jump in as well.

I've started reading and am picturing Angela Lansbury as the Queen of France, because the 1948 movie is the most recent adaptation I've seen.

Had to laugh at the part where d'Artagnan is meeting up with Mme Bonacieux after recovering the Queen's diamonds, and he claps three times to tell her he's there. My copy claims that clapping three times is "the acknowledged signal of lovers". Say what?

Happy to see the start of a discussion and readers joining in!

I just finished Chapter 11 earlier this evening and I continue to enjoy the pace of action in this story - as well as the delightful intrigues! ;-) Interesting observations in the story about the cavalier approach to danger and the way the Musketeers survive... a combination of salary, gambling/feeding off of friends and the patronage of a rich female supporter (or more), if they can be had.

I am already seeing huge differences between Dumas' story and the various film adaptations I have seen.... the difference is in a good way, as I am preferring the written story. One that struck my fancy - and please chime in if I am mistaken! - but the adaptations I remember watching have portrayed d'Artagnan's love interest as being single (unmarried), and yet that does not appear to be the case here.

>16 leslie.98: I think you are correct, the two versions must be based upon different translations. Loving the audiobook but I find I need to hit the 15 second rewind feature from time to time as I am still struggling a bit with pinning down some of the lesser characters.

>19 rabbitprincess: I haven't seen the 1948 version, outside of the trailers found on YouTube and had to giggle at that as I have a hard time picturing Lansbury as anything but our intrepid mystery investigator of later renown. I am at a loss to explain the signal mentioned in your copy. I don't think I am there yet.... or my copies don't make that mention, which would be shocking to discover!

When we first visited the Seegrotte Hinterbrühl they were full of 'this is where they shot several scenes in the movie.' (Disney, 1993) That isn't mentioned on their website now. I guess they figure that 20 years on no one knows it. That's about my total experience of the three musketeers.

>20 lkernagh: In the Richard Lester version of the movies (they're the most fun, even if they're not really faithful to the book, but then, none of the movies are), Constance Bonacieux is very much married, to a rather decrepit old man.
There's copious amounts of adultery in Dumas' historical novels, which is probably the reason why they are so often bowdlerized in English and German translations.

>21 MarthaJeanne: I had to go look up the Seegrotte Hinterbrühl as that is a new location for me. According to their website, it is the biggiest underwater sea in Europe. That is so cool! Thanks for mentioning it. For some strange reason, I don't remember any underground scenes in the Disney version of The Three Musketeers.... I think I need to re-watch that one.

>22 MissWatson: I have noticed how books from that era seem to be filled with adultery. They were so open with it (at least in the books) that it comes across as perfectly acceptable in society or more like, expected in society that if you were anyone, you had affairs.

My new word for the day: "bowdlerized". I love that word!

I started The Three Musketeers last night and was very pleased at how quickly the pages turned and I got four chapters in before I had to turn off the light. My only fear is that if I fall asleep while reading it, I may do myself some serious bodily harm!

I know I have seen one or even more movie versions sometime in the past, but I actually don't recall them very clearly which means the story seems fairly fresh and new to me.

The Disney version is 20 years ago? How time flies!

I have three copies of the book on my shelf because I can't decide which translation is the better. I enjoy them all.

>24 DeltaQueen50: DeltaQueen - I think those scenes are the ones where the Cardinal is in his boat - there were two of them, once where he arrives and the second when he tries to escape with the King.

The Disney version is my favorite, not for faithfulness to the book (lol) but for the sheer fun of it.

The translation I have is by Jacques le Clerco and I have no idea how it will be, but I am about to start it.

I'm starting chapter 34 and I think that this translation is probably very good. My favorite line so far is early in the book when D'Artagnan's father is giving him advice before he leaves home and tells him to have courage ~ 'Whosoever trembles for but a second has perhaps lost the bait which fortune held out to him in precisely that second.' ~

I am about to start Chapter 36 and have been enjoying the story and the characters. I love how D'Artagnan is so easily aroused to anger or passion, his blundering about is very amusing.

I am about to start chapter 19. I am enjoying the even and exciting pace the story continues to unfold at. The narration by Simon Vance is proving to be a good one, although I find his voice for Bonacieux to have more of a Celtic accent to my ears than the Gallic one I was expecting. The story really does present a very cavalier approach to relationships and I have to say I was amused to see how blatantly d'Artagnan wears his heart on his sleeve. Awe, young love, how sweet it is!

>27 mysterymax: I love the Disney version, too!

>28 DeltaQueen50: d'Artagnan really is one for jumping into things without stepping back to analyze the situation first.... especially if it involves "His Man of Meung"! ;-)

I'm at Chapter 25 and had forgotten how much of a romantic comedy it is. It really isn't the typical historical novel. Definitely written with tongue firmly in cheek.

Stayed up late reading and then finished The Three Musketeers this morning. I loved this book! I read The Count of Monte Cristo last year and my enjoyment of that book led me to this one. The Three Musketeers is more fun and lighter than The Count, but some of the same themes are expressed here. I don't want to post any spoilers so that's all I will say for now.

Finished! Fun story. Have put about four film versions on my netflix list!

I am at chapter 7 have been sick so a bunch of sword fighting is just ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. But still loving the story alot better then what I thought I would.

ALWINN, I've been sick too and am not even to chap 7 yet but the sword fighting reminds me of a bunch of middle school boys. Oh, D'Artagnan would be disgusted I'm a lady because he'd have to look around for a man to beat up on my behalf for that last statement. Makes me laugh!

OK, I'm 200 pages in (chapter 17), my edition has 700 pages. I love the writing but I must confess, I'm a little bit tired of all this love/like at first sight thing going on. It's the major part of what makes the reading so slow, well I'm set on continuing, not sure though that I'll finish it this month ... We'll see. I don't remember if all this romantic non-sense was bothering me when I was in my twenties, but I don't think so !?

>35 electrice: - I felt like giving d'Artagnan a slap upside his head every now and again while I was reading, but his impulsive behavior was reflected in all his actions and I tried to bear in mind that it was partly his nature and partly his age. And yes, I think the age of the reader has a lot to do with how we feel about the "love-at-first sight" aspects. What made us breathless at twenty can cause us, at a much later age, to roll our eyes!

>36 DeltaQueen50: You're right about the impulsiveness of d'Artagnan, I think that keeping this in mind will help a lot, thanks :)

I think even Dumas rolled his eyes a bit over d'Artagnan too. After all, he first compares him to Don Quixote who is quite a ridiculous figure with very little grasp on reality.

>36 DeltaQueen50:
I haven't read the book recently, but I seem to remember that Dumas attributed D'Artagnan's impulsiveness to his Gascon/Béarnais origin as well as his youth. The cliché of the hot-headed, passsionate, impetuous and blunt South-Western French would have been fairly widespread at the time (still is to some extent). If you can read French (or are not afraid of using Google Translate), you could have a look at that website: http://www.lemondededartagnan.fr/SITE/FRA/gascon_esprit.htm

I finished a couple of days ago and had stayed away from this thread to avoid spoilers, but now all caught up. I don't think I'll be revealing any spoilers in what follows.

I must say I was quite surprised at the cavalier way in which marital infidelity is dealt with, even going as far as describing Madame Bonacieux as being 'angelic'. Must say it took me quite a while to get into the story, for one thing because it took Dumas some time to draw the portraits of Aramis, Portos and Athos more fully, so that I was not able to distinguish between the three for a good while. On the other hand, although I haven't read that famous Cervantes books yet, I found the comparison of D'Artagnan to a young Don Quixote quite apt and could forgive him all his folly due to his youth and, I don't know if this is highlighted in the English translations, also due to his originating from Gascony, a region in southwestern France which is close to the Spanish border and where, if we are to believe Dumas, the locals are temperamental and easily offended. This is very possible given their cultural history. Among other things, it seems that from medieval times until the nineteenth century, the Gascon language was spoken there, this being a regional variant of the Occitan Language also spoken in regions of Italy and Spain. Having spent some little time in Southwestern France where my mother has been living in the past decade and gotten a little bit of background about the region, I found this interesting.

The following may contain spoilers as indicated:

One thing I found appealing is the mix of purely fictitious and historical characters. Dumas obviously took great liberties in adapting 'real' historical characters to suit his story, (such as the Queen, Anne of Austria having a not so secret love affair with the Duke of Buckingham which is his own invention), but all the same it's made me curious to find out more about these personalities and the times, the religious influences and so on.

I really got engaged with the book about hallway though when the character of Milady and her perfidious nature come to the fore. One can sense Dumas has a liking for strong, passionate characters who aren't bothered by religious and socially accepted norms to get to their means, something which also greatly struck me in The Count of Monte Cristo and made me cheer for the Count, who was brazen enough to compare himself to a sort of divinity.

I can see I'll most probably want to revisit this novel again eventually, and I guess I'll start looking into movie adaptations. I'd never watched any before because had very little interest in swashbuckling up till now.

>39 Dilara86: Yes, I should have taken into account that d'Artagnan was a Gascon, who are often portrayed as passionate and hot-headed!

>40 Smiler69: Ilana, I don't think Dumas strayed too far from historical truth when he highlighted a relationship between the Queen and the Duke of Buckingham. According to Wikipedia: "At the time, Anne had many admirers, including the handsome Duke of Buckingham, although her intimates believed their flirtations remained chaste." Also, "Accounts of French court life of her era emphasize her difficult marital relations with her husband Louis XIII"

Great to see the ongoing discussion around this one! I am nearing the home stretch and about to start Chapter 61. I agree with the previous comments about D'Artagnan and his young, impulsive nature. As for the 'falling quickly into love' that seems to be a theme of this story, I did have to suppress more than a few giggles. Am I supposed to be swooning instead of laughing? ;-)

As for Milady, that is one cold, calculating woman. I sure wouldn't want to get on her bad side!

Great comments, everyone!

Hah! I think we're supposed to be laughing if we're older than 20 something, and swooning if you were my friend's age in the 70s when she fell for Michael York as D'Artagnan. It feels to me like Dumas is laughing at many of his characters, much of the time. Like the whole thing where they lose all the horses.

Ilana, thanks for your comments. They'll help me keep going. I'm finding 3M to be dragging a bit right now, but I've just gotten to Milady's house. Which surprises me, because The Count was my favorite read of last year. The Count is much more complex, even morally so. I found The Count to be questioning religion, even wondering if God worked through the Count's revenge. However, the Musketeers seems to deal with questions of religion by laughing at them. The clerics at least.

Katie, they certainly are very different in tone, and while The Count of Monte Cristo (which I also read last year) is among my all-time favourites now, I can't say the same for The Three Musketeers. I really enjoyed it a lot, but as you say, it isn't quite in the same league. This one seems like just pure entertainment whereas the other one, again, as you say, raised questions of morality and seemed much more profound and layered.

Ilana, exactly. I am getting more into The Three Musketeers now because Milady is front and center, or perhaps it is better to say she's working in the background. But if I had read The Three Musketeers first, I think I would have been put off by The Count's 1000+ pages before ever picking it up.

I managed to finish The Three Musketeers earlier this week, thanks to weather that let me walk to and from work. As others have pointed out already, it's not The Count of Monte Cristo, but it is a fun bit of escapism. More of a romp than an adventure. And as for 'the boys' - seriously, that is about the only way to think about these Musketeers! - I have to say my favorite bit was when Athos has to inform d'Artagnan of his early morning gambling adventures involving both of their horses and even d'Artagnan's diamond ring. Boys will be boys, even when they are old enough to know better. ;-)

Yup, Lori. That bit behind your spoiler was one of my favorite bits too. I finished yesterday. So, as for Milady's story that she tells to Felton, in which her virtue is trampled upon by Buckingham... I wasn't sure if the reader was supposed to be enthralled with her story, or if we were supposed to be rolling our eyes and wondering how Felton could fall for it. I was hoping the poor boy wouldn't do it, but alas. There's no way to scream "don't do it" to a fictional character. I just love using that spoiler feature now that I've learned how!

Lori, that bit was very amusing, I agree.

Katie, I may be wrong, but the way I read that part with Milady spinning her tale, I thought it was there to make us see just how perfidious she is. It added a lot of tension at that point in the story too, since there were so many ways it could have gone. I did end up feeling excessively sorry for poor gullible Felton though, but I guess it was an essential plot development to move things forward and make us hate Milady all the more, as all the men she wronged had reason to as well.

Oh I still about 55% into the book but Im going to bite the bullet and finish it by the next coming Monday so that give me 6 days.

I know a bit late but I just have to shout and dance around IM FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have to say the last half of the book went alot faster then the 1st half. And since Im probably one of the last people to finish this Im not going to use the Spoiler feature for this comments. I always have to keep in mind that people never change there are still women that can still spin a web of tale just like Milady and there will always be gullible men like Felton to fall for the dasmel in destress. And that makes me wonder when Im truely a Damsel in destress why does noboby (men) take me serious???? I was told at one point that is a good thing because people know I can take care of myself.

Ann, it is a good thing! I agree with Ilana's take on it, how clever that Milady can get men to do her dirty work, and perfidious. As a modern villain though, she's kind of strange. She says she's never won by being strong, so she has to fight by being weak. Hmmm.

>50 ALWINN: - Congrats on finishing The Three Musketeers! I agree, the last half of the story flew by - thanks, as you say, to the intrigue that is Milady.

And that makes me wonder when Im truely a Damsel in destress why does noboby (men) take me serious????

Good question... no chivalrous men present at the time of your distress? That may be one of those questions that we will never find an answer to.... human nature being what it is. ;-)

Funny story was while I was driving to work I was following this scrap metal truck and something fell off and there was no way for me to swirl around without causing a big accident but the metal object had put a hole in my gas tank. So I pull in to work and ran in real quick to get my (safety Marshall person) and the fire, and police department was all there. After getting a big lecture about not "contacting" anybody about the gas leak I was left with a semi patched gas tank but completely empty. So I called a few friends and all of them through I was joking and had a big laugh about it. So needless to say NOBODY won any brownie points. Even the so called boyfriend was no longer after that.

Seriously?! I would be rather ticked off if I had to experience that kind of response to your situation. Actually, I would be really ticked off.... I cringe at the thought that one has to be in extreme duress - like on fire or something - for a situation to be taken seriously and not as an April Fools joke or fodder for comedy hour. They did help you in the end, I hope?

Well I cried out to about 3 people. 2 of them thought I was joking and the guy I was dating at the time finally copped an attitude with me and brought me some gas for the car then told me that I had alot of enemys out here for them to punch a whole in the gas tank. I was like YOU IDOIT if you will shut up long enough and listen to me I just told you want happened. Needless to say he didnt last long after that because he said I had a big mouth. The one that worked just a couple blocks away actually thought I was teasing. He ended up saying I truely sorry I didnt think you would serious because you will never take any help I offer.