The great Russian writer and poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin did not die in a duel. Moreover, he continued his work, only in another country, in another language and under a different name – Alexandre Dumas!
Pushkin's creativity and talent are well known all over the world. Dumas's works have also earned universal attention. They lived at the same time and were similar in everything from appearance and character to literary techniques. At the same time, if we consider their biographies separately, we will see a lot of white spots, like missing pieces of a mosaic. But if we consider them together, then our mosaic will begin to take shape into an amazing story of one person – a life filled with events, incomprehensible deeds and brilliant achievements.
In order to come to this conclusion, let's compare Pushkin and Dumas together: their biography, life and work. And we will start with the youth of our heroes.
The initial stage of A. S. Pushkin's life is quite well described. He was born in 1799 in Moscow, into an aristocratic family. His maternal grandfather Ibrahim Hannibal was African, which gave Pushkin's appearance its uniqueness – black curly hair, blue eyes and an atypical face shape. At that time, it was customary for the nobility to know several languages and French was especially popular. Pushkin became acquainted with this language almost simultaneously with Russian and mastered it perfectly. Later, at the lyceum, he was nicknamed «the Frenchman», and in his works he easily switched from Russian to French both in prose and in verse.
From an early age, his character was complex, stormy, and contradictory. And the parents only aggravated the situation – the mother came up with various punishments, could, for example, not talk to her son for months. And the father, a famous poet-wit, read poems to children with non-childish content.
Pushkin's literary abilities were obvious to everyone, but exact sciences were difficult for him. Although he was definitely not deprived of his mind, he just studied only what fascinated him. But in general, he studied poorly. And his behavior at the lyceum has always been a problem. So young Pushkin was often saved by thieves – either his uncle or his father helped his education.
What about young Dumas? His initial period of life is practically unknown. He was born in 1802 in Villers-Cottreux in the family of General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas. It should be said right away that there is a big confusion between Alexanders Dumas: grandfather, father and son had the same name Alexander, so besides father and son were writers. Therefore, for clarity, they often make a postscript Dumas-grandfather, Dumas-father, Dumas-son. Our Alexander is Pushkin's doppelganger – Dumas is the father and it is he whom we will simply call Dumas. Coincidentally, Dumas' grandmother was a Black woman, so if you look at the image of the young Dumas, it is simply impossible to distinguish from Pushkin: one face.
- Dumas is known for saying various racist hints in his direction: “My grandfather was a Negro, but actually we have one common relative – a monkey.” Agree, this is in the spirit of Pushkin's apt word. And an important point. After all, according to Dumas' pedigree, he did not have a Negro grandfather, but a grandmother! But Pushkin has a grandfather!
Dumas' father, who is a general, dies in 1806. And after that, everyone forgets about the Dumas family, and no one knows what the future writer is doing. But it is known that he had practically no education. While Pushkin is somehow gnawing at the granite of science at the lyceum and is already gaining wide fame, revealing his talent as a poet and writer. We are moving on to the next stage, the most interesting for us is the youth of Alexandrov.
After graduation, his father helps Pushkin get a job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is assigned to the archive. But then a suspicious moment immediately arises. He told all his friends that he was not assigned important tasks in the ministry. At the same time, it is known that the archival worker Pushkin often reported personally to Karl Vasilyevich Nesselrode. And this is not just the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but also the Chancellor of the Russian Empire, so it is not the importance of Pushkin's affairs in the Foreign Ministry that is in question.
In addition, according to official data, Pushkin never left the borders of the Russian Empire. This is very unusual for an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who had to travel to Europe in order to improve their skills. And Pushkin himself was very fond of traveling, for example, he visited Moldova, Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia and even Kazakhstan – Russia was great at that time.
There are notes about his trip to Chisinau in 1820 on duty, which say that Pushkin often walked, constantly changing into different costumes and creating different images for himself: sometimes he is Moldovan, sometimes Serbian, sometimes Turkish, sometimes Jewish. And he played this image as a role – he changed his speech and habits. Pushkin's trip to the Caucasus in 1821-22 is also interesting. Officially, he asked for a vacation to treat his cold. But he went on his vacation in the company of the commander of the IV separate Caucasian corps Rayevsky, his two sons of officers, one official and 60 Cossacks. And one gun. They spent four months on a trip to the Caucasus and Crimea.
The career ladder of Alexander Sergeevich is generally a complete mystery. His poetry is regularly banned by censorship, but the country's chief political policeman, A. Benkendorf, is always happy to receive Pushkin in his office. Pushkin was dismissed from service several times and sent into exile in Mikhailovsky for a couple of years, and then reinstated with a promotion. In the year of the founding of the Russian foreign intelligence Service, the salary of the archival worker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pushkin increased 7 times. At the same time, Pushkin's connection with the future Decembrists, who staged an anti–government uprising in December 1825, is known – for example, Pushkin was friends with Ivan Annenkov.
Pushkin was also not an easy employee of the archive – he had access to documents that can only be worked with with the permission of the emperor. Pushkin received a diploma of an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, wrote several fundamental works on the history of Russia. Thus, it can be argued that A. S. Pushkin was not only a great poet.
Many researchers have written about Pushkin's character – he had a violent temper, loved parties, gambling, duels and women. He was very fond of women, often took away girlfriends and wives of various officials. In 1831, Pushkin married one of the most beautiful women of high society – Natalia Goncharova. By the way, he also, they say, regularly cheated on her. However, there is information about a possible connection between Goncharova and the emperor and Georges Dantes. This is a murky story, in which it is unclear what is true and what is just rumors. But for example, Georges Dantes later became the husband of Natalia Goncharova's sister, that is, Pushkin's brother-in-law. And they were on very good terms.
What led Alexander Sergeevich to a deadly duel, except for his violent nature? In the last years of the writer's life, his financial affairs were very bad. He is deeply in debt. His works, and some of the best, were regularly banned, for example, the poem «The Bronze Horseman» was personally banned by the emperor. Sovremennik magazine, which was founded by Pushkin a year before the duel, brought only losses. Critics were already working hard to earn their bread, declaring the decline of Pushkin as a writer.
Pushkin spent most of his time working with the «History of Peter» – it was this great work that he considered important. The income from working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was too small. His rank as a junker's chamberlain only insulted him and obliged him to be at court, while he wanted to move out of town to the estate. And my wife did not want to part with the metropolitan life. In 1836, Pushkin's mother died. All these problems and, in addition, the incomprehensible stories with his wife and Dantes can be safely called a serious crisis in the writer's life, which resulted in an epochal event — a Duel.
But let's first look at what Alexandre Dumas was doing during these years.
1821, about the time Pushkin caught a cold and went to the Caucasus, an unknown young man appeared in Paris and declared that he was the son of General Dumas. There are no documents, his father's former associates are in no hurry to recognize him. But still, one of the generals vouches for the guy and he is given a small position at the Palais Royal. And since Dumas wants to become a playwright, he actively begins to study this business, visits theaters, and enters the local literary community. Dumas's writings during this period are extremely scarce, several historical essays, several theatrical plays. The latter, however, had quite a lot of success.
In 1830, revolutionary unrest began in France, Dumas was actively involved in the ranks of the rebels. In 1832, there was even news that Dumas was shot for participating in the uprising. But in the end, he is alive and well, leaving France. He will not return here soon, appearing here and there. So he had plenty of time to live in another country under a different name.
And so we came to the main event that turned everything around – the duel. So, at some friends party, Georges Dantes, the father of four children, openly harasses Pushkin's wife, threatening to shoot himself if Natalia refuses him. She still finds a way to leave, tells her husband and Pushkin writes an insulting letter to Dantes. In response to the letter comes a challenge to a duel.
On January 27, 1837, a duel took place near St. Petersburg – an action strictly prohibited by law. Pushkin was great with a pistol, but he only slightly wounds Dantes in the arm. The writer gets shot in the stomach – the wound was extremely serious at that time, but there is a chance of survival. Pushkin spends two days in the hospital and writes a letter to the emperor: «… I am waiting for the tsar's word to die peacefully.» Nicholas I forgives him everything, promises to pay off all debts and take care of his family. Then everything happens as quickly and mysteriously as possible.
On January 29, Pushkin allegedly dies. Many wanted to say goodbye to the poet, but they announced to everyone that the funeral service would be in St. Isaac's Cathedral, and at that time the body was secretly sent to the Stable Church. There, under the cover of night, a funeral service was held, at which only Pushkin's friend Zhukovsky was present. Then the coffin was lowered into the basement, where it stood until February 3, and then again at night it was sent to Pskov to be buried in Mikhailovsky, the estate of Pushkin's grandfather. None of his relatives were at his funeral. And in the future, none of his relatives visited his grave.
Natalia Goncharova, who wrote many memoirs about her life, did not write anything about her husband's death. But she was assigned a one-time payment of 50 thousand rubles and a huge allowance of 10 thousand rubles a year. The same pension was received, for example, by the general of foreign policy intelligence Sagtynsky after 47 years of service. While Pushkin, during his duel, was generally dismissed from the service.
What are all these duel events like? To a performance that was successfully staged and achieved its goals.
Georges Dantes was stripped of his noble title, all ranks and expelled from the country. Where do you think it's going? To France. Whose friend did Georges Dantes later become? That's right, Alexandra Dumas!
Until now, Dumas has not shone much anywhere and has written little. But after 1837, Dumas began to write for real, releasing books one after another. Today they are world-famous novels. Earns a lot, lives a luxurious life. He builds a huge estate called Monte Cristo, opens his historical theater, publishes several magazines and the newspaper «Musketeer» – even in this gunshot name one can trace a reference to Pushkin.
Russian Russian It turned out that the uneducated Dumas knows the Russian language perfectly and has translated many Russian writers, including Pushkin himself – his translations are considered canonical. Or, for example, Lermontov's poems in his newspaper «Musketeer».
These are the years in which Dumas became known throughout Europe. Even at that time, many noted his resemblance to Pushkin. He stood out too much for his appearance and bright character: quick-tempered, freedom-loving, a spender and a moth, with a keen sense of justice and a terrible womanizer, an amazing talent as a writer and a complete layman in the exact sciences. In 1840, he married an actress, while not hiding his numerous relationships with other women. They lived together for 4 years.
Dumas is often called the father of French history because he spends a lot of time working with archives and writing interesting popular essays – just like Pushkin in Russia.
In 1858, right after the death of Nicholas I, Dumas went to Russia and traveled to literally all of Pushkin's favorite places. St. Petersburg, along the Volga to Astrakhan and to the Caucasus. Then he returned to St. Petersburg and visited the publishers of Sovremennik magazine, which was founded by A. S. Pushkin a year before his death.
More than 20 years have passed since the duel with Dantes, Dumas is already quite old, overweight. Given Pushkin's ability to change his image, if it were him, even good friends would not recognize him. Of whom, however, many were no longer alive.
After traveling through Russia, already in France, Dumas writes 7 books about his journey, the book «Caucasus» and a newspaper, in which he reveals many political nuances of Russia, as if he lived in it, knew and loved.
Any author draws ideas for his works from his immediate environment, relationships with people and the inner world. In the books, Dumas literally tells us the story of his transformation from Alexander Pushkin. After all, the artistic form of presentation allows you to say something that cannot be said directly as it is.
The most famous novel by Alexandre Dumas is, of course, «The Count of Monte Cristo» from 1844. What is the name of the main character of the novel? Edmond Dantes is accused, persecuted, he fakes his death in a duel and leaves Russia together with his friend the officer, taking another name – Monte Cristo. And how did such a plot come to mind for a guy incredibly similar to Pushkin? But there is another Dumas novel, earlier than Monte Cristo and less well-known – «Georges», with a similar plot. So the reference to Georges Dantes, who shot Pushkin, can be said to be direct.
Another novel by Dumas in 1840, The Fencing Teacher, describes in detail the history of the Decembrists in Russia and the uprising of 1825, as well as St. Petersburg itself. But Dumas had not yet been to Russia at that time and simply could not know such details. But Pushkin could.
The newspaper that Dumas published was called The Musketeer. A musket is an artillery piece – a heavy handgun, such a mini cannon.
Another famous novel by Dumas is «The Three Musketeers», which is so loved in Russia. The main character, like Pushkin, comes from a poor noble family, makes his way up, glibly standing up for his honor in any case. According to official data, Pushkin challenged to a duel 15 times, 4 of which took place. The author could well have written off the three Musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis from three sides of his character: a proud nobleman, a skeptic, disappointed with life; a good-natured, economical and prolific family man; and a rake, a tempter of women. And in Milady, you can see Natalia Goncharova: at the age of 16, she marries Athos, at the same age Natalia meets Pushkin. Her relationships with other men could form the basis of the image of Milady, as not the most decent woman, but incredibly beautiful.
The continuation of the Musketeers – «Twenty years later», as if hinting at Dumas's trip to Russia 20 years after Pushkin's death. Nostalgia, maturity, a trip to the old places of who he used to be. Dumas wrote a lot about Pushkin in his notes, translated his poems into French.
Among the works of Alexander Pushkin, you can also find many interesting references, only to the future.
The most famous work is «Eugene Onegin», in which the author surprisingly describes the death of the hero due to jealousy in a duel, similar to his own. It was as if he had written the script of a play, which he then performed.
In Pushkin's drafts, an alternative ending to the novel «Dubrovsky» was found, in which the main character leaves Russia and lives abroad under the guise of an Englishman, and years later returns to his homeland.
One can also recall N. Gogol's comedy «The Inspector», the idea of which was suggested to him by his friend Alexander Pushkin: one person pretends to be another, getting into different situations.
Obviously, all these scenarios lived in the head of the greatest writer for a reason. His passion is the description of a real story, including his own, which he reflected on the pages of his works, could well have reversed itself at a decisive moment in his life and transferred from the pages to life.
Of course, the statement that Pushkin is Dumas has both its opponents and arguments against. But in fact they are all quite weak. The most important argument is the difference in the height of the writers. Pushkin was of short stature, about 167 cm, but they say about Dumas that his height was 190 cm. Yes, they say, but as we know there is confusion between Alexandre Dumas. General Dumas is a grandfather, he was really very tall, but our Dumas is not Pushkin's double.
In this photo we see Dumas-Pushkin sitting, and his wife next to him. Her height according to the description is 150 cm, and it can be seen from the photo that she is clearly not tall. If Dumas gets up, will he be 190 cm? The wife, even bending over her husband, is 20-25 cm taller than him. This means that when he gets up, he should add 60-70 cm. (The height of the author of this article is 190 cm, when I sit my height is 140 cm, that is, when I get up, I add 50 cm.) Dumas' height in the photo will hardly reach 170 cm.
The following arguments relate to how Dumas-Pushkin managed to lead his life in France in parallel with his life in Russia – to attend the performances, the scripts of which he wrote. After all, even the journey to Europe took more than a month. And where did the real Dumas go anyway? Yes, it's not easy, but Pushkin often travels on business trips during this period, and Dumas rarely appears in the light. And given Pushkin's connection with the emperor and the intelligence service, and the need for this very intelligence after the war with Napoleon in 1812, it is quite possible that a double life was the work of Alexander Sergeevich.
Well, the last doubts relate to the circumstances of death – how did you manage to turn everything around, hide everything, what were all these dramas about? It is difficult to answer this exhaustively. We have already described that Pushkin had a crisis and this could be an elegant solution to get out of it. Perhaps this was the next stage of the transfer of agent Dumas-Pushkin to French territory. It is unequivocal that then in 1837, taking into account all the achievements of Pushkin, it was not difficult for him to pull off such a performance.
Think about it, how often can you meet people of African descent with black hair and blue eyes? About the same age, the same character, so that they dressed the same, there were great writers in the same style, revolutionary-minded nobles, duelists, both adored history, had a huge craving for the female sex, and both bore the name Alexander? There are simply no such coincidences, and there are too many of them here. So personally, we have no doubt that Alexander Pushkin became Alexander Dumas. You have to make your choice. Success.
