Pushkin and Dumas - one person?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin did not actually die in a duel. He faked his own death, after which he went to Paris and became the famous writer Alexandre Dumas. Sounds absurd, doesn't it?

However, the authors of this incredible hypothesis give quite convincing arguments for their truth.

Two Alexander

On January 27, 1837, in St. Petersburg, during a duel with the cavalry guard Georges Dantes, the beacon of Russian literature Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was mortally wounded. And soon after that a new star flashed in France - also Alexander, only by the name of Dumas. But what is remarkable: the French Alexander outwardly turned out to be strikingly similar to the Russian one.

Pushkin and Dumas are almost the same age: the first was born in 1799, the second in 1802. If you look at the portraits of these two literary geniuses, you will immediately notice their amazing similarity: dark skin, eye color, the shape of the forehead, eyebrows, nose, dark curly hair. And in his youth, Dumas was a spitting image of Pushkin. Researchers claim that all this is due to the African roots of both Alexandras. Pushkin's maternal great-grandfather was Abram Hannibal, a pupil of Peter I brought from Africa. Dumas had a black grandmother on his paternal side - a former slave from the island of Haiti. And yet, although African features have survived through the generations, this does not explain the reasons for such a strong similarity. After all, belonging to the same race does not yet make people alike like two drops of water.

Loving rebels

But Russian and French Alexandra are similar not only in appearance.

Pushkin from an early age showed literary ability, while in the exact sciences, such as mathematics, he turned out to be completely mediocre. He also had the lowest behavioral scores. Researchers of the poet's life noted that "for all five years of his stay at the Lyceum, Pushkin successfully defended his personality from any encroachments on it, learned only what he wanted, and the way he wanted." The grown-up Pushkin was known for his violent character, he loved revelry, cards and duels. At the same time, Alexander Sergeevich was considered an excellent breaker. Another striking feature of the poet is indifference to the weaker sex. It is also worth noting the political views of Pushkin: he made friends with the future Decembrists, and for the epigrams addressed to Alexander I he almost ended up in Siberia.

And here is how the researcher of his biography, the French writer André Maurois, described the young Alexandre Dumas in his book Three Dumas: “He was like an elemental force, because African blood was seething in him. He was endowed with incredible fertility and talent for storytelling. The spontaneity of his nature was manifested in his refusal to obey any discipline. The school had no effect on his character. Any oppression was unbearable for him. Women? He loved them all at once. Maurois also noted the inability of Dumas to the exact sciences: algebra, geometry, physics. Like Pushkin, Dumas was not indifferent to the political situation in the country. Moreover, when the July Revolution broke out in France in 1830, the writer personally participated in the storming of the royal Tuileries Palace.

Comparing the two Alexandrov, it is true that one can decide that we are not talking about different people, but about the same person. With the only difference that one lived in Russia, the other in France.

Genius in a closed coffin

Of course, the question arises: why did Pushkin even fake his own death at all? It turns out that in the last years of his life, the affairs of Alexander Sergeevich were just awful. He was bound by gigantic debts. No less problems arose in the literary field. For example, his poem "The Bronze Horseman", completed in 1833, was personally banned by Nicholas I. In general, the writer had rather cool relations with the royal court. Even the fact that the Russian emperor in 1834 granted Pushkin the rank of chamber-junker only aroused the poet's rage. As he noted in his diary: this is "rather indecent for my years," because this rank was usually received by very young people. Pushkin believed that kamer-junkerism was given to him only because the court wanted to see his wife at their balls.

In 1836, Pushkin began to publish the literary anthology "Sovremennik", hoping with its help to improve financial affairs. But the magazine only brought even greater losses. Worried about Alexander Sergeevich and secular rumors about the secret connection of his wife with Dantes. And in 1836 he survived another blow - his mother Nadezhda Osipovna died. As Pushkin's contemporaries noted, in the last years of his life, Alexander Sergeevich was on the verge of despair.

And in January 1837 Dantes' bullet broke Pushkin's thigh and penetrated into the stomach. It is believed that the wound was fatal at that time. Although a number of experts believe that the cause of the death of Alexander Sergeevich was the mistake of doctors, and with the right approach, he could survive. Or maybe this is how it happened?

Dying, Pushkin wrote to the emperor: "I am waiting for the king's word in order to die peacefully." Nicholas I replied that he forgave him everything, and even promised to take care of Pushkin's wife and children, as well as cover all his debts (which was done). Now Alexander Sergeevich could die in peace. But the way the funeral of the genius was held still raises a lot of questions. Literary historian Alexander Nikitenko wrote in his diary that many wished to say goodbye to the celebrity, but they deliberately deceived people: they announced that the funeral service would be held in St. Isaac's Cathedral, where the people gathered. In fact, the body was placed in the Stables Church, where it was secretly transferred under cover of night. On that day, university professors received a strict order not to leave the departments and to ensure that all students were present at the lectures. After the funeral, the coffin was lowered into the basement of the church and kept there until February 3, and then sent to Pskov. At the same time, the governor of Pskov was given a decree from the emperor to prohibit "any special manifestation, any meeting, in a word, any ceremony, except for what is usually performed according to our church rite when the body of a nobleman is buried." So Nicholas I himself could know the true reasons for the "death" of the great poet.

Reincarnation

Now let's consider whether Pushkin could become Dumas.

One of Napoleon's generals and his friend Thomas-Alexandre Dumas died when his son Alexander was about four years old. Since then, the French world has practically forgotten about his once famous surname. And suddenly, in 1822, a twenty-year-old boy appeared in Paris, who introduced himself as the son of the legendary general, and began to seek patronage from his father's former associates. In Paris, no one doubted the authenticity of his origin, because the young man did not look like a European, and everyone knew about the African roots of General Dumas. Could this young man be Pushkin?

Of course, it is embarrassing that in 1822 Alexander Sergeevich was alive and well and 15 years remained before the fatal duel. One can only assume that the poet, due to his adventurous character, could lead a double life: being Pushkin in Russia and Dumas in France. Just at the beginning of the 1820s, the poet was not seen in the world - he lived for four years in the south. During this time, he could easily repeatedly visit Paris, and even write several works there in French under the pseudonym of Dumas. Nothing prevented him from leaving Mikhailovsky, where he was exiled for two years in 1824. By the way, it was in 1824 that an illegitimate son was born to Dumas.

By the way, once Alexandre Dumas was also “buried alive”. In 1832, a French newspaper reported that Dumas had been shot by police for participating in the uprising. After that, the writer left France for a long time. If we take on faith the story that Dumas is Pushkin, perhaps the latter was trying to end the scam in this way. Indeed, a year before that, he had married Natalia Goncharova. But then he could change his mind and keep his French image.

It is noteworthy that before the death of Pushkin, Dumas wrote only a few small works and was almost unknown. But at the end of the 1830s, he suddenly began to pass off novel after novel, and they started talking about it even outside France.

Between the lines

If you look closely at the heroes of the works of Alexandre Dumas, you can see a lot of Pushkin's in them. Take the same d'Artagnan. Like the impudent Gascon, Pushkin came from a poor noble family and, making his way from the very bottom, rushed into a fight because of any disrespectful attitude towards his person. It is officially known about fifteen challenges to a duel made by Pushkin himself (four of them ended in duels).

Someone saw in Milady the image of Natalia Goncharova. The first was sixteen years old when she married Athos, and Goncharova turned the same age when Pushkin fell in love with her. The writer could thus take revenge on his ex-wife for remarrying. He wrote The Three Musketeers in 1844, the same year that Natalya became the wife of Lieutenant General Pyotr Lansky.

But on the contrary, Pushkin-Dumas, who was undeservedly accused of the murder of Georges Dantes, made him a positive hero - the main character of "Count of Monte Cristo" is called Edmond Dantes. If you remember, Dantes, described by Dumas, faked his own death and returned to the world under a different name, becoming the Count of Monte Cristo. Wasn't the writer hinting in this way at his own death in the image of Pushkin?

Russian soul

Here's another curious fact: in 1840, Dumas, having never been to Russia, wrote the novel "The Fencing Teacher", in which he told in detail the history of the Decembrists and the 1825 uprising. He also translated into French many works of Russian authors, including Pushkin.

In general, the French writer showed great interest in Russia. True, he visited it only in 1858. Perhaps this is due to the fact that for three years the country was ruled not by Nicholas I, who forbade the publication of the works of both Pushkin and Dumas, but Alexander II. Even if Dumas was once Pushkin, he could no longer be afraid of being recognized, because by that time he had grown old and grown. The writer became a welcome guest in all the noble houses of St. Petersburg. But the Russian nobles could not even suspect that they were receiving Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, who died more than twenty years ago.

Oleg Gorosov

Below are two videos on this topic:

1. The documentary "His Majesty's Spies"

Annotation:

Could Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin be an agent of the influence of the Russian tsar? Could the great Russian poet reincarnate into the great French novelist Alexandre Dumas? What connected Count Cagliostro, Casanova and Baron Munchausen? What role did Russia play in the lives of these mysterious characters? Who are they really: adventurers or spies? Was the Russian writer Yakov Ivanovich de Sanglein a spy and adjutant of Napoleon?