The Clemenceau Case (Paperback or Softback)

The Clemenceau Case (1866) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas fils. Partly inspired by his own life, the novel takes the form of a letter written from prison to a powerful judge. Looking back on his experiences as an illegitimate child, Pierre Clemenceau provides a scathing critique of French society for its treatment of women and children. Born out of wedlock, Pierre Clemenceau is raised by a mother who tells him he has no father. Clemenceau is educated at a local school until the age of ten, at which point he is sent to a prominent boarding school for boys. There, he struggles to make friends and suffers bullying at the hands of a young American. Tortured day and night, Pierre grows distrustful and violent, and soon turns to a life of crime. As he relates the story of his life to a powerful judge, he declares himself innocent due to the circumstance surrounding his birth, and maintains the following: “My true crime…for which earthly justice will not pursue me, but for which I will never pardon myself nor those who impelled me to, is that I have doubted, and sometimes blushed for my mother.” Filled with regret, he looks for answers from the society that made him doubt his mother in the first place, a society which allows men to escape the responsibilities of fatherhood with impunity. This edition of Alexandre Dumas fils’ The Clemenceau Case is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824–1895) was a French writer and son of the famous novelist of the same name. He was born in Paris and formally educated at the Institution Goubaux and the Collège Bourbon. His earliest novel, Aventures de quatre femmes et d'un perroquet was published in 1847, followed by Césarine and his most notable work, La Dame aux Camélias in 1848. Despite his father’s towering legacy, the young Dumas made a name for himself as an award-winning author and playwright.