Literary Experience

Hello Everyone:

I had an interesting literary experience over the weekend. I’m in the middle of reading the unabridged  version of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.  To break up the monotony of it, I started reading a history of Paris. I read this one chapter that takes place after the French Revolution and around the Napoleonic period. The Count takes place after the Nepoleonic period. As I’m reading the chapter in the Paris history book, I start to notice that the author of the book is writing about a cobbler who gets wrongfully accused and imprisoned for being an English spy. He becomes a servant to imprisoned clergy person who bequeaths the cobbler a fortune. The cobbler escapes escapes, claims the treasure, and takes his revenge on his accusers. The cobbler ends up being kidnapped and killed by one of the accusers. The whole time I’m reading this chapter, I’m getting excited because I never thought of The Count as based on a true crime story. I always thought of it as a great story.  I went back and read the introduction to The Count and it mentions the foundation for Alexandre Dumas story. How cool is that?  A great fictional story is based on a true crime story. Now The Count has a whole new dimension for me. I love reading mystery books. I love trying figure out all the clues. I’ve already figured some of the clues and now I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds.