The Black Tulip

by Dumas pere, Alexandre (Author); Buss, Robin (Translator); Buss, Robin (Introduction by)

• ISBN13: 9780140448924
• ISBN10: 0140448926
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

Cornelius von Baerle lives only to cultivate the elusive black tulip and win a magnificent prize for its creation. But when his powerful godfather is assassinated, the unwitting Cornelius becomes caught up in a deadly political intrigue. Falsely accused of high treason by a bitter rival, Cornelius is condemned to life in prison. His only comfort is Rosa, the jailer's beautiful daughter, who helps him concoct a plan to grow the black tulip in secret. As Robin Buss explains in his informative introduction, Dumas infuses his story with elements from the history of the Dutch Republic (including two brutal murders) and Holland's seventeenth-century "tulipmania" phenomenon.

Author Biography

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) began to focus on historical novels after twenty successful years as a playwright. During his most productive period, from 1841 to 1850, he wrote forty-one novels, twenty-three plays, seven historical novels, and a dozen travel books. Robin Buss is a writer and translator who writes for the Independent on Sunday and The Times Educational Supplement (London). For Penguin Classics, he has translated some of the novels of +ëmile Zola.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
Note on the Text	p. xxii
Select Bibliography	p. xxiv
A Chronology of Alexandre Dumas	p. xxvi
a Grateful People	p. 3
the Two Brothers	p. 13
the Pupil of John De Witte	p. 22
Popular Justice	p. 32
the Tulip-Fancier and His Neighbour	p. 42
the Hatred of a Tulip-Fancier	p. 50
the Happy Man Makes Acquaintance with Misfortune	p. 57
an Invasion	p. 68
the Family Cell	p. 75
the Jailer's Daughter	p. 80
Cornelius Van Baerle's Will	p. 85
the Execution	p. 97
What Was Going on All This Time in the Mind of One of the Spectators	p. 101
the Pigeons of Dort	p. 106
the Little Grated Window	p. 111
Master and Pupil	p. 118
the First Sucker	p. 125
Rosa's Lover	p. 133
the Maid and the Flower	p. 140
the Events Which Took Place During Those Eight Days	p. 146
the Second Sucker	p. 155
Joy	p. 163
the Rival	p. 169
	p. 176
the President Van Herysen	p. 181
A Member of the Horticultural Society	p. 188
the Third Sucker	p. 197
	p. 205
	p. 212
	p. 219
Haarlem	p. 223
	p. 232
Explanatory Notes	p. 237
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