Alexandre Dumas’ Queen Margot and the Actaeon Myth

The paper challenges the prevalent view about the non-existent, or at best unworthy of serious study, literary merits of Dumas’ novels. Queen Margot offers a prime example of his art as a novelist as regards intertextuality, an area in which the literary “ depth” of a narrative can be tested and appreciated. After a brief overview of the publication circumstances, the historical background and the plot of the novel, I examine Dumas’ classical learning and two cases of intertextuality, and focus on the reception in the novel of the myth of Actaeon in connection with hunting, topics intrinsically related to the development of the plot and its outcome.