The Three Musketeers (Bantam Classics) Mass Market Paperback – June 1, 1984

Throughout my life, I've read this book at least 4 times. Enough time between readings usually passed so that The story seems fresh. Such a good read.

All translators must struggle with two competing goals: 1) being faithful to the original author and 2) making the translated text accessible to the reader. In this translation of _The Three Musketeers_, the translator, Richard Pevear, generally gravitates towards the first goal. His vocabulary choices almost always favor the original French usage rather than modern English usage. For example, early in the book, Pevear refers to Milady as Rochefort's "interlocutrix". Now I don't know about you, but I grew up going to California public schools, and if I ever used a word like "interlocutrix", I'd get my face bashed into a locker. My background notwithstanding, I think it's clear what's going on here. The word "interlocutrix" is an uncommon yet legitimate English word with French roots. Pevear has chosen to use the uncommon word in order to remain faithful to Dumas' original French text which presumably used the French cognate for "interlocutrix" whatever that is.I could come up with literally dozens of such examples, and eventually I just started keeping a separate list of obscure words and definitions so I only needed to refer to a short list rather than slog through the dictionary every time I came upon one of those recurring obscure words. By the time I finished the book, I had a five page (12 pt. Times New Roman type, single-spaced) list of obscure words. They range from 17th century French clothing ("tabard", "doublet", "jerkin") to horse-related terminology ("caparison", "sorrel", "croup") to 17th century military terminology ("counterscarp", "revetments", "circumvallation") and many others. In all these cases, I'm convinced that Pevear chose to use the English cognates of original French words rather than more modern English equivalents.In fairness to Pevear, he does provide extensive notes explaining the historical references made by Dumas, which is extremely reader-friendly, and I profited from them greatly. Even in these notes, however, he leaves out some obvious choices such as "Rosinante" and "Circe".In short, if you're an English speaker with no knowledge of French but would like to get a feel for Dumas' prose style and usage, this is the book for you. It is a remarkably faithful translation that really gives you a feel for the nuances of the original text. If you're unfamiliar with the obscure words chosen for the translation but are willing to make repeated trips to the dictionary (or keep a side list as I did), you'll be richly rewarded with keener understanding of life in 17th century France as well as a greater appreciation of Dumas' prose style.For what it's worth, a doublet is close fitting jacket worn by European men in the 16th and 17th centuries; a jerken is a hip-length collarless and sleeveless jacket worn over a doublet, and a tabard is a tunic or cape-like garment emblazoned with a coat of arms. A caparison is an ornamental covering for a horse or for its saddle or harness; a sorrel is a brownish-orange colored horse, and a croup is the rump of a beast of burden, especially a horse. A counterscarp is the outer side of a ditch used in fortifications; revetments is a barricade against explosives, and circumvallation is the act of surrounding with a rampart. Rosinante is the name of Don Quixote's horse, and Circe is the goddess of Greek mythology who turned Odysseus's men temporarily into pigs but later gave him directions for their journey home. And an interlocutrix is simply a woman who is participating in a conversation.I'll close with my favorite quote from the book, spoken by Cardinal Richelieu. He was musing about finding someone to assassinate the Duke of Buckingham, but Milady argued that potential assassins would be afraid to proceed for fear of "torture and death". Le Cardinal replied, "In all times and in all countries, especially if those countries are divided by religion, there will always be fanatics who ask for nothing better than to be made martyrs." It's as true today as it was when Dumas' wrote it more than 160 years ago.

Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel The Three Musketeers is the most well-known swashbuckling novel in the genre, and with good reason. This well-deserved classic is a lot of fun, and the adventures of d'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis are very enjoyable. There are a couple of small issues I have with the story, but it's well worth reading.Dumas takes an interesting approach in that our main protagonist, d'Artagnan, is not in fact one of the titular Three Musketeers. Travelling from Gascony to Paris in 1620's France to make his fortune, the young, arrogant, brave, and - fortunately for himself - very capable d'Artagnan ends up friends with Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, and caught in the web of plots surrounding Cardinal Richelieu, King Louis XIII, and the Queen, Anne of Austria. D'Artagnan and each of the Musketeers are an interesting character in their own right, with Athos serious and brooding, Porthos an amusing but deadly fop, and Aramis constantly flirting with taking up the priesthood. The friendship between the four is also very well written, and it's with good reason that "the three musketeers" is still a byword for an extremely close group of comrades.The Cardinal is the main nemesis and architect of the troubles the four friends find themselves in, but their immediate trouble largely comes from Milady de Winter. Milady perhaps the trickiest, most conniving, slippery, and vindictive character I've come across. Despite all the precautions d'Artagnan, the Musketeers, and the other allied characters take, Milady continues to find a way to cause trouble, leaving the fortunes of men, women, and nations torn asunder in her wake. She's quite the piece of work.I have two small problems with the book. First, for a swashbuckling novel, there are long stretches where there's no action. Instead the characters do a lot of boozing and schmoozing during these parts of the novel. Now, I'm all for character building and these parts are fun, but I was expecting a little more action in the most famous swashbuckling book of all time. There are even several chapters very near the end that focus entirely on Milady's dastardly schemes, and the Musketeers aren't even around. My second issue is that, since the four friends' main rival is a woman and the story is written in 1844 and takes place in the 1620's, the climactic showdown with Milady has no action, and - to keep our heroes from getting their hands dirty - a previously completely unknown character shows up right at that point with his own grudge against Milady and takes a very active roll. That seemed, frankly, like a bit of a cop out.I listened to Blackstone Audio's 2007 production of The Three Musketeers as read by Simon Vance. I'm a huge fan of Vance, and have listened to him narrate other swashbuckling works suck as Rafael Sabatini's Scaramouche and Captain Blood. Vance does another excellent job here. He delivers the drama very well, and does a fantastic job of keeping it easy to track who's speaking, which is quite a feat for the large cast in this book. There are the four heroes, their four servants, the Cardinal, Milady, lots of other courtly allies and enemies, and love interests, but as soon as Vance speaks, you know who's involved. He also depicts the action in a very stirring and heart-pumping manner. The man knows how to narrate a duel, without a doubt. This unabridged recording runs approximately 23 hours. My only quibble with the production is that I was unable, either from the packaging, Blackstone's website, or anywhere else, to determine which translation was used in the recording.I recommend The Three Muskeers for anyone looking for a classic adventure tale. It's not perfect, but there is a good reason it's such a well-regarded novel. The characters are a lot of fun, the action is exciting, and the intrigue was excellent. I just wish there was a bit more action. If you're an audio book fan, definitely check out Vance's performance.

I love this story and read it first as a child, struggling through the French parts. I didn’t know that a better translation would have made it more accessible to me. I never even gave a thought to who translated it. Between the footnotes and clarity in translation, this is a wonderful read. Congratulations. I’m sure I’m years behind, but I have found you now.

Of course I don't need to get into the details of the story. It's a classic and if you are thinking of buying this book it's likely for the material it's made from and its quality and not because you haven't read it before. I read most all my books on the kindle app in my iPad. However, I think there is something sacred about the classics and something to be said for actual printed books. With that being said, if I'm going to be displaying books on the shelves of my office I want them to look good. They need to look classy and not just like random books thrown into the shelves as the office is one of the first rooms you see when you come into my home. These books are perfect with their leather-bound gold leaf design. Not only does this book look great on my office shelves they are also a wonderful way to get my kids to read the classics. Hand them a paperback book and they lose it and don't bother reading it. Hand them one of these and explain their value, both culturally and monetarily, and they take it a bit more seriously. They tend to take care of them and actually read them and put them back on the office shelf when done. This book was no exception. Both my 13 year old daughter and 15 year old son read it. It's in great condition and, as I said, looks good on the shelf. If you're a book nerd like me, it's a good investment.

I won't comment on the text here other than to say it's a nice translation, as it's a classic novel. The chronology in the front is a nice touch. You probably have some idea if you'll like it. The Everyman's Library editions are gorgeous books as a rule, and this is no exception. Under the dustcover, it has a lovely rich red cover with a black and gold label on the spine. The paper quality is significantly higher than you find in most modern books. The ribbon bookmark could stand to be wider, but that's just me nitpicking. I would recommend ordering from a bookshop if possible though; my copy came a bit scuffed up and with several pages bent. I'm not counting that in the review, because that's an issue with Amazon not putting enough cushioning in the box and not with the edition itself.

I fell in love with this book the first time I read it, forty years ago. It’s almost like I fall in love with it for the first time, every time I have reread it since. I only remember reading the sequels once, many years ago, and seem to recall them being somewhat too tragic for me to handle at that early age. I have not reread any of the sequels since.The Three Musketeers continues to be one of my favourite classics, but do I have a favourite Musketeer? So difficult to say, each one of them is unique in his own way, yet rather similar in certain characteristics. Each one of them has personality traits that you can relate to. What is great about this book is that the supporting cast is just as good, Milady of course my first introduction to the concept of a femme fatale.A swashbuckling tale of heroism, glory, political intrigue, romance, it deserves its place in the pantheon of greatest classics of all time. Highest possible recommendation, and as a bonus, I also recommend Sebastien de Castell’s Greatcoats series, which pays homage to this classic.

Edizione economica con copertina flessibile Vintage Classics French Series. È molto leggero e i caratteri non sono troppo piccoli. In fondo al libro ci sono molte note che aiutano a comprendere aspetti storici. Rapporto qualità prezzo ottimale.

This certainly the unabridged and real translation of the original classic novel. If anybody wishes to enjoy the original novel its a must read.

This is another great looking book from the Word Cloud Classics flexibound series (from Canterbury Classics). It's like a flexible hardcover, blind and holographic foil stamped on the cover. The writing style is in old English, and Mr. Dumas often writes entire paragraphs with lots of comma's and only a period mark at the end of the paragraph, to make one nearly run out of breath merely reading the book. It's still a wonderful story, though, and I'm glad I got this book.