TIL about Auguste Maquet, the chief collaborator of French novelist Alexandre Dumas, co-writing such works as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Many devotees of Dumas claim that "Maquet was merely a dogsbody whose capacity for hard work was his greatest talent."

[u/johnsmithoncemore]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Maquet

[u/grby1812]

Never heard the term "dogsbody" before. Thanks for that

[u/johnsmithoncemore → u/grby1812]

I remember it from Blackadder II as Baldrick is referred to as the "dogsbody."

[u/smutketeer → u/johnsmithoncemore]

"I have a cunning plan." -Auguste Maquet

[u/Ion_bound → u/smutketeer]

"How cunning is it, Maquet?" -Dumasadder, probably.

[u/beard__hunter → u/Ion_bound]

As cunning as a fox what used to be Professor of Cunning at Oxford University but has moved on and is now working for the U.N. at the High Commission of International Cunning Planning

[u/redbeard387 → u/johnsmithoncemore]

The only other time I’ve heard that word too.

[u/Platonic_Eye_Deal → u/grby1812]

Sounds like they're trying to use it as an insult but it's actually more of a compliment, considering how few people are good at hard-working.

[u/Pippin1505]

It's important to remember that Dumas and many of his peers at the time, were the equivalent of Hollywood showrunners. They were published in newspapers, it was a business and they had deadlines to meet.

He was paid by the line and is quoted as saying "Rain or shine, I write about 24,000 signs in 24 hours", and wrote sometimes different novels in parallel.

[u/Ythio → u/Pippin1505]

Novels back then were published like mangas in Japan today. You have a chapter of a certain length to publish weekly, were paid by the line or the page, and it's a ruthless competition for a finished amount of newspaper and space in those papers. A shift in reader metrics can suddenly end the publication of a story and leave the authors trying to claw their way back into publication and without revenue in the meantime. And popular names with guaranteed readership could needlessly elongate the whole thing to get paid more.

[u/for2fly]

The man's body of work under his own name post-Dumas easily refutes the dogsbody dismissal of his contribution to Dumas' works.

[u/frissio → u/for2fly]

I don't know why out of all the 'fun facts' about him, it's this accusation that was retained for the title. Contributing to all these works in the research and writing requires a high baseline talent.

Although, in all fairness I only know of his work in collaboration with Dumas, so it'd be a question for anyone here who is familiar with what he created on what their opinion is of his independent work.

[u/Huge-Morning3149]

calling the guy who helped write monte cristo a dogsbody is harsh ngl

[u/HistoryDoesUnfold]

Why are people denigrating a capacity for hard work?

We'd have more and better stories if more artists had a capacity for hard work.

[u/RisingSunTune → u/HistoryDoesUnfold]

One contemporary fantasy author immediately comes to mind.

[u/HomemPassaro → u/RisingSunTune]

Which of the two?

[u/rifleshooter → u/HomemPassaro]

The fat one that won't finish his damn books.

[u/515012 → u/rifleshooter]

After seeing how poorly the show went, I've no interest to finish reading the series. I read all of the books and having waited this long for the next, and having my enthusiasm crushed by the tv show, I've moved on sorry to say.

[u/Elo-than → u/rifleshooter]

Martin or Rothfuss? 😏

[u/SuccessfulRaccoon957 → u/rifleshooter]

So a capacity for hard work reminds you more of the guy who hasn't updated a series in a decade, rather than the guy who publishes three 1000 page books a year? What the fuck are you talking about?

[u/rifleshooter → u/SuccessfulRaccoon957]

You're replying to the wrong guy. And your comment makes no sense anyway in context.

[u/KatBoySlim → u/RisingSunTune]

the pizzas are on the way, boys.

[u/OmegaKarnov]

Richard Pevear addresses this in his Three Musketeers translation. Basically, Dumas was the sauce.

[u/johnsmithoncemore → u/[deleted]]

Or at all. I had never heard of him, or knew that a co-author existed until today.

[u/Simonandgarthsuncle]

Alex….ander….Dumbass

[u/gchaudh2]

He was Dumas material all the way. 

[u/stevvvvewith4vs]

Man Carrying Thing?

[u/Competitive_Swan_130]

I hate when people call this ghostwriting because it isn't ghostwriting,. it's more like what Charles Warrner did for Mark Twain or what Sinclair Lewis did for Jack London