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Captain Pamphile
Darkly humorous, Captain Pamphile is a thrilling adventure story, full of sea battles, mutiny, and exotic animals—all led by one of Dumas’ most intriguing creations. In the fashionable social circles of 1831, the vogue is to collect one’s own menagerie, and there is soon a demand for exotic animals from the four corners of the world. Musing on how a monkey, a bear, and a turtle came to inhabit the same Parisian drawing room, Dumas introduces Captain Pamphile, a decidedly unorthodox Provençal sea caption with a flair for “liberating” unusual species from their native shores. The narrative soon gives way to the story of Pamphile’s own life—from his early hunting expeditions to his daring naval hijackings and his aberrant involvement in the local slave trade. French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas who is best remembered for The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.
179 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1839
About the author
Alexandre Dumas
11.6k books10.9k followersThis note regards Alexandre Dumas, père, the father of Alexandre Dumas, fils (son). For the son, see Alexandre Dumas fils.
Alexandre Dumas, père (French for "father", akin to Senior in English), born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were serialized. Dumas also wrote plays and magazine articles, and was a prolific correspondent.
Dumas was of Haitian descent and mixed-race. His father, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) to Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a French nobleman, and Marie-Cessette Dumas, a black slave. At age 14 Thomas-Alexandre was taken by his father to France, where he was educated in a military academy and entered the military for what became an illustrious career.
Dumas's father's aristocratic rank helped young Alexandre Dumas acquire work with Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, then as a writer, finding early success. He became one of the leading authors of the French Romantic Movement, in Paris.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Alexandre Dumas, père (French for "father", akin to Senior in English), born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were serialized. Dumas also wrote plays and magazine articles, and was a prolific correspondent.
Dumas was of Haitian descent and mixed-race. His father, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) to Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a French nobleman, and Marie-Cessette Dumas, a black slave. At age 14 Thomas-Alexandre was taken by his father to France, where he was educated in a military academy and entered the military for what became an illustrious career.
Dumas's father's aristocratic rank helped young Alexandre Dumas acquire work with Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, then as a writer, finding early success. He became one of the leading authors of the French Romantic Movement, in Paris.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 5, 2020
Abandoned listening to pompous reader reading annoying children's book.
November 30, 2007
This is one of Alexandre Dumas' lesser known works. It's about the human qualities in animals and the animal qualities in humans. Alexandre Dumas and his friends gather in a drawing room to hear about the exiting adventures of Captain Pamphile. It's incredibly witty.
December 26, 2014
Well this is one book, so far, of Dumas that I just don't know what to make of. Satirical books are hard to come by, satirical books without sarcasm is harder still. At least it is the introduction that tells us so. Admittedly I wouldn't put it past Dumas to write a satirical book and a peculiar one at that. Make no mistake there is no hero in this Dumas. The title character of the book is an absolute bastard, not a loveable rogue at first, he is a swine and a swindler. Perhaps Dumas's point in that theses men always get away with murder, however, despite the Dumas books I have read in the past I don't feel like I know him sufficiently to say which is tongue in cheek and which is not. It is true that he tells a joke with a straight face which makes it all the harder to tell. But it is as tho' he has deliberately made it in the book that you can't find anyone to like, the adventures in it have a sort of aloofness not his usual intensity and he jumps from story to story with a motley of characters as if he didn't care if he confused his readers. But it is all a great big yarn to him that is incredibly incredulous, from the moment he tells his erstwhile readers that he climbed five flights of stairs! Most pictures I have seen of Dumas it looks as tho' he couldn't climb one flight without enormous difficulty. Of course since he had possibly 40 mistresses his large size was nothing to his gigantic personality and any kind of exercise was taken in his stride. Then again while one is telling a nonsense yarn one might as well go the whole way with it. But while the reader can laugh out loud through most of his one big ball of yarn one can't laugh at Pamphile's savagery. One can't even chuckle and say "Oh my god that's terrible!" So Pamphile's is something of a worry. Dumas, us modern readers whose humour is very basic and obvious, you need to confide in us with the heart of the matter. Pamphile's can't just sneak through as a kind of Le Comte Monte Cristo and sail away on the seven seas. The reader demands recompense. None unfortunately becomes forth coming. By the time you have finished and put the book down you are scratching your head. Is Dumas laughing at someone specific or at his entire readership? You can just imagine a very loud and prolonged guffaw emanating from this incredibly large man. But what is behind the laughter? That we all took him seriously? That we didn't get sufficient humour from it? Or is there something very sinister behind the whole thing? Some of said Dumas's personality was light hearted. Was it really? Was this not a facade? There's is always the chance it is as ridiculous as it appears. And yet with Dumas there was no knowing whom the real man was.
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August 8, 2019This is my 7th Dumas book that I have read and it certainly wasn't the type of story I have come to expect from him. Unlike his more famous tales like The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo this feels less like an adventure story and more like a comedy. The writing itself feels like a satire.
There are almost two stories within this book- the story of a group of artists who have exotic pets and the story of Captain Pamphile who collected these animals while on his voyages around the world.
Within this book there is quite a lot of animal cruelty described. Although the tone is light the way the animals are portrayed with human qualities shows Dumas' feelings on this behaviour.
At times this book felt inconsistent. Characters appeared out of nowhere and some events were discussed as though the reader had witnessed them when they hadn't.
I believe this is one of Dumas' earlier works and it feels as though he is still searching for his style. However, I found it an interesting read nonetheless.
There are almost two stories within this book- the story of a group of artists who have exotic pets and the story of Captain Pamphile who collected these animals while on his voyages around the world.
Within this book there is quite a lot of animal cruelty described. Although the tone is light the way the animals are portrayed with human qualities shows Dumas' feelings on this behaviour.
At times this book felt inconsistent. Characters appeared out of nowhere and some events were discussed as though the reader had witnessed them when they hadn't.
I believe this is one of Dumas' earlier works and it feels as though he is still searching for his style. However, I found it an interesting read nonetheless.
September 6, 2012
First of all, this is a very short early outing from Dumas and for a large portion of it you’ll start wondering what it's all about.
There are two stories here: First, the story about the narrator and his friends curious animals, and Secondly the story of how those animals came to be in the middle of 1830’s Paris rather than in their native environment. While these stories run concurrently, I found the first dull an uninteresting (a story about a group of friends and their whims) and the second, entrancing and hypnotic (a story about an ruthless sea Captain and his adventures in the seven seas)
So from that you can gather that I had mixed feelings when I came to the end of this 180 page novella, I'll be happy to see the back of the shallow and boring Parisians but I could have read another 1’000 pages of the exciting story of Captain Pamphile.
There are two stories here: First, the story about the narrator and his friends curious animals, and Secondly the story of how those animals came to be in the middle of 1830’s Paris rather than in their native environment. While these stories run concurrently, I found the first dull an uninteresting (a story about a group of friends and their whims) and the second, entrancing and hypnotic (a story about an ruthless sea Captain and his adventures in the seven seas)
So from that you can gather that I had mixed feelings when I came to the end of this 180 page novella, I'll be happy to see the back of the shallow and boring Parisians but I could have read another 1’000 pages of the exciting story of Captain Pamphile.
September 15, 2021
Treceam în 1831 prin faţa unui butic cunoscut, când am observat înăuntru un englez întorcând pe toate feţele o broască ţestoasă, pe care o târguia cu intenţia de a face din ea, îndată ce va deveni proprietarul ei, un turtle’ soup înfăţişarea de resemnare profundă cu care bietul animal se lăsa examinat, fără măcar să încerce să se salveze sub carapace de cruda privire gastronomică a duşmanului, m-a mişcat. M-a apucat deodată o poftă s-o smulg din oala în care o şi vedeam aruncată. Am intrat în magazin, unde eram foarte cunoscut, şi, făcând patroanei un semn cu ochiul, am întrebat-o dacă îmi păstrase broasca ţestoasă pe care o arvunisem când mai trecusem pe acolo.
Patroana m-a înţeles, cu acea inteligenţă instantanee a clasei comercianţilor parizieni şi, luând în mod politicos broasca din mâinile celui care se tocmea, mi-a înmânat-o, adresându-se insularului nostru care rămăsese cu gura căscată.
― Iertaţi-mă, milord, micuţa broască a fost vândută domnului azi dimineaţă.
― Oh, mi-a spus într-o franceză perfectă milordul improvizat, dumneavoastră vă aparţine acest încântător animal?
― Yes, yes, milord, s-a grăbit să spună patroana.
― Ei bine, domnule, a continuat el, aveţi aici un animal care vă va face o excelentă supă. Am regretul că este singurul exemplar din această specie, pe care îl are în acest moment doamna negustoreasă.
― Noi have speranţa să mai primim şi altele mâine dimineaţă, a răspuns negustoreasa.
― Mâine va fi prea târziu, a spus rece englezul. Mi-am pus în ordine toate afacerile ca să-mi zbor creierii la noapte şi doream ca, înainte, să mănânc o supă de broască ţestoasă.
Spunând acestea, m-a salutat şi a ieşit.
„Desigur! mi-am spus după o clipă de gândire. Acest ultim capriciu pe care vrea să şi-l satisfacă este o nimica toată pentru un om atât de curtenitor.”
Şi m-am repezit afară din magazin strigând, la fel cum îi spusese şi negustoreasa:
― Milord! Milord!
Dar nu ştiam încotro o luase şi mi-a fost imposibil să-l găsesc.
Patroana m-a înţeles, cu acea inteligenţă instantanee a clasei comercianţilor parizieni şi, luând în mod politicos broasca din mâinile celui care se tocmea, mi-a înmânat-o, adresându-se insularului nostru care rămăsese cu gura căscată.
― Iertaţi-mă, milord, micuţa broască a fost vândută domnului azi dimineaţă.
― Oh, mi-a spus într-o franceză perfectă milordul improvizat, dumneavoastră vă aparţine acest încântător animal?
― Yes, yes, milord, s-a grăbit să spună patroana.
― Ei bine, domnule, a continuat el, aveţi aici un animal care vă va face o excelentă supă. Am regretul că este singurul exemplar din această specie, pe care îl are în acest moment doamna negustoreasă.
― Noi have speranţa să mai primim şi altele mâine dimineaţă, a răspuns negustoreasa.
― Mâine va fi prea târziu, a spus rece englezul. Mi-am pus în ordine toate afacerile ca să-mi zbor creierii la noapte şi doream ca, înainte, să mănânc o supă de broască ţestoasă.
Spunând acestea, m-a salutat şi a ieşit.
„Desigur! mi-am spus după o clipă de gândire. Acest ultim capriciu pe care vrea să şi-l satisfacă este o nimica toată pentru un om atât de curtenitor.”
Şi m-am repezit afară din magazin strigând, la fel cum îi spusese şi negustoreasa:
― Milord! Milord!
Dar nu ştiam încotro o luase şi mi-a fost imposibil să-l găsesc.
April 20, 2024
For once; a disappointing Dumas. Maybe I am not the target reader for this book (likely more for 12 year-old boys) but I found the storytelling sluggish and sometimes downright cringy (even Dumas’ second degree descriptions of slavery are difficult to read).
There are much much better lesser known Dumas to feast on!
There are much much better lesser known Dumas to feast on!
May 21, 2018
A sharply pointed satire with real humour.
October 5, 2019
Very different from most of Dumas' works. It's not his usual action-adventure story it's a calmer pace, and wittier.
August 31, 2016
So I didn't know what to make of this book at first.
I had a feeling that it was not supposed to be funny but it really was so that part was good. Well, maybe I'm just evil...Ull see. The ending of the frog story...had me giggling.
A good amount of confusion was happening at first when we're jumping back and forth between all the animal stories and Captain Pamphile and at times it felt like there were just multiple, unrelated to one another storylines. Especially James 2nd...so that part I wasn't a big fan of. Even in the end it all just felt unnecessary.
The ending though!!! That made it all worth it. Totally unexpected and totally made my day! That alone deserves an additional star to what otherwise was a pretty mediocre book.
Roman
I had a feeling that it was not supposed to be funny but it really was so that part was good. Well, maybe I'm just evil...Ull see. The ending of the frog story...had me giggling.
A good amount of confusion was happening at first when we're jumping back and forth between all the animal stories and Captain Pamphile and at times it felt like there were just multiple, unrelated to one another storylines. Especially James 2nd...so that part I wasn't a big fan of. Even in the end it all just felt unnecessary.
The ending though!!! That made it all worth it. Totally unexpected and totally made my day! That alone deserves an additional star to what otherwise was a pretty mediocre book.
Roman
August 17, 2008
Wow. Well, I may have to think about that "love all things Dumas" claim I've made. Is this entertainingly written in the Dumas style? Yes, absolutely, and on that level it's enjoyable. The subject, though, is largely the relationships between people and their pets (along with the adventures of the clever but nasty Captain Pamphile, whom I'm choosing not to comment on here). The book reflects the attitudes of a different, pre-HSUS or -PETA time (obviously), and with the animals featured so anthropomorphized, the casual cruelty of the pet owners is often cringe inducing. I'd have a hard time recommending it to any but the most devoted Dumas fan.
February 5, 2014
Kapitän Pamphile, ein äußerst geschäftstüchtiger Seemann, hat auf seinen Reisen nicht nur die haarsträubendsten Abenteuer erlebt, sondern auch allerlei exotische Tiere aufgelesen, von denen sich einige in der Menagerie des Malers Decamps wiederfinden. Doch nicht nur der Kapitän ist für allerlei Geschichten gut, auch die Tiere sorgen für Erzählstoff, wenn Decamps mal wieder seine Freunde zu einem geselligen Abend einlädt.
Hinter dem lockeren, amüsanten Erzählstil von „Kapitän Pamphile“ verbirgt sich eine bitterböse Satire, mit der Dumas die Missstände seiner Zeit aufs Korn nimmt.
Auch als Hörbuch gelesen von Peter Matic sehr empfehlenswert.
Hinter dem lockeren, amüsanten Erzählstil von „Kapitän Pamphile“ verbirgt sich eine bitterböse Satire, mit der Dumas die Missstände seiner Zeit aufs Korn nimmt.
Auch als Hörbuch gelesen von Peter Matic sehr empfehlenswert.
May 27, 2011
Alright, not great though.
A bit of a story salad, Dumas tells tales of his mates and their pets, but also goes off on a tangent later in the book and talks about the salty seadog that brought the animals to France. No real reason to do this so it makes it a bit messy, almost like 2 books that got thrown together inside one cover.
Odd...Dumas just paying his bills on this one I think.
A bit of a story salad, Dumas tells tales of his mates and their pets, but also goes off on a tangent later in the book and talks about the salty seadog that brought the animals to France. No real reason to do this so it makes it a bit messy, almost like 2 books that got thrown together inside one cover.
Odd...Dumas just paying his bills on this one I think.
October 26, 2020
In carte este relatata aventura capitanului Pamphile pe bricul Roxelana si povestea acestuia dupa ce este aruncat peste bord in mare. Supravietuieste dar este supus unor teste si incercari pana va ajunge inapoi pe vasul Roxelanei.
November 20, 2011
Captain Pamphile is a terrible person, but the book is written to overlook his many, many faults. It's funny!!!
January 23, 2014
Occasionally delightful, and of a certain kind of interest by virtue of being such a bizarre hodgepodge of storylines and techniques, but ultimately not _that_ rewarding a read.
January 14, 2015
Definitely not my favorite of Dumas' works, but it's still pretty good like all his books are.
July 23, 2019
My rating: ★★★
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews