The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie, was born in Jérémie, Saint-Domingue (Haiti) in 1762, the son of the Marquis and Marie-Cessette Dumas, his Haitian slave. In addition to being the father of French novelist Alexandre Dumas, he was the grandfather of playwright Alexandre Dumas, known for "La Dame aux Camélias", the source for Giuseppe Verdi's "La traviata". Dumas was born the son of a renegade French nobleman and his black slave in 1762 in the French sugar colony of Saint Domingue (the future Haiti); at the time of his birth, his father was living on the run from the royal authorities
La Dame aux Camélias Camélias" at the Amore Theatre in Athens. It is also the inspiration for the 2008 musical "Marguerite", which places the story in 1944 German-occupied France. In "My Antonia" by Willa Cather, the characters Jim Burden and Lena Lingard are much moved by a theatrical production of Camille, which they attend in Book 3, chapter 3. "Love Story", published by Eric Segal in 1970, has essentially the same plot updated to contemporary New York. The conflict here centres on the relative economic classes of the central characters. La Dame aux Camélias La Dame aux Camélias (literally The Lady with the Camellias,