The Clemenceau Case

The Clemenceau Case (1866) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas fils. Partly inspired by his own life, the novel takes the form of a letter written from prison to a powerful judge. Looking back on his experiences as an illegitimate child, Pierre Clemenceau provides a scathing critique of French society for its treatment of women and children. Born out of wedlock, Pierre Clemenceau is raised by a mother who tells him he has no father. Clemenceau is educated at a local school until the age of ten, at which point he is sent to a prominent boarding school for boys. There, he struggles to make friends and suffers bullying at the hands of a young American. Tortured day and night, Pierre grows distrustful and violent, and soon turns to a life of crime. As he relates the story of his life to a powerful judge, he declares himself innocent due to the circumstance surrounding his birth, and maintains the following: “My true crime…for which earthly justice will not pursue me, but for which I will never pardon myself nor those who impelled me to, is that I have doubted, and sometimes blushed for my mother.” Filled with regret, he looks for answers from the society that made him doubt his mother in the first place, a society which allows men to escape the responsibilities of fatherhood with impunity. This edition of Alexandre Dumas fils’ The Clemenceau Case is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

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