Novel reveals mystery

2005-03-23 09:01

Paris - The mystery of who killed Admiral Nelson is to be explained in a previously unknown novel by Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, discovered by a French researcher and going on sale in June, the book's publisher said on Tuesday.

Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine (The knight of Saint-Hermine) is a classic Dumas adventure story about the start of the Napoleonic empire and includes a swashbuckling account of the battle of Trafalgar, according to Jean-Pierre Sicre of Phebus press.

"The description of Trafalgar is undescribably brilliant. And in it we learn that it is the hero of the book - the chevalier himself - who shoots Nelson," he said.

The British naval commander, Horatio Nelson, led the English fleet in its victory over the French and Spanish off the cape of Gibraltar in 1805, but died on board his flagship when he was hit by a bullet from an unknown French sniper.

The 900-page book appeared in serial form in a French newspaper and lacked just a few chapters when Dumas died in 1870. Claude Schopp, the Dumas specialist who made the discovery, has added a short section to bring the tale to its conclusion.

First clue

"The first clue goes back to 1988," said Schopp.

"I was trying to check a detail for an article and after months of research had to look through copies of Le Moniteur Universel. Imagine my surprise when among the spools of microfiche I came across an almost completed serial signed Alexandre Dumas," he said.

"For a quarter of an hour, in contact with this treasure, I had the feeling I had the world in my hands," he said.

Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine completes a trilogy of works set in the aftermath of the French revolution, which begins with Les Compagnons de Jehu - written in 1857 - and continues with Les Blancs et Les Bleus, completed in 1867.

The chevalier is an aristocrat - the brother of two men who are killed in the previous books - who is caught between his royalist past and his fascination with the emerging Napoleonic empire.

The grandson of a Haitian slave, Dumas was a hugely prolific writer, producing more than 250 works including plays, a novel and even a cookbook. He remains today the most widely read French writer around the world. He died in 1870 at the age of 68.

The existence of Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine was kept secret for years as Schopp worked on the text, which contained many mistakes and inconsistencies.

- AFP