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About this book

What happens when a gathering near Paris turns its talk toward the dead?

In The Thousand and One Ghosts, Alexandre Dumas steps into his own collection as a curious, sociable traveler. Near Paris, he meets people ready to share stories of hauntings, crimes, and signs from beyond the grave. Each guest brings a different tale, and the gathering becomes the thread that holds them together.

The stories move through different places, periods, and moods, with France’s violent past close behind them. The shadow of the French Revolution falls across a world familiar with sudden death. Yet Dumas tells these dark tales with warmth, jokes, and digressions, drawing you into the conversation rather than following one tight plot.

What you’ll discover

  • A storyteller steps inside Meet Dumas as a character, drawn from the road into talk of crime and ghosts.
  • Each guest brings ghosts Follow the gathering from teller to teller, each with a different encounter with the dead.
  • France’s haunting past Feel the shadow of the French Revolution fall across stories marked by sudden death.
  • Dark tales, warm company Enjoy a chatty storyteller whose jokes and digressions sit alongside the promise of a scare.
  • Stories within a story Explore a loose chain of supernatural tales held together by the people who tell them.

Is it for you?

This book suits readers who like ghost stories told by the fireside, French history in the background, and a storyteller who loves a good scare. If you want one tight plot from start to finish, the looser structure may feel less suited.

What’s inside

The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary

  1. A storyteller steps into his own book
  2. Each guest brings a tale of the dead
  3. France and its violent past haunt the tales
  4. A talker's style that rewards listening

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25 languages, side by side

Horror & Gothic

Die tausendundein Gespenster

by Alexandre Dumas· 1849

A gathering near Paris shares stories of the dead.

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Die tausendundein Gespenster by Alexandre Dumas, the cover

From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4

A storyteller steps into his own book

The book opens with Dumas as a character. He is a writer on the road, curious and sociable, and he is soon drawn into talk of crime and the supernatural. This is a playful choice. The author of famous adventure novels becomes a listener, and the reader sits beside him.

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The author

Alexandre Dumas

1802–1870 · French novelist and playwright

Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) was a French novelist and playwright. He was born in Villers-Cotterêts, lived in Paris, and died in Puys, near Dieppe. He wrote The Three Musketeers (1844), The Count of Monte Cristo (1844–1846), Twenty Years After (1845), and The Black Tulip (1850).

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Questions about Die tausendundein Gespenster

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What is The Thousand and One Ghosts about?

It is a book of supernatural tales told within a frame story. Dumas appears as a narrator who listens to guests telling of hauntings, crimes and signs from the dead, in a style that echoes the Arabian Nights.

When was The Thousand and One Ghosts written?

Dumas wrote it in the late 1840s, and it first appeared in French as Les Mille et un fantômes. It came out in the period when he was publishing many works in serial form.

Why is it called The Thousand and One Ghosts?

The title plays on The Thousand and One Nights. Both books use a frame in which one tale leads into another, though Dumas replaces the eastern fables with ghost stories.

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