Sunday, February 16, 2014

Chasing the elusive black tulip

The Black Tulip, Alexandre Dumas

After falling in love with The Count of Monte Cristo last year, I started looking for more of Alexandre Dumas's books.  Helen, whose review of The Count had inspired me to find a copy, also wrote about The Black Tulip as a story similar to the Count's, which was enough to add it to my reading list.  But I've been slower to read the books than I was to collect them, so I decided to choose one for the TBR challenge.  It was serendipity to discover that this was published in 1850, so that it also qualifies for my Mid-Century reading project.

At only 230 pages in my Penguin Classics edition, this has to be one of Dumas's shortest books.  But he manages to pack so much into his story: Dutch politics, mob violence, tulipomania, false imprisonment, and a chase across Holland with a rare black tulip, worth 100,000 florins to its inventor.  There is also quite a passionate love story - a triangle, really - between the falsely-accused prisoner and his warder's beautiful daughter, who suspects that he may actually love tulips more than her.  The action moves quickly between suspense, comedy and romance, before wrapping up neatly and happily in the last chapter, which even gives us a peek at the characters' lives in the future (my favorite kind of conclusion).

Dumas set his story in 1672, a confused time in Dutch politics, with rebellion against the Spanish crown followed by war with England and France, and conflict over a republican form of government.  It's a period I know very little about, despite being of Dutch descent on my father's side.  But the hero of this story isn't interested in politics.  Cornelius van Baerle, a wealthy young man of leisure, has devoted his life to tulips.  With his fortune, he can afford everything he needs not just to grow the best, but to study them and to develop new varieties.  When the Haarlem Tulip Society offers its prize for the first black tulip produced, Cornelius sets to work, under the constant surveillance of his neighbor and rival, Isaac Boxtel.  Cornelius's downfall comes when he innocently accepts a packet of papers from his godfather Cornelius de Witt (a real historical figure).  When the older Cornelius and his brother Johann are murdered by a mob in the Hague (a real historical event that opens the story), the fictional Boxtel uses that as an excuse to attack his rival. He denounces von Baerle to the authorities for holding treasonous papers from the de Witts.  The packet is discovered just where Cornelius put it, and no one believes him when he swears he had no idea what was in it.  He barely has time to hide in his clothing the three black tulip bulbs he has produced before he is hauled off in turn to the Hague.

Sentenced to death, he bequeaths the bulbs to Rosa, the beautiful, blonde daughter of the brutal prison warder Gryphus.  He instructs her to raise the tulips, win the prize, and marry a handsome young man on the proceeds.  Rosa has already chosen her handsome young man, though she doesn't immediately inform Cornelius of her choice.  But when he is spared for execution and transferred to the prison of Loevestein,  Rosa manages to get her father transferred there, and she comes along, with the precious tulip bulbs.  She visits Cornelius each night, talking to him through the barred window in the door of his cell, and he is soon as deep in love as she is.  They manage quite a bit of contact through that window!  More innocently, Cornelius teaches her how to read and write, using the Bible.  He also instructs her how to plant the precious bulbs, which Rosa accuses him of loving more than her (and with some reason).  Meanwhile, someone else has also arrived in Loevestein, and though he professes to be in love with Rosa, it is another prize that he has in sight.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced adventure, which had me laughing out loud more than once.  I had forgotten how funny Dumas can be.  This is a much lighter story than The Count!  In addition to learning a little about Dutch history, I also have a new appreciation for tulips. I've been looking at Google images, including some stunning black tulips (though apparently they aren't really black, just dark deep purple).  Yesterday, in another moment of serendipity, in an exhibit of Impressionist paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts here in Houston, I came across a lovely Renoir painting of tulip fields in flower (you can see the painting toward the bottom of this article).

15 comments:

  1. I hadn't realised he'd written books shorter than a zillion pages. ;-) This sounds like good fun - I love your line about suspecting he loves tulips more than her! I love tulips too but sadly our climate is far too hot to grow them, tho' we can get potted ones ($$$$) and cut ones (I feel a bit sad about cut ones). I'd love to go and see a proper tulip field one day.

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  2. I've just added this title to my wish list. The Count of Monte Cristo is a favorite...and I'm thrilled to learn this is a short book. Didn't think Dumas could write those ;-)

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  3. vicki, they have a couple of conversations (arguments) about love of Rosa vs. love of tulips! It's too hot to grow them here too, I think.

    JoAnn, it's funny to see this book next to the bulk of the Count :) I also have Georges on the TBR shelves, it's only 250 pages!

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  4. I know that I have had an encounter with this book somewhere in the very dim and distant past, but for the life of me I can't think where. I'm almost certain I didn't read the book, so I can only think that I must have come across a serialisation either on the radio or television. But, i love Dumas - he is such a consummate storyteller. I should go back and reacquaint myself with this.

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  5. Okay, I'm adding this to my TBR. Have never read any Dumas but you make this sound so fun!

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  6. I'm so glad you enjoyed this, Lisa! I loved it but it seems to get very little attention compared to his other books. You're right about Dumas being funny - there are some hilarious moments in the Musketeers books too.

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  7. Alex, I think this could work very well for the radio - and I think the narrator would have a lot of fun! I found a couple of films with the same name, but neither based on Dumas.

    Audra, it's historical fiction but a bit light on the history, except for the framing story. If you enjoy this, I'd recommend The Three Musketeers - also set in the 1600s.

    Helen, I'm more & more convinced I need to re-read the Musketeers, before I start on the sequels. I have Twenty Years After waiting - after you posted about it :)

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  8. Ahahahaha, oh Dumas, I love him so much with his crazy stories. I'm ashamed to admit I've only read The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo -- I read bits of the Musketeers sequels but got too bored/sad to continue (the 3 Musketeers BROKE UP! And were mad at each other all the time!). But this sounds like a delight.

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  9. Jenny, for years all I knew of Dumas were the Musketeers, and this book was such a fun surprise - after the gory opening!

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  10. I've avoided Dumas because of the chunkiness of his books, but this one is the perfect length. And it sounds like a lot of fun! I'm going to add it to my wish list too.

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  11. Anbolyn, I like a good chunkster now & then, but it's also nice not to spend a week with a book! But Dumas's stories always move at a quick pace, from what I've read.

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  12. Years ago I read a book on the Tulip fever that gripped Holland, Tulipomania I think was the title.

    Turns out the proper way to plant a tulip for viewing was not in a field put to put a single bulb in its own bed. That way you would see just the one flower and could fully appreciate its unique beauty.

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  13. James, what I've read about tulipomania just seems so incredible - that people were willing to pay a year's salary, or the cost of a house, for a single bulb. And once you got it, it makes sense you'd want to plant it all by itself! If you could bring yourself to plant it at all.

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  14. I just pulled a bunch of books off my shelves for an upcoming trip and The Black Tulip was one that I chose. I am really looking forward to it.

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  15. Thomas, I hope you enjoy it, and your trip! I tend to overpack on books, so I won't run out of reading, or be stranded with a book I don't really want to read.

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Thank you for taking the time to read, and to comment. I always enjoy hearing different points of view about the books I am reading, even if we disagree!