Widger's Quotations from the Project Gutenberg Editions of Dumas' Celebrated Crimes — Reading Notes

A Quotation Collection with a Purpose

The editor's note reveals a clear intention: to let readers test their memory of Dumas's Celebrated Crimes and to facilitate quick location of passages via digital search. Widger explains that after downloading a specific file, users can insert a small part of a quotation into the 'Find' function to see its full context. This practical design suggests the quotations are meant as entry points, not substitutes. The collection includes two formats—short text passages and lists of alphabetized one-liners—which together offer a fragmented but searchable map of Dumas's sprawling work.

Violence and Restraint in the Excerpts

The excerpts themselves display a striking range. In the passage from Murat, a man dressed as a beggar pauses at a gorge, taking in a rich plain with 'tropical vegetation' and 'exotics of a conservatory.' The tone is observational, almost leisurely. By contrast, the Marquise de Brinvilliers excerpt describes an executioner praying before a beheading, then drinking a dram and tossing the body onto faggots. The juxtaposition of calm description and brutal action is characteristic of Dumas, and Widger's selection preserves this tension without editorial commentary.

The Editor's Voice and the Reader's Role

Widger inserts his own voice in the editor's note, stating that the etext editor 'will be glad to add your suggestions' and that 'one of the advantages of internet over paper publication is the ease of quick revision.' This direct address to the reader blurs the line between compiler and audience. The note also includes a warning that Dumas's work 'was not written for children' and that the novelist 'has spared no language' in describing violent scenes. This caution, placed before the quotations, primes the reader for the graphic content that follows.

Structure and Selection: A First Reader's Path

The table of contents lists eighteen titles, from 'The Borgias' to 'The Marquise de Ganges.' A first reader unfamiliar with the full series might use the quotations as a sampler, moving from the opening of Murat to the dialogue in The Countess of Saint Geran about a 'confinement' without pain. The excerpts are not arranged chronologically or thematically, but the editor's note provides a search method that encourages active engagement. The collection thus functions less as a digest and more as a personalized finding aid, letting the reader navigate Dumas's historical crimes at their own pace.

Widger's compilation rewards a browsing approach. Rather than reading straight through, consider picking a title from the contents, locating the full etext, and using the quotations as signposts. The editor's invitation to suggest additions also hints that this is a living document—one that may expand with reader input. For a first encounter with Dumas's Celebrated Crimes, this collection offers a fragmented but intriguing gateway, best explored with the search function at hand.

That rainy afternoon, Widger’s Quotations felt less like an editor’s guide and more like a whispered conversation across decades, the violence softened by Dumas’s warm, unhurried voice. I found myself wondering what stories lived beyond his Europe, and drifted almost accidentally into a quiet catalogue of indigenous tongues: Literature of the Indian Languages A Bibliographical Catalogue of Books, Translations of the Scriptures, and Other Publications in the Indian Tongues of the United States — A Reader’s Guide. Different centuries, same patience for listening.