“A singular mixture of original vulgarity and acquired elegance” Portrait of a “socio-economic métis” in Gabriel Lambert

This article examines both the narrative and dramatic versions of Dumas’s Gabriel Lambert in light of those texts many allusions to Guadeloupe and the notion of socioeconomic métissage. By proposing a colonial source as the explanation for a fortune and an aristocratic name whose origins are unknown in metropolitan France, Dumas links these texts to others of the period, among which one can point to his novel Georges. The eponymous character of this latter text, a man of mixed race from the Île de France/Réunion, provides a black and white contrast to Gabriel. Moreover, the juxtaposition of these two works shows how Dumas can recycle his material to create new stories.