Authorship has been attributed to Dumas, but is not known for certain.
A short historical
novel set in Naples in 1647.
New York, G. Munro [c1888]
1 p.l., [5]-140 p. 20 cm.
Subjects:
Masaniello, Tommaso Aniello,--known as,--1620-1647--Fiction.
Library of Congress Catalog Number 06042329
From Reviews (ADR) by Arthur D. Rypinski:
Dumas' fictionalized account of a 1647 popular revolt in Spanish-ruled
Naples. In Dumas' story, the city is impoverished by the exessive
taxation of its Spanish ruler, the Duke of Arcos. Led by the fisherman
Masaniello, the population revolts. The rebellion succeeds, and the
Duke is beseiged in his castle. The Duke offers various concessions to
the enraged populace while plotting Masaniello's assassination.
The historical Masaniello called for the murder of the nobility, and was
himself assassinated within ten days of his rebellion, which led to a
short-lived Neapolitan republic, ultimately crushed by the Spanish.
In Dumas' fiction, however, Masaniello struggles to control the violence
of the revolution, the assassination attempts go awry, he marries the
Duke of Arcos' daughter, rules wisely, and lives happily ever after.
It seems likely that Dumas began writing a longer (and more tragic)
work, but that he decided to truncate the novel and close out his story
in a couple of pages.
From A Bibliography of Alexandre Dumas père by Frank Wild Reed: This article appeared in the numbers of "Le Monte-Cristo" for June 27th to July 18th, 1862. It has seemingly never been reprinted.
It is best described as a "chronicle-story," having no fictitious characters, and faithfully depicting the historical facts, at least as described in one of the early records. Dumas here shows at its best his wonderful gift for visualising, comprehending and interpreting the human individualities of his personages, and of so presenting everything to us that their adventures seem almost to pass before our eyes.
A considerable number of years ago a cheap American series included among its titles one by this name, but examination shows it to have no connection with this piece. It is purely imaginative fiction, having no resemblance to history whatever. It does not resemble Dumas' style, and is almost certainly not from his pen.
