《茶花女》是法國亞歷山大·小仲馬的代表作，講述在19世紀40年代，一個叫瑪格麗特·戈蒂埃的貧苦鄉下姑娘來到巴黎，走進了名利場，成了上流社會的一個社交明星。在她的賣笑生涯中她結識了阿爾芒·迪瓦爾，于是兩人開始了一段愛情故事。書中故事根據作者小仲馬與情人的真情實際改變而成。
小仲馬（1824—1895）是法國小說家、劇作家。他的文學創作大多以探討社會道德問題為主題。1848年，小仲馬發表了《茶花女》一舉成名，1852年他又將其改編為同名話劇，獲得了極大成功，于是專門開始了戲劇創作。小仲馬共寫了二十多個劇本，包括《半上流社會》、《金錢問題》、《私生子》、《放蕩的父親》、《歐勃雷夫人的見解》、《阿爾米斯先生》和《福朗西雍》等。他的劇本多以婦女、家庭、愛情、婚姻問題為題材，著意揭露資本主義社會 家庭和兩性關系上的腐朽和虛偽，從獨特的角度提出了婦女地位、私生子的命運及婚姻、道德等社會問題。
In my opinion, it is impossible to create characters until one has spent a long time in studying men, as it is impossible to speak a language until it has been seriously acquired. Not being old enough to invent, I content myself with narrating, and I beg the reader to assure himself of the truth of a story in which all the characters, with the exception of the heroine, are still alive. Eye-witnesses of the greater part of the facts which I have collected are to be found in Paris, and I might call upon them to confirm me if my testimony is not enough. And, thanks to a particular circumstance, I alone can write these things, for I alone am able to give the final details, without which it would have been impossible to make the story at once interesting and complete.
This is how these details came to my knowledge. On the 12th of March, 1847, I saw in the Rue Laffitte a great yellow placard announcing a sale of furniture and curiosities. The sale was to take place on account of the death of the owner. The owner’s name was not mentioned, but the sale was to be held at 9, Rue d’Antin, on the 16th, from 12 to 5. The placard further announced that the rooms and furniture could be seen on the 13th and 14th.
I have always been very fond of curiosities, and I made up my mind not to miss the occasion, if not of buying some, at all events of seeing them. Next day I called at 9, Rue d’Antin.
It was early in the day, and yet there were already a number of visitors, both men and women, and the women, though they were dressed in cashmere and velvet, and had their carriages waiting for them at the door, gazed with astonishment and admiration at the luxury which they saw before them.
I was not long in discovering the reason of this astonishment and admiration, for, having begun to examine things a little carefully, I discovered without difficulty that I was in the house of a kept woman. Now, if there is one thing which women in society would like to see (and there were society women there), it is the home of those women whose carriages splash their own carriages day by day, who, like them, side by side with them, have their boxes at the Opera and at the Italians, and who parade in Paris the opulent insolence of their beauty, their diamonds, and their scandal.
This one was dead, so the most virtuous of women could enter even her bedroom. Death had purified the air of this abode of splendid foulness, and if more excuse were needed, they had the excuse that they had merely come to a sale, they knew not whose. They had read the placards, they wished to see what the placards had announced, and to make their choice beforehand. What could be more natural? Yet, all the same, in the midst of all these beautiful things, they could not help looking about for some traces of this courtesan’s life, of which they had heard, no doubt, strange enough stories.
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