Example from the 'Canon': The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, inseparable friends who live by the motto "all for one, one for all" (Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno in Latin phrase), a motto which is first put forth by d'Artagnan.
The story of d'Artagnan is continued in Twenty Years Afterand The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. Those three novels by Dumas are together known as the d'Artagnan Romances.
The Three Musketeers was first published in serial form in the newspaper Le Siècle between March and July 1844.

Adaptations

Musical theatre (William Anthony McGuire in 1928, Xyndas in 1855, Visetti in 1871, Dionesi in 1888, de Lara in 1921 and Benatzsky in 1929), Films, Records, Games, Television, Comics

 

Influence on later works

In 1939, American author Tiffany Thayer published a book entitled Three Musketeers (Thayer, 1939). This is a re-telling of the story in Thayer's words, true to the original plot but told in a different order and with different points of view and emphasis from the original. For example, the book opens with the scene of Milady's youth and how she came to be branded, and more development of her early character, making her later scheming more believable and understandable. Thayer's treatment of sex and sexual politics is more explicit than typical English translations of the original, occasionally leading to consternation when this book found its way to library children's sections and school libraries. The modern Chinese author Jin Yong is also said to have been influenced by his works. The Khaavren Romances by Steven Brust are fantasy novels heavily influenced by The Three Musketeers and its sequels—indeed they are almost a rewriting of the Dumas novels in a fantasy setting.