Mémorial de Sainte Hélène Napoleon’s life 1st Vol.: Il Memoriale di Sant’Elena -Vita di Napoleone vol. 1
About this ebook
Contrary to a widely-held opinion, the text was not dictated by Napoleon and Las Cases always ensured they were complete and original. It was one of the greatest French literary successes of its era, crystallising regrets about and nostalgia for the First French Empire and giving rise to the political current of Bonapartism. In them Napoleon is presented as continuing the French Revolution, wanting the people’s goodwill and thus hated by kings, and an account is given of his campaigns from his youth onwards. Many editions came out during the 19th century, from the first edition of 1822-1823 (original edition), 1824 (additions and corrections to the former edition), 1828 (new headings), 1830-1831 (revised edition) and 1842 (revised and expanded edition).
About the author
Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (July 9, 1769 – February 7, 1834) was the private secretary and boyhood friend to General Napoleon Bonaporte. With copious materials, M. de Bourrienne has produced a work which, for deep interest, excitement, and amusement, can scarcely be paralleled by any of the numerous and excellent memoirs for which the literature of France is so justly celebrated. They met at the Military Academy at Brienne in Champagne when eight years old. Napoleon recalled the famous snowball battles that he masterminded: “Unfortunately the pleasure did not last long, for we put stones in the snowballs, so that many boys were injured, among them my friend Bourrienne, and the game was forbidden”. Typically, Napoleon recalled that when they graduated in 1787 at age 15 he led in all subjects; Bourrienne recalled that Napoleon led in mathematics, while he was first in all else.
