≫ Libro The Death of Napoleon New York Review Books Classics Simon Leys Patricia Clancy Books

The Death of Napoleon New York Review Books Classics Simon Leys Patricia Clancy Books

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The Death of Napoleon New York Review Books Classics Simon Leys Patricia Clancy Books

Such lyrical, precise language, a cross between extended prose poem and novelistic meditation on the nature of identity, glory and history, both whimsically light and philosophically deep. Such graceful fiction from scholar/essayist/sinologist/quirky renaissance man Simon Leys (pen name of Pierre Ryckmans), a work I read and reread and then narrated into my digital recorder so I could listen and thus take an even deeper plunge into the pool of this inventive fable.

What a pleasure to read a real writer. . . ‘The Death of Napoleon’ is utterly satisfying sentence by sentence and scene by scene, but it is also compulsively readable. These are the words of renowned literary critic Gabriel Josipovici, words with which I wholeheartedly agree. And to underscore my agreement, I’ll serve up a few slices of Leys poetic, that is, three quotes from scenes in Chapter One that chronicle Napoleon’s voyage on board a ship carrying the world-famous emperor from St. Helena back to his beloved France. And, yes, of course, this is imaginative alternate history.

A snippet of the author’s description of the ship’s cook: “He was tall, but a good half century spend over stoves in low-ceilinged galleys had broken him up into several angular segments, like a half-folded pocket rule. Without really being fat, his body swelled out arbitrarily in places, giving him the shape of a semi-deflated balloon. His face was split by a huge gaping mouth; in this grotto, as black and dirty as the maw of his stove, there emerged one or two teeth, like slimy rocks protruding at low tide. The ruined state of his teeth made his speech, already bizarre, all the harder to understand, endowing his rare utterances with a kind of oracular force – as befits a black cook on a sailing ship who, to be true to type, must naturally have a smattering of occult sciences.” Wow! I mean, Super-Wow! -- exquisite visual images; expressive vivid metaphors.

“Every evening, crushed by the fatigue of the day’s work, Napoleon would escape for a moment from the stuffy atmosphere of the forecastle and lean against the bulwark in the bows to watch the first stars come out. The softness of the tropical azure giving way slowly to the velvet of night, and the glittering of the lonely stars which seem so close to us when they begin to shine in the dusk, left him perfectly cold.” If you have never had an opportunity to stand on the deck of a ship at sea and watch tropical azure give way slowly to the velvet of night, here is your opportunity to not only experience via your imagination but to join Napoleon in doing so.

Napoleon assumes the identity of a cabin boy by the name of Eugène in order to escape from St. Helena. At one point we read of Napoleon’s self-reflection: “During this time in limbo, and until the day when Napoleon’s sun would rise again, he had to survive by relying upon wretched Eugène's purely physical existence. Only the slenderest thread was leading him back toward the hypothetical dawn of his future. So far, at every stage of his journey, a new, unknown messenger had emerged from the shadows to show him the route to follow.” Again, on one level Simon Leys’ slim novel is a meditation on the nature of identity and time. And what an identity! After all, he is Napoleon.

Thank you, New York Review Books (NYRB) for reprinting this slim classic. And thanks to Patricia Clancy for joining Mr. Leys in translating from the French into English. 130 pages of large font – this novella can be read in less than 3 hours. Treat yourself to a day of literary ecstasy. I have three times over and counting, but then again, when it comes to ecstasy I admit that I have never observed moderation.


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The Death of Napoleon New York Review Books Classics Simon Leys Patricia Clancy Books Reviews

I wish I was sufficiently competent in French to read the original.. I smiled frequently and laughed once. A lovely book.
A little known tale of what actually happened after Elba exile.
A tragic take on a redemption narrative for a post-Waterloo Napoleon that evokes contemplation of fate, identity, sanity, and success. What makes Napoleon Napoleonic?
Novella length treatment of Napoleon escapes exile ends up in Belgium travels to Paris via Waterloo and we see how "the great" fall and quickly pass on, the scene at Waterloo and the insane asylum are wonderful. Very thought provoking great read. It does remind me a bit of Hugo. I bought in conjunction with Hitler story Look Who's Back. Also aa good read.
An excellent plot as an exercise of "what if". What if Napoleon could escape from Santa Helena and returned to France to claim back his throne while a double has taken his place?
But, after 5 years in prison, France has changed as well as his soldiers and, worst of all, himself.
And so many are so sure they are Bonaparte, that their delusion has brought them not to power but to a sanitarium.
What if the supplanter dies in 1821? What is left to the emperor?
Wonderful little book.
Entertaining and very well written.
Made me wonder a lot about what ifs...
Real life heroes are the result of great people being there, at the right time, under the right circumstances.
I love books,but this one I am going to shred it is nonsense.

Don't waste your money buying it as I did, and don't waste your time reading it as I did, all the time hoping that the next page will be more interesting and better written.

It is a pity that does not have a minus-star I certainly would have given this book a minus-10.
Such lyrical, precise language, a cross between extended prose poem and novelistic meditation on the nature of identity, glory and history, both whimsically light and philosophically deep. Such graceful fiction from scholar/essayist/sinologist/quirky renaissance man Simon Leys (pen name of Pierre Ryckmans), a work I read and reread and then narrated into my digital recorder so I could listen and thus take an even deeper plunge into the pool of this inventive fable.

What a pleasure to read a real writer. . . ‘The Death of Napoleon’ is utterly satisfying sentence by sentence and scene by scene, but it is also compulsively readable. These are the words of renowned literary critic Gabriel Josipovici, words with which I wholeheartedly agree. And to underscore my agreement, I’ll serve up a few slices of Leys poetic, that is, three quotes from scenes in Chapter One that chronicle Napoleon’s voyage on board a ship carrying the world-famous emperor from St. Helena back to his beloved France. And, yes, of course, this is imaginative alternate history.

A snippet of the author’s description of the ship’s cook “He was tall, but a good half century spend over stoves in low-ceilinged galleys had broken him up into several angular segments, like a half-folded pocket rule. Without really being fat, his body swelled out arbitrarily in places, giving him the shape of a semi-deflated balloon. His face was split by a huge gaping mouth; in this grotto, as black and dirty as the maw of his stove, there emerged one or two teeth, like slimy rocks protruding at low tide. The ruined state of his teeth made his speech, already bizarre, all the harder to understand, endowing his rare utterances with a kind of oracular force – as befits a black cook on a sailing ship who, to be true to type, must naturally have a smattering of occult sciences.” Wow! I mean, Super-Wow! -- exquisite visual images; expressive vivid metaphors.

“Every evening, crushed by the fatigue of the day’s work, Napoleon would escape for a moment from the stuffy atmosphere of the forecastle and lean against the bulwark in the bows to watch the first stars come out. The softness of the tropical azure giving way slowly to the velvet of night, and the glittering of the lonely stars which seem so close to us when they begin to shine in the dusk, left him perfectly cold.” If you have never had an opportunity to stand on the deck of a ship at sea and watch tropical azure give way slowly to the velvet of night, here is your opportunity to not only experience via your imagination but to join Napoleon in doing so.

Napoleon assumes the identity of a cabin boy by the name of Eugène in order to escape from St. Helena. At one point we read of Napoleon’s self-reflection “During this time in limbo, and until the day when Napoleon’s sun would rise again, he had to survive by relying upon wretched Eugène's purely physical existence. Only the slenderest thread was leading him back toward the hypothetical dawn of his future. So far, at every stage of his journey, a new, unknown messenger had emerged from the shadows to show him the route to follow.” Again, on one level Simon Leys’ slim novel is a meditation on the nature of identity and time. And what an identity! After all, he is Napoleon.

Thank you, New York Review Books (NYRB) for reprinting this slim classic. And thanks to Patricia Clancy for joining Mr. Leys in translating from the French into English. 130 pages of large font – this novella can be read in less than 3 hours. Treat yourself to a day of literary ecstasy. I have three times over and counting, but then again, when it comes to ecstasy I admit that I have never observed moderation.