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29 pages

English

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This collection brings together two short stories, one from the father of French realism, Honore de Balzac, the other from Russian writer Alexander Amphiteatrof. Both of the tales are related to Napoleon in some way, examining the impact of the famed leader's exploits on the national cultures of the French and the Russians.

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Historical fiction

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Publié par	The Floating Press
Date de parution	01 mai 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781776589135
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0064€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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FOLK-TALES OF NAPOLEON
THE NAPOLEON OF THE PEOPLE AND NAPOLEONDER
* * *
HONORE DE BALZAC
ALEXANDER AMPHITEATROF
Translated by
GEORGE KENNAN

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Folk-Tales of Napoleon The Napoleon of the People and Napoleonder First published in 1902 Epub ISBN 978-1-77658-913-5 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77658-914-2 © 2014 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Introduction Napoleonder The Napoleon of the People Endnotes
Introduction
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Most of the literature that has its origin in the life and career of agreat man may be grouped and classified under two heads: history andbiography. The part that relates to the man's actions, and to theinfluence that such actions have had in shaping the destinies of peoplesand states, belongs in the one class; while the part that derives itsinterest mainly from the man's personality, and deals chiefly with themental and moral characteristics of which his actions were the outcome,goes properly into the other. The value of the literature included inthese two classes depends almost wholly upon truth; that is, upon theprecise correspondence of the statements made with the real facts of theman's life and career. History is worse than useless if it does notaccurately chronicle and describe events; and biography is valueless andmisleading if it does not truly set forth individual character.
There is, however, a kind of great-man literature in which truth iscomparatively unimportant, and that is the literature of popular legendand tradition. Whether it purports to be historical or biographical, orboth, it derives its interest and value from the light that it throwsupon the temperament and character of the people who originate it,rather than from the amount of truth contained in the statements thatit makes about the man.
The folk-tales of Napoleon Bonaparte herewith presented, if judged fromthe viewpoint of the historian or the biographer, are absurdly andgrotesquely untrue; but to the anthropologist and the student of humannature they are extremely valuable as self-revelations of nationalcharacter; and even to the historian and the biographer they have someinterest as evidences of the profoundly deep impression made byNapoleon's personality upon two great peoples—the Russians and theFrench.
The first story, which is entitled "Napoleonder," is of Russian origin,and was put into literary form, or edited, by Alexander Amphiteatrof ofSt. Petersburg. It originally appeared as a feuilleton in the St.Petersburg "Gazette" of December 13, 1901. As a characteristic specimenof Russian peasant folk-lore, it seems to me to have more than ordinaryinterest and value. The treatment of the supernatural may seem, toOccidental readers, rather daring and irreverent, but it is perfectly inharmony with the Russian peasant's anthropomorphic conception of Deity,and should be taken with due allowance for the educational limitationsof the story-teller and his auditors. The Russian muzhik often bringsGod and the angels into his folk-tales, and does so without the leastidea of treating them disrespectfully. He makes them talk in his ownlanguage because he has no other language; and if the talk seems alittle grotesque and irreverent, it is due to the low level of thenarrator's literary culture, and not to any intention, on his part, oftreating God and the angels with levity. The whole aim of the story is amoral and religious one. The narrator is trying to show that sympathyand mercy are better than selfish ambition, and that war is not onlyimmoral but irrational. The conversation between God, the angels, andthe Devil is a mere prologue, intended to bring Napoleon and Ivan-angelon the stage and lay the foundation of the plot. The story-teller's keensense of fun and humor is shown in many little touches, but he nevermeans to be irreverent. The whole legend is set forth in the racy,idiomatic, highly elliptical language of the common Russian muzhik, andis therefore extremely difficult of translation; but I have tried topreserve, as far as possible, the spirit and flavor of the original.
The French story was first reduced to writing—or at least put intoliterary form—by Honoré de Balzac, and appeared under the title of "TheNapoleon of the People" in the third chapter of Balzac's "CountryDoctor." It purports to be the story of Napoleon's life and career asrelated to a group of French peasants by one of his old soldiers—a mannamed Goguelat. It covers more time chronologically than the Russianstory does, and deals much more fully and circumstantially withhistorical incidents and events: but it seems to me to be distinctlyinferior to the Russian tale in power of creative imagination, unity ofconception, skill of artistic treatment, and depth of human interest.The French peasant regards Napoleon merely as a great leader andconqueror, "created to be the father of soldiers," and aided, if notdirectly sent, by God, to show forth the power and the glory of France.The Russian peasant, more thoughtful by nature as well as less excitableand combative in temperament, admits that Napoleon was sent on earth byGod, but connects him with one of the deep problems of life by using himto show the divine nature of sympathy and pity, and the cruelty,immorality, and unreasonableness of aggressive war. The only featurethat the two tales have in common is the recognition of the supernaturalas a controlling factor in Napoleon's life. The French peasant believesthat he had a guiding star; that he was advised and directed by afamiliar spirit in the shape of a "Red Man"; and that he was saved fromdangers and death by virtue of a secret compact with the Supreme Being.The Russian peasant asserts that he was created by the Devil, and thatGod, after having given him a soul by accident, first used him as ameans of punishing the Russian people for their sins, and then made himreally a man by inspiring him with the human feelings of sympathy andcompassion. In the French story Napoleon appears as a great militaryleader, whose life and career reflect honor and glory upon France. Inthe Russian story he is merely the leading actor in a sort of moraldrama, or historical mystery-play, intended to show the divine nature ofsympathy and compassion, the immorality of war, and the essentialsolidarity and brotherhood of all mankind.
GEORGE KENNAN.
Napoleonder [1]
*
By Alexander Amphiteatrof
Long ago—but not so very long ago; our grandfathers remember it—theLord God wanted to punish the people of the world for their wickedness.So he began to think how and by what means he could punish them, and hecalled a council of his angels and archangels to talk about it. Says thearchangel Michael to the Lord God: "Shake them up, the recreants, withan earthquake."
"We've tried that," says the Lord God. "Once upon a time we jolted topieces Sodom and Gomorrah, but it didn't teach them anything. Since thenpretty much all the towns have become Sodoms and Gomorrahs."
"How about famine?" says the archangel Gabriel.
"It would be too bad for the babies," replies the Lord God. "Faminewould kill the babies. And, besides that, the cattle must havefood—they're not to blame."
"Drown them with a flood," suggests Raphael.
"Clean impossible!" says the Lord God. "Because, in the first place, Itook an oath once that there should be no more floods, and I set therainbow in the sky for an assurance. In the second place, the rascallysinners have become cunning; they'll get on steamboats and sail all overthe flood.