Napoleon Bonaparte: An Intimate Biography
Encyclopedia
Napoleon also published as Napoleon Bonaparte: An Intimate Biography in 1972 is
a biography
of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte written by Vincent Cronin
. The biographical style tends more towards a sympathetic overview of Napoleon's life and focuses more on the man's personality and relationships rather than his wars and battles, although these still play a significant part of the book.
Vincent Cronin states in the preface
of the book his reasons for writing another biography over the many that had already been written. His first reason was that since 1951 new material had been discovered that was yet to be published that shed light on a new side of Napoleon, such as love letters to Désirée Clary
and Napoleon's autobiography
entitled Clisson et Eugénie.
Cronin states that:
Susan Howard of napoleon-series.org criticised the layout and the biases of the book, noting that "Over controversial matters Napoleon is given the benefit of the doubt every time, his motives are always presented as benign, although a few character defects, such as impatience, dislike of criticism and in later life, over-optimism, are admitted. For instance, Napoleon's use of censorship and press control was "a mark of weakness… Napoleon would be more attractive if he had been able to rise above that weakness." And again: "Napoleon's guiding purpose in the Empire was to export liberty, equality, justice and sovereignty of the people," is qualified a little later by "It is true there were blots on the imperial picture. Too often Napoleon acted brusquely, while Jerome overspent…"
a biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte written by Vincent Cronin
Vincent Cronin
Vincent Archibald Patrick Cronin, FRSL was a British historical, cultural, and biographical writer, best-known for his biographies of Louis XIV, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great, and Napoleon, as well as for his books on the Renaissance.Cronin was born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire...
. The biographical style tends more towards a sympathetic overview of Napoleon's life and focuses more on the man's personality and relationships rather than his wars and battles, although these still play a significant part of the book.
Vincent Cronin states in the preface
Preface
A preface is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface...
of the book his reasons for writing another biography over the many that had already been written. His first reason was that since 1951 new material had been discovered that was yet to be published that shed light on a new side of Napoleon, such as love letters to Désirée Clary
Désirée Clary
Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary , one-time fiancée of Napoleon Bonaparte, was a Frenchwoman who became Queen of Sweden and Norway as the consort of King Charles XIV John, a former French General. She officially changed her name there to Desideria, a Latin version of her original name...
and Napoleon's autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
entitled Clisson et Eugénie.
Cronin states that:
"The second reason is more personal. There are in existence a large number of Lives of Napoleon and, though it will sound presumptuous, I was dissatisfied with their picture of Napoleon. I could not find a living, breathing man. Always to my mind there were glaring contradictions of character. To take one example from many, biographers repeat Napoleon's phrase: "Friendship is only a word. I love no man." But at the same time it was obvious from their own pages that Napoleon had many close friends, more I reckon than any ruler of France, and that he was as fond of them as they were of him. Many of the biographers were evidently embarrassed by this seeming contradiction, and they tried to explain it by saying that Napoleon was different from other men: "Napoleon was a monster of egoism," or "Napoleon was a monster of insincerity." I for one do not believe in monsters." - Vincent Cronin, Preface of Napoleon
Reception
The book has created much controversy due to the depiction of Napoleon as a generally respectable person, as a result the novel has received mixed reviews as a biography.Susan Howard of napoleon-series.org criticised the layout and the biases of the book, noting that "Over controversial matters Napoleon is given the benefit of the doubt every time, his motives are always presented as benign, although a few character defects, such as impatience, dislike of criticism and in later life, over-optimism, are admitted. For instance, Napoleon's use of censorship and press control was "a mark of weakness… Napoleon would be more attractive if he had been able to rise above that weakness." And again: "Napoleon's guiding purpose in the Empire was to export liberty, equality, justice and sovereignty of the people," is qualified a little later by "It is true there were blots on the imperial picture. Too often Napoleon acted brusquely, while Jerome overspent…"