1789-1815
Adolphe
Adolphe is a privileged and refined young man, bored by the stupidity he perceives in the world around him. After a number of meaningless conquests, he at last encounters Ellenore, a beautiful and passionate older woman. Adolphe is enraptured and gradually wears down her resistance to his declarations of love. But as they embark on an intense and tortured affair, Ellenore gives way to a flood of emotion that only serves to repel her younger lover - yet he cannot bring himself to leave her and his procrastination can only bring tragedy. Partly inspired by Constant's own stormy affair with Madame de Sta?l, Adolphe (1816) is a penetrating psychological depiction of love that plumbs the depths of the passions, motives and inconsistencies of the human character.
Corinne, or Italy
`Look at her, she is the image of our beautiful Italy.'Corinne, or Italy (1807) is both the story of a love affair between Oswald, Lord Nelvil and a beautiful poetess, and an homage to the landscape, literature and art of Italy. On arriving in Italy, Oswald immediately falls under Corinne's magical spell as she is crowned a national genius at theCaptitol. Yet, on returning to England, he succumbs to convention and honours his late father's wish by marrying the dutiful English girl, Lucile, despite having learned that Corinne is Lucile's Italian half-sister. Corinne dies of a broken heart and Lord Nelvil is left with a seared conscience.Stael weaves discreet French Revolutionary political allusion and allegory into her romance, and its publication saw her order of exile renewed by Napoleon. Indeed, the novel stands as the birth of modern nationalism, and introduces to French usage the word `nationalitie'. It is also one of thefirst works to put a woman's creativity centre stage. Sylvia Raphael's new translation preserves the natural character of the French original and the edition is complemented by notes and and introduction which serve to set an extraordinary work of European Romanticism in its historical andpolitical contexts.
The Depot for Prisoners of War at Norman Cross Huntingdonshire. 1796 to 1816
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The Memoirs of Baron De Marbot – Late Lieutenant General in the French Army
Perhaps the most famous of all Napoleonic memoirs to be written in any language are those written by Marbot. They stand in a league of their own. Napoleon, himself left a donation of 100,000 to him, for his refutation of General Rogniat's work - to quote Napoleon's will "I recommend him to continue to write in defense of the glory of the French armies, and to confound their calumniators and apostates." So entertaining and full of vivid details that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fictionalized them into his adventures of Brigadier Gerard. In this the first volume of his translated memoirs, it covers his early childhood, born into a military family, to his first steps on the military ladder as a hussar in the 1e Regiment de Hussards (ex-Bercheny). His dash and leadership lead to a commission and appointments on the staff of Generals Augereau and Massena. He writes poignantly of his fathers death at the siege of Genoa (1800) and the privations suffered in the city by the defenders and the inhabitants alike. His career takes him to the battles of Austerlitz, Friedland, Eylau and Aspern-Essling. His narrative is full of anecdotes and vignettes of the great and the good of the Consulate and Empire, he portrays himself in the midst of such luminaries as the Emperor, his Marshals and Generals. Contains portrait of de Marbot from 1812 as a colonel of 23e Hussards, and maps illustrating the 1805, 1806 and 1809 battles.