Here’s Napoleon for you. More than a biographical compilation on Napoleon’s life in Malayalam, E Sreedharan - the author- has successfully put forth a bunch of observations on the life of the great warrior through this elaborate account. The author’s ability to adopt different angles at certain points of the emperor’s life sheds more light on Napolean’s persona per se.
The narration on how Napoleon dealt with Friedrich Staps- a youngster who attempted to assassinate him- brings out the rarely-known humane face of the otherwise obdurate Napoleon. In a desperate effort to save the young man from the guillotine - ironically based on his own orders - the Emperor tries his level best to get his order reversed but to no avail. One gets to see a complex mix of the frailty of human emotions playing out on the wider canvas of life through various people appearing in and out of the pictorial frame.
Almost as if moved by the Staps fiasco, the Emperor goes on to ink a peace pact with Austria even as Friedrich is callously shot dead the following day. The incident lingers on in Napoleon’s mind. He takes back with him the German knife which could have taken his life. One comes across an abundance of such personal anecdotes in the work.
Much has been written on Napoleon. Sreedharan himself cites an astounding figure of around 2.5 lakh similar books. Yet historians seem almost compelled to keep penning the life and times of this ‘short-lived’ French Emperor. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Napoleon’s life is intricately woven into an interesting slice of French history which in turn rewrote a portion of Europe’s history as a whole.
Asked why he chose to write on Napoleon, Sreedharan elaborates, “ There was no greater personality who lived and ruled in the limelight of history itself. Napoleon epitomized a major explosion of human strength with his courageous plunge into events which went on to become the historical unfolding of a nation’s identity. No other historical leader has generated as much of controversy as Napoleon himself.”
Brought out by the Kerala Languages Institute, the 679-page vernacular account on Napoleon is an authentic and elaborate tale of the French Emperor, not only for history buffs but for future generations also. Unlike the usual style of elaborating on the life and activities of the protagonist, the author has opted to view Napoleon through a personal prism dotted by a kaleidoscope of wide-ranging observations and remarks by many other historians and biographers over the years.
A former history Professor, Sreedharan has always been fascinated by those who make history. Profiling legendary historical characters is his avouched area of interest. Sreedharan’s ‘A Textbook of Historiography: 500 BC to AD 2000’ is a well-known reference book for students and history lovers across the globe. The work has been translated to many languages. Another work ‘A Manual of Historical Research Methodology’ is another sought-after reference book in many universities.
Right from the beginning of Napoleon’s life to its great culmination - the Corsican politics in which he grew up, the French revolution and its dramatic turn of events, his first love and how he became the biggest General in France after being rejected and finally the battle of Waterloo where he faced defeat- Sreedharan delves into even minute tidbits which make an interesting read.
Napoleons Bonaparte’s end is much more than just the fall of an Emperor. It is a philosophical take on the way Fate plays ironical games. How when the great Emperor was imprisoned, the British resisted his protests with stony silence terming him a mere ‘General Bonaparte’, his grit and determination revealed through his words, “They can call me what they want. They cannot however stop me from being who I am!” Such personal glimpses into the history of intra-Continental wars is what makes this historical biography of a much revered as well as hated iconic figure different from other Napoleon-biographies.