Word: napoleonism
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This huge historical novel gives the impression of having been written by two different authors-one whose job it was to put plenty of sex on every other page; the other a Francophile intent on cramming in as much esoteric knowledge as possible about Napoleon, Egypt, archaeology, physics, intrigue and strategy. Fortunately, both writers are combined in Humorist Ruth (My Sister Eileen) McKenney, so that sex is more often ridiculous than salacious, and the historical asides often get a witty assist over the dusty pit of pedantry...
...back at the Polytechnic Institute where he had been Lavoisier's prize pupil; the marquise is the wife of complaisant General Rouvroy and the mistress of scoundrelly Jardinier, a British spy, black-marketeer and confidant of the great. On the night of Talleyrand's great ball for Napoleon and Josephine, the eyes of Rémi and Corinne meet across a crowded room: "He saw her catch her breath. The chocolate dropped from her fingers. Her hand went to the base of her lovely white throat; her brilliant eyes burned, a promise to Rémi, a beckoning...
These boudoir conquests are succeeded by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt. (Rémi is one of a corps of French savants whom Napoleon takes along to bring civilization to the benighted Arabs.) Author McKenney handles battles with as much relish as bundling. The rout of the Mamelukes at the Pyramids is closely followed by the annihilation of the French fleet at Aboukir Bay, and Napoleon and his army of 25,000 settle down for their strange three-year sojourn in Egypt. The impact of the French Age of Enlightenment on the 12th century mentality of the fellahin gives...
More than a century has passed since Byron swam from the Lido to Venice and through the Grand Canal (four miles), and nearly two since Napoleon pronounced the pigeon-swept square of St. Mark's "the best drawing-room in Europe." But the destiny of Venice remains constant, to be "the observed of all observers." The latest to succumb to the spell of the floating city is Critic and Novelist Mary McCarthy (TIME, Nov. 14, 1955), who has fashioned the spectacle of Venice into a handsome and intelligent mosaic of art, history and personal impressions. Complete with 46 elegant...
...second work of the evening, Man of Destiny, has one bright aspect, but joins Blanco as a rather weak play. It concerns Napoleon, a man whom Shaw shows as a bad little boy who stamps his foot, spits, and glowers when he can't have his lollypops. In this case the lollypops are dispatches, which the general must procure from a lovely, wide-eyed female spy who is the only really bright thing in the play. She is arrogant and clever, scheming and talkative, and of course beats Napoleon. Paula Cronbach wanders into this femme fatale role with a beguiling...