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The Bonapartes
Bound in the publisher's original cloth covered boards, spine and cover stamped in gilt. Dust jacket rubbed at the edges, chipped at the heel.
379 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1966
43 people want to read
About the author
David Stacton
53 books10 followersAka Bud Clifton
David Derek Stacton (1925–1968) was a U.S. novelist, historian and poet. He was born on 25 April 1925 in Minden, Nevada. Stacton attended Stanford University from 1941–43, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1951. He served in the Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector then lived in Europe from 1950–1954, 1960–1962, and 1964–1965. Stacton wrote under the pseudonyms Carse Boyd, Bud Clifton, David Dereksen and David West. Most of his books were originally published in England. He died of a stroke 19 January 1968 in Fredensborg, Denmark.
Stacton's novels are often low in dialogue, and his better novels are instead full of his witty scornful comments on his characters and life. At his best Stacton had an epigrammatic style and enjoyed a sophisticated irony, although antipathetic critics took him to task for pretentious vocabulary, a tendency to florid paradoxes, and anachronistic allusions (i.e. describing a 14th century Zen garden using phrases from Marianne Moore and Peter Pan). In 1963, Time magazine praised his work as "masses of epigrams marinated in a stinging mixture of metaphysics and blood" and suggested that "something similar might have been the result if the Duc de la Rochefoucauld had written novels with plots suggested by Jack London". His other literary influences include Walter Pater, for his choice of characters with frustrated artistic and emotional longings, and Lytton Strachey for his witty attention to history. Several of Stacton's novels feature homosexual characters prominently. Fans of David Stacton include John Crowley, Thomas M. Disch, and Peter Beagle.
David Derek Stacton (1925–1968) was a U.S. novelist, historian and poet. He was born on 25 April 1925 in Minden, Nevada. Stacton attended Stanford University from 1941–43, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1951. He served in the Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector then lived in Europe from 1950–1954, 1960–1962, and 1964–1965. Stacton wrote under the pseudonyms Carse Boyd, Bud Clifton, David Dereksen and David West. Most of his books were originally published in England. He died of a stroke 19 January 1968 in Fredensborg, Denmark.
Stacton's novels are often low in dialogue, and his better novels are instead full of his witty scornful comments on his characters and life. At his best Stacton had an epigrammatic style and enjoyed a sophisticated irony, although antipathetic critics took him to task for pretentious vocabulary, a tendency to florid paradoxes, and anachronistic allusions (i.e. describing a 14th century Zen garden using phrases from Marianne Moore and Peter Pan). In 1963, Time magazine praised his work as "masses of epigrams marinated in a stinging mixture of metaphysics and blood" and suggested that "something similar might have been the result if the Duc de la Rochefoucauld had written novels with plots suggested by Jack London". His other literary influences include Walter Pater, for his choice of characters with frustrated artistic and emotional longings, and Lytton Strachey for his witty attention to history. Several of Stacton's novels feature homosexual characters prominently. Fans of David Stacton include John Crowley, Thomas M. Disch, and Peter Beagle.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 18, 2024
"The Bonapartes is the biography of a family. It is also 200-year-old-drama, dominated by the person and the legend of the central character, in whose massive shadow all the Bonapartes-from the formidable Madam Mere to the present day descendants-played out their own ambitions and romances.
"The cast of characters is long, diverse, compulsively fascinating: Napoleon's mother (who, when asked what she thought of her son becoming Emperor, replied, 'Let's hope it lasts'); his quarrelsome, avaricious, gaudy and infuriating siblings, whose behavior promplted the Emperor to say, 'I do not believe that any man in the world is more unfortunate in his family than I'; his wives, his mistresses, his son, the tragic Aiglon...
"Here is the story of the Rise and Fall of a family..." From the jacket flyleaf of the Hodder & Stoughton 1966 hardback edition of the book.
This is a 'biography' of Napoleon's siblings and their descendants as well as of his adopted children (Josephine's from her first marriage) and his sons, legitimate and illegitimate. I belabour the point because so many of the other reviewers on GR don't seem to understand this. As such it is extremely good. Of course it is a 'popular' history, there are no footnotes or bibliography, and it would have been good to know exactly where some of his quotes come from, but anyone who has read any amount of the immense memoir literature of the period will recognise much of it. The author doesn't make claims as a historian, he is a novelist (more of that later) and it is his strengths as a novelist that he brought to the writing of history.
In my youth I read a large number of single or group biographies of Napoleon's brothers and sisters and I am amazed that I didn't read this book then (I refer to the 1970s) and although published in 1965 I would recommend this Bonaparte family biography very highly. It is readable and funny and wonderfully comprehensive. It doesn't cover everyone, largely confining himself, after the first generation, to descendents in the male line. This means he does not cover Princess Marie Bonaparte (the only Bonaparte, aside from Napoleon to deserve a biography - seriously research her and her bizarre husband Prince George of Greece and Denmark - Liam) and the book is to old to have anything to say about the absurd 'dynastic' squabbles to claim the non existent throne. There are elements in the account of Napoleon III that are less nuanced than historians of the period would allow. But he is right on his scathing portrayal of the Empress Eugenie as a first rate bitch.
I must dispute one reviewer's complaint that the author is misogynistic. He isn't and is honest, and scathing, about the inadequacies of Napoleon's brother as he is of his sisters. But if you quote the memoirs of contemporaries then you are quoting people who were, by today's standards, unthinkingly misogynistic. But many of them, Madam de Stael for example, would have thought themselves liberal and as women liberated. Using the 'N' word, as the author does once, doesn't reveal underlying racism but simply a different cultural time. I find this criticism of authors for not writing as they would if they were alive today, tedious, particularly when, for their time, the authors were not racist or illiberal.
But the real reason for reading this book, is the author David Stacton, a most remarkable and ridiculously forgotten writer. Between 1953 and 1965 he wrote and published six books of poetry, three history books (of which this is one) and fourteen novels under his own name and ten under pseudonyms. Not only was he prolific he was a writer whose historical fiction ranged over subjects as varied as ancient Egypt, pre-conquest America, the Thirty Years War and assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It is his skills, sensitivities and qualities as a writer of fiction that makes his histories, like this book, so readable and enjoyable. I think this is a first rate biography of the Napoleonic family and if you can delight in the use of words like atrabilious and jokes about one a minor Napoleonic princely descendant called Charles Leon being a bit-of-a-ponce (I said it was a joke not that it was a great joke) then you will enjoy this book.
"The cast of characters is long, diverse, compulsively fascinating: Napoleon's mother (who, when asked what she thought of her son becoming Emperor, replied, 'Let's hope it lasts'); his quarrelsome, avaricious, gaudy and infuriating siblings, whose behavior promplted the Emperor to say, 'I do not believe that any man in the world is more unfortunate in his family than I'; his wives, his mistresses, his son, the tragic Aiglon...
"Here is the story of the Rise and Fall of a family..." From the jacket flyleaf of the Hodder & Stoughton 1966 hardback edition of the book.
This is a 'biography' of Napoleon's siblings and their descendants as well as of his adopted children (Josephine's from her first marriage) and his sons, legitimate and illegitimate. I belabour the point because so many of the other reviewers on GR don't seem to understand this. As such it is extremely good. Of course it is a 'popular' history, there are no footnotes or bibliography, and it would have been good to know exactly where some of his quotes come from, but anyone who has read any amount of the immense memoir literature of the period will recognise much of it. The author doesn't make claims as a historian, he is a novelist (more of that later) and it is his strengths as a novelist that he brought to the writing of history.
In my youth I read a large number of single or group biographies of Napoleon's brothers and sisters and I am amazed that I didn't read this book then (I refer to the 1970s) and although published in 1965 I would recommend this Bonaparte family biography very highly. It is readable and funny and wonderfully comprehensive. It doesn't cover everyone, largely confining himself, after the first generation, to descendents in the male line. This means he does not cover Princess Marie Bonaparte (the only Bonaparte, aside from Napoleon to deserve a biography - seriously research her and her bizarre husband Prince George of Greece and Denmark - Liam) and the book is to old to have anything to say about the absurd 'dynastic' squabbles to claim the non existent throne. There are elements in the account of Napoleon III that are less nuanced than historians of the period would allow. But he is right on his scathing portrayal of the Empress Eugenie as a first rate bitch.
I must dispute one reviewer's complaint that the author is misogynistic. He isn't and is honest, and scathing, about the inadequacies of Napoleon's brother as he is of his sisters. But if you quote the memoirs of contemporaries then you are quoting people who were, by today's standards, unthinkingly misogynistic. But many of them, Madam de Stael for example, would have thought themselves liberal and as women liberated. Using the 'N' word, as the author does once, doesn't reveal underlying racism but simply a different cultural time. I find this criticism of authors for not writing as they would if they were alive today, tedious, particularly when, for their time, the authors were not racist or illiberal.
But the real reason for reading this book, is the author David Stacton, a most remarkable and ridiculously forgotten writer. Between 1953 and 1965 he wrote and published six books of poetry, three history books (of which this is one) and fourteen novels under his own name and ten under pseudonyms. Not only was he prolific he was a writer whose historical fiction ranged over subjects as varied as ancient Egypt, pre-conquest America, the Thirty Years War and assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It is his skills, sensitivities and qualities as a writer of fiction that makes his histories, like this book, so readable and enjoyable. I think this is a first rate biography of the Napoleonic family and if you can delight in the use of words like atrabilious and jokes about one a minor Napoleonic princely descendant called Charles Leon being a bit-of-a-ponce (I said it was a joke not that it was a great joke) then you will enjoy this book.
June 17, 2011
Very hard to read, but once I was done, I loved it. I've wished several times since I read it that I had my own copy. Heavily informational and detailed. I read it for a book report and had to speed read it, which wasn't much fun, but I think taking it slower would be really enjoyable. Stacton has a unique sense of humor in his writing that I really enjoyed, even though this is nonfiction. If anyone is looking for something useful and informational but not terribly dry, this is a good read.
March 24, 2013
I would have given this book one more star except for the author's style of chronology. He jumps around in time which can be rather confusing when there are so many character involved and many with the same name. Otherwise, I have no complaints.
This is the story of the Bonaparte family from the indomitable Madam Mere (Napoleon I's mother) to the present day descendants of one of the most recognizable names in history; unfortunately the name has disappeared since the Bonapartes had a proclivity for producing female off-spring. But the author provides a family tree from which the reader can trace the family from the American branch to the current reigning family of Sweden (house of Bernadotte). The Bonapartes did better than we sometimes believe as they produced in later generations the US Secretary of the Navy and Attorney General under Theodore Roosevelt; generals; men of letters; and famed ornithologists. But just as many were eccentric failures who lived under the shadow of their great ancestor. This is a good supplemental book for the Napoleon I reader as it provides some little known facts about the family, which for the most part was not very likeable.
This is the story of the Bonaparte family from the indomitable Madam Mere (Napoleon I's mother) to the present day descendants of one of the most recognizable names in history; unfortunately the name has disappeared since the Bonapartes had a proclivity for producing female off-spring. But the author provides a family tree from which the reader can trace the family from the American branch to the current reigning family of Sweden (house of Bernadotte). The Bonapartes did better than we sometimes believe as they produced in later generations the US Secretary of the Navy and Attorney General under Theodore Roosevelt; generals; men of letters; and famed ornithologists. But just as many were eccentric failures who lived under the shadow of their great ancestor. This is a good supplemental book for the Napoleon I reader as it provides some little known facts about the family, which for the most part was not very likeable.
February 3, 2017
My wife bought me this out-of-print book from the 1960s about the Bonaparte family. It was a fascinating book, though you kind of have to be into Napoleon to love it as much as I did. The Napoleon brothers turned Europe upside down. France got tired of them for awhile but brought them back in the person of Napoleon III (the Emperor Napoleon's nephew). There's even an American branch of the Bonaparte family. This book delves into all the family scandals and drama (of which there is a lot). It is a great read and I highly recommend it. Though it's out of print so I don't know if you'll ever find it.
October 2, 2022
Mildly entertaining, dubiously researched (not even a bibliography), dated (cringeworthy when not downright offensive in the casual sexism and even a passing use of an unprintable racist epithet in the name of a shade of brown), romp through a century in the life of the Bonaparte family, from the first fall of Emperor Napoleon I in 1841 to the death of the former US Attorney General Charles Bonaparte in the early 1920s. It's strengths are the light shed on the the familiar (even when it was written) familiar story of the two Bonaparte emperors when put in the context of their large family, and the wealth of anecdotes about some of the more obscure of the first emperor's siblings' children and grandchildren. The weaknesses are when Stacton focuses his attention on the stories of the emperors and empresses themselves, which have all been told better elsewhere, and as noted the total lack of sourcing - and there some are errors which will be glaring to those familiar with the history - and some of the author's descriptions of women and people of color which were typical of works written by white men in the 1960s, but which are jarring to find in print now.
Nonetheless, entertaining and informative enough on its own terms and in its own time, but the fact that it is long out of print and almost entirely forgotten today is not a cause for regret.
Nonetheless, entertaining and informative enough on its own terms and in its own time, but the fact that it is long out of print and almost entirely forgotten today is not a cause for regret.
January 25, 2015
The Bonapartes tells the story of Napoleon’s family and their descendants after his fall. A work of scholarship it isn’t. There is neither a bibliography nor footnotes. It contains much that is obviously the author’s opinions. In spite of that, it’s a fun read. For example...
The major characters, after Napoleon and his siblings, becomes the family of Napoleon III. The “American Bonapartes” are also covered and there is a foldout family tree. It was published in 1966, and is likely hard to find (found my copy in a used bookstore). Enjoy it for the fun.
She began life as a society belle and ended it as a gorgon.
She has only to enter any memoir of the period and say something silly, and at once the prose springs to life.
…for such is the illogic of jealous spinsters….
The chief leech was, as always, Jerome.
The major characters, after Napoleon and his siblings, becomes the family of Napoleon III. The “American Bonapartes” are also covered and there is a foldout family tree. It was published in 1966, and is likely hard to find (found my copy in a used bookstore). Enjoy it for the fun.
November 1, 2013
Aside from some funny stories about specific members of the family this book did not do it for me. For one, I didn't have that much familiarity with that period of French history and because it was more about the family and their lives it was sometimes hard to follow. The author also jumped around in time when discussing some family members so it got confusing.
June 29, 2011
This book kept putting me to sleep. It seems to be bits of Bonaparte history, which may be interesting, but isn't arranged as a story, and the characters don't have voice. It's all narrated by the author.
September 18, 2018
978-0671098605
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews