Gueniffey, Patrice Bonaparte

1769-1802. There is no shortage of biographies about Napoléon. The new comprehensive account of his life by Patrice Gueniffey differs fundamentally from previous accounts. It places Bonaparte in the context of modernity. For Gueniffey, this historical figure is exemplary for the modern age: he represents the type of man who, in his opinion, can conquer even the most adverse circumstances, provided he has the appropriate talent, energy and drive. This conception of modern man, as this biography for Bonaparte proves, is not compatible with historical realities: it reveals behind Bonaparte's intentions the logic of independent processes such as the initiation of such allegedly historical processes the traces of subjective action.Bonaparte showed himself in many, divergent, roles in a relatively short period of time: he was, among other things, a Corsican patriot, (during the French Revolution) an advocate of Jacobinism, a Thermidorian, a "general", he was a diplomat, a creator of a new law, a republican dictator, the founder of a hereditary monarchy: this biography is devoted to these positions in all their detail and precision: from that of the young Napoléon to his self-empowerment as consul for life in 1802. Patrice Gueniffey thus makes it comprehensible, entertaining, based on new research results and surprising insights and syntheses, why Bonaparte became Napoléon.

Patrice Gueniffey is a historian and works at L'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris.