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January 20, 2002 Issue 
Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe by Sandra Gulland 
Josephine - from a General's Wife
to Marie-Antoinette's Bedroom When I was young I yearned for the days of old like Miniver Cheevy of Edwin Robinson's poem. And after I read Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther" I saw the entire past, regardless of historic period, in the rosy glow of German Romanticism. But as I got older I realized with horror that this romanticism was just a veneer over a harsh reality - life in those bygone days was inconvenient and downright brutal. Pragmatism set in with maturity and now I no longer wish I had lived in another age but live in different ages vicariously only by reading about them. One particular episode in "Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe", the second volume of the fictionalized biography of Josephine Bonaparte by Sandra Gulland, once more reaffirmed my gratitude for not having lived in those days of old. In that episode Josephine has a rotting tooth extracted and replaced immediately with a bloody tooth pulled out of the mouth of a peasant girl. Chills ran down my spine when I imagined the pain for both, Josephine and the peasant girl, which no amount of laudanum, morphine or cognac could diminish. In spite of the dentist's assurances that the peasant girl's tooth "would take root", Josephine's new tooth became infected and had to be removed. All of which made me realize that penicillin and antibiotics have been around only for a relatively short time and that even today, most people in the world do not have the good dental care we Americans have. Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe" continues the story of Josephine's life covering the period from her marriage to Napoleon to the coup d'etat that would make him First Consul of France. Josephine is still baffled by her new husband's ardor and singular love, for she cannot love him. Not in the same way and not yet. Her heart belongs to the charismatic general Hoche with whom she had an affair (in the first volume) in prison. At times she even thinks that Napoleon's illusions about his greatness are the ravings of a delirious man. "Sometimes I think I'm the reincarnation of Alexandre the Great," he tells his new wife. "Alexandre the Great chose Homer as his poet, Julius Caesar chose Virgil - and I have chosen Ossian," Napoleon informs Josephine and quotes the Gaelic warrior and poet throughout the book. In this volume she travels to Italy at great peril to join Napoleon at his demand. He is in the process of liberating the Italians from the Austrians. Napoleon is heralded as the liberator of Italy and Josephine is feted and celebrated as his Lady of Victory. She uses her grace to smooth Napoleon's path to treaties and acceptance. In Italy Josephine meets for the first time the entire bickering Bonaparte clan. They do not hide their dislike for her. Napoleon's mother calls her the "the old one" and "the old woman" for Josephine is six years older than Bonaparte and his mother does not believe she could give him the son he wants so desperately although Josephine has already had two children. Isn't it amazing that back in those days a woman in her early thirties was considered already old! Financial woes continue to plague Josephine. Back in Paris she becomes involved in a business scheme that does not sit well with Napoleon. It is at that time also that Talleyrand, now Minister of Foreign Affairs, gathers power ever so surreptitiously and barely perceptibly, begins to eclipse Barras. The Republic is falling apart, threatened by corruption within the government and anarchy outside. The Directors fear Napoleon and send him off to war in Egypt. Plots, sub-plots, subterfuges and Byzantine intrigues on many levels unfold in Paris while Napoleon fights the English and the Turks in Egypt. Belatedly, Josephine discovers her love for her husband. Back in Paris Napoleon's coup of 18 Brumaire (November 9), 1799 succeeds. "To Destiny", he had engraved on the inside of Josephine's betrothal ring. The coup of 18 Brumaire was only a small step of the fulfillment of that destiny. Now even more than ever Josephine uses her position of influence to help people and becomes known as the Angel of Mercy. It seems that the old voodoo fortuneteller's predictions in Martinique may also be coming true, for in the first days of the new century, in January of 1800, Josephine and Napoleon move to the Tuileries palace where Josephine is haunted by visions of the guillotined Marie-Antoinette. And so, as Josephine informed her best friend Therese Tallien, "the Age of Fable is over; the Reign of History has begun." Ophelia Georgiev Roop Library Director San Bernardino Public Library |
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