Simon Leys and The Death of Napoleon

I have just finished reading three volumes by the late China scholar and essayist Pierre Ryckmans (1935 – 2014), who wrote under the pen name of Simon Leys.  The volumes are his collected essays The Hall of Uselessness, his translation of The Analects of Confucius, and his elegaic novella The Death of Napoleon.  All of his writing is thoughtful and displays an elegance of style reminiscent of fine literature from the late 1800s.

The Death of Napoleon is an alternate history in which Napoleon escapes from Saint Helena and makes his way via a circuitous route to Paris.  Until he can devise a way to get in touch with his scattered loyalists, his meager funds require him to live with a poor widow whose modest livelihood is selling watermelons and cantaloupes from Provence.  Eventually he grows impatient with her incompetent sales methods and applies his intellect to reorganize her business along the lines of a battle strategy.  The novella could easily have veered toward farce at this point. 

Here is Napoleon spreading out a map and then sharing his plan for selling melons in Paris with the widow and her ragtag helpers:


1.  The Time Factor

The heat wave which we are now experiencing does not, on the face of it, favor our campaign, since it makes the melons ripen quickly.  In reality, it also contains an element that could benefit us, one we should exploit to the full, and that is the thirst it creates in the townspeople.  If we act swiftly there is nothing to stop us from turning these weather conditions to our advantage.  Indeed, swiftness of action will allow us to make use of the inherent advantages of the situation (i.e., the increased thirst of potential customers), and to avoid the harmful effects (progressive stock loss through spoilage).

2.  The Terrain Factor

I have no need to remind you that Paris covers a wide area and that we have only minimal forces at our disposal to sweep the field.  An uncoordinated, haphazard effort would therefore be certain to fail.  First, we must determine all the regions where the lie of the land could work against us: long, quiet streets in districts where our column would risk losing precious time and where the ardor of its initial impetus would be dulled without achieving any gain; les Halles, markets, the vicinity of green grocers' shops — all areas where the inhabitants show a stronger buyer resistance because there is so much stiff competition — these various points must be totally excluded from our itinerary [as he spoke, he seized a pencil and, with a decisive cross, eliminated les Halles from the map].  We shall therefore concentrate our strength exclusively in those regions that offer the least possibility of resistance and the best chance of gaining a prompt, significant advantage with the greatest economy of effort — i.e., the zones that present both a maximum concentration of population and a minimum supply level of fruit and vegetables.  As regards the first aspect (population), from now on, we can concentrate on the central districts and mark the most frequently used access routes [the pencil authoritatively circled a wide area in the middle of the map,from which it drew out four or five main approaches].  As regards the second question (finding out the location of fruit shops), it will be imperative to send out scouts to effect a preliminary reconnaissance of the terrain.  This reconnaissance will be carried out at dawn, and will hardly delay the launching of our offensive; it will subsequently even allow us to gain a considerable amount of time, since it will avoid useless counter-marches by immediately enabling us to take up the most favorable positions.

3.  The Human Factor

A.  The enemy.  The extent of their resistance — as I just pointed out — relies on a chain of redoubts places at irregular intervals, which we must systematically avoid; concentrating all our forces in a charge on one of the breaks in this line, we can use this gap to head straight for the soft underbelly of the city.  Once in that central position, we can deploy our forces more or less widely, depending on the conditions of the terrain, so that the areas under our control may be progressively extended.

B.  Our forces.  First, the scouts: for this reconnaissance mission, a few children should be adequate — their lightness and mobility recommend them for this type of operation.  As for the rest, we will form a single column with all the handcarts and even the wheelbarrows at our disposal.  Headquarters will be installed in a cafe in the central zone, its exact location will be decided at the appropriate time  Liaison between headquarters and the various carts engaged in action will also be carried out by the bands of children.


Splendid!  Doesn't this make you want to grab a wheelbarrow and march into battle? 

I highly recommend all of Simon Leys' works.