#Napoleon as author

[apurpledust]

finished my final today (YES ON A SUNDAY) and went to my school library to find borrow some Napoleonic books and take pics ❤️ there was more but I didn't have time 😭

[empirearchives]

Citizen Cooks in the Age of Napoleon

Excerpt about the role of cooks in France after the abolition of culinary guilds, and how they navigated a world which demanded for them to find new ways to stay relevant and prosperous. From Defining Culinary Authority: The Transformation of Cooking in France, 1650-1830 by Jennifer J. Davis:

French cooks sought new sites upon which to rebuild the authority of culinary labor. Throughout the early nineteenth century cooks increasingly adopted scientific terms to demonstrate their reliability and profound knowledge of the culinary arts. Such language communicated the author's education and distinction, just as an appeal to an elite patron had done in the 1660s and referral to a cook's professional expertise had done in the 1760s. The rhetoric and institutions of scientific knowledge also provided a means of distinguishing men's work from women's in the post-revolutionary era. During the early nineteenth century, cooks' claims to scientifically valuable savoir-faire rested on three crucial points of culinary innovation: food preservation, the improved production of bouillon, and gelatin extraction.

As these processes left the realm of traditional knowledge and became sites of scientific inquiry by tradespeople and amateurs alike, cooks sought to maintain authority in this arena by including scientific terms and theories in cookbooks, advertisements, and government petitions.

Two factors encouraged cooks' claims to scientific knowledge during this era. First, when Napoleon Bonaparte took the reins of government as first consul in 1799 and established himself as emperor in 1804, he raised medical doctors and academic scientists, Idéologues, to positions of political prominence. From these posts, the Idéologues subsidized experiments and inventions deemed useful to the nation and encouraged the popularization of science in the public sphere through state sponsorship of exhibitions and print forums. The Idéologues particularly supported research related to food preparation and preservation that might benefit France's armies and navies, with obvious benefits for professional cooks. Many cooks presented their particular techniques to the government during this time, seeking both financial recompense and public acclaim. Second, a voluntary association closely allied with the Idéologues' vision, the Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale (Society for the Encouragement of National Industry), provided a forum in which formally trained scientists, politicians, merchants, artisans, and curious educated men might unite to address questions that inhibited French science and industry.

Together, these men sought to develop a more coherent program for industrial advancement than any one group could achieve independently. The society explicitly sought to join scientific knowledge to artisanal practical expertise, recognizing that each group had strengths that would benefit industrial development. This association invested heavily in three diffuse projects that eventually infused the most basic culinary processes with scientific awareness: new methods of food preservation to benefit the nation's armies and navies, new methods of stock preparation to sustain the nation's poor, and new methods of extracting gelatin from bones to improve hospital and military diets at little added expense.

[enlitment]

Huge shout-out to my friend who lets me indulge my hyperfixations and somehow managed to track down a photo of my old high school history notes on the French revolution??

Some higlights!

Headline: The Impact of the French Revolution (on the Czech Lands) (which was part of the Austrian Empire back then, making it just a bit more spicy)

After the fall of the Bastille in 1780, the revolution gains traction, making Austrian authorities uneasy

Leopold II. (Austrian emperor) knows it is important to filter the news getting to Austria from France

The news about the revolution are apparently more censored in Czech-language newspaper than the German ones, since the Czechs were known to rebel against authorities (kind of a "don't want to give them any ideas" type of situation") -> this meant that Czechs who spoke German would have had better access to the news about the French Revolution

The French Revolution would have more support in the Czech intellectual circles, compared to the countryside

a first disinformation campaign was launched in the Austrian newspaper, focused on making the French Revolution look as bad as possible (designed to protect the "traditional regime = the right solution" narrative)

This was contrasted with the experiences of real French people brought to the Czech lands by French soldiers (e. g. during the Napoleonic Wars - the Battle of Austerlitz, arguably the most important battle on our territory)

it also says that the French army was apparently viewed largely positively by Czech people and that the soldiers generally behaved quite decently? (I guess there's a really low bar for a behaviour of a foreign army but still. This surprised me, definitely not something I remembered from my class!)

After the ideas of the French Revolution spread to our country, it influenced the intellectual climate and made people rethink the status quo under the Austrian rule

last point (in all caps for some reason lol): FIRST RECORDER TIME IN WHICH THE STATE USED A DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN, trying to paint France in a bad light

you also get to witness my horrible handwriting I guess~

[emerald-truth]

headcanon about napoleon wanting his ass fucked that got so long I thought it should have a title

Prompted by how much I love N/I fics where Napoleon wants to be penetrated on him and Illya's first time together.

First of all, I don't think sex is an activity Napoleon attaches a lot of meaning to most of the time. It's just fun. Also he's a pretty open minded guy and open to trying new things. Therefore, I don't think he would attach a lot of meaning to anal penetration or be afraid to try it. If Napoleon learns about another way to have sex that feels great he would definitely try it. I don't think he's the kind of person to have reservations about its associations with homosexuality either. Even if he does have trouble coming to terms with his attraction to men, he doesn't think about sex in such a restricted way. And he certainly isn't going to have a problem with the fact that it's not good christian sex for reproduction because he already has a promiscuous and sinful sex life by those standards. Even if he's only having sex with women, I think he's gonna be trying it with them. Especially thrush women, knowing thrush . . .

I also think being penetrated feels a lot more vulnerable for Illya in a way that scares him, and this also has to do with Napoleon placing less importance on sex than Illya. I think Illya has less sex than Napoleon not just because he isn't very interested in women but because he doesn't want it to be a casual act. He may have casual sex sometimes because it's more common in gay subcultures and because he's too closed off to have anything more than casual relationships, but I think he's closed off sexually as well as emotionally. And he's particularly closed off to being penetrated because he does place meaning on it and see it as an act of vulnerability and he isn't willing to be vulnerable with anyone (except Napoleon).

And I don't think Napoleon feels vulnerable about it at all. This has to do with what I see as the fundamental difference between Napoleon and Illya's secretiveness. Both of them have to keep secrets because they're spies of course, but Illya is antisocial and insecure personally in a way that Napoleon isn't and has nothing to do with their job. Not only do sexual acts not have as much inherent meaning to Napoleon, he's a master at being open and friendly without actually giving away any information about himself. He doesn't feel uncomfortable about being outgoing or being known, at least on a surface level (and most sex is surface level to him), like Illya does. It's revealing personal information, especially about his past, that he's worried about. And just because you've had sex with someone, no matter what kind of sex it was, doesn't mean they know anything more about you than they did before except about that one sexual incident.

This doesn't necessarily have to be related, but I also think Napoleon likes being submissive during sex more than Illya does, and this is part of the reason I love fic where Illya tops their first time. Also because it's rare compared to the other way around and it's just nice to have variety but that aside . . . Even though he's technically superior in rank in uncle, Napoleon is more comfortable not being in control. In their work, he's more spontaneous and more willing to operate without all the facts. Illya is a scientist and he likes to be well informed and follow a plan. In control. He also keeps very tight control of himself. He usually only speaks when he has something important or witty to say, and his body language is very calm and controlled. Napoleon on the other hand, is comfortable and enjoys talking off the cuff, and he's very loose with his body, touching and fidgeting with everything around him. He doesn't restrict himself the way Illya does. That's what gives Illya so much more of a more mysterious vibe even though we actually know more information about him.

Now what does this have to do with sex. I got on more of a general character meta tangent, but analysis of what characters enjoy sexually should stem from analysis of characters in general so this is fine. Illya would probably be willing to give up control during sex after he and Napoleon have been together a while because it's Napoleon, the one person he trusts. Their first time however, and most of the time, he probably isn't going to want to, especially since I think he attaches more of a submissive connotation to bottoming than Napoleon does.

And not only is Napoleon ok with being submissive I think he likes it. He's very considerate during sex no matter who it's with and enjoys making the other person happy. Sometimes that means letting the other person relax while he takes care of them, but sometimes that means letting them do whatever they want with him. And as someone who's in a lot of high stress situations it's probably really nice for him to relax and not make decisions. Sex is one of his favorite things to do in his free time, so it seems reasonable he would want to take a break from being in control during that time. Especially with Illya who he can truly let his guard down with.

The other thing is. Napoleon knows Illya. He knows Illya likes to be in control and is afraid of vulnerability and he isn't going to put Illya an a situation where he's uncomfortable. And as much as Napoleon is masculine, he isn't macho. And he isn't afraid of letting Illya have control over him. He would let Illya do anything to him because he loves him. And he's certainly going to let Illya do something to him that makes them both feel great and that other people have probably done to him before.

The heart of the matter is Napoleon has sex to feel good, he's adventurous, he's a bit of a hedonist, and he has very little sexual insecurity. In what world is he not going to want his prostate stimulated.

[clove-pinks]

This is what you Sharpe's Rifles people are reading, right??

This was my light reading last night, and I enjoyed it very much, despite being written for children people of all ages. Foundling George Milton escapes the workhouse where he is cruelly mistreated and becomes a bugler for the 95th Rifle Regiment in 1809, after he is rescued and adopted by a Regimental Sargent Major. Awwww!

As a piece of historical fiction, it's put together with great care, with a lovely emphasis on the day to day life of a Napoleonic era soldier. The forward by Bernard Cornwall states that Richard Sharpe would approve of George Milton and even seems to hint that Sharpe could make a cameo appearance in a future volume.

But alas, volume 1 was published in 2020, and there are no signs of any sequels? I can't find any information about this series being continued.

[achilles22hector]

— The 33 Strategies of War, Robert Greene

The 33 Strategies of War is a military history and personal development book. It was written by American author Robert Greene in 2006. It is composed of discussions and examples of offensive and defensive strategies from a wide variety of people and conditions, applying them to social conflicts such as family quarrels and business negotiations.

[isthenapoleoncute]

Napoleon seems to be interrogating a daughter of the legion, Violet M. Methley. It's even being announced above in the air! She looks embarrassed. What should be done, if anything?

Rating: Cute!

Napoleons are inquisitive creatures! A lot of times, people become uncomfortable with the rapid-fire way Napoleons vocalize their curiosity - "did the Napoleon even hear me when I told him I have six sons before he asked how many of my patients I killed?! Also who just asks someone that?!" - but the Napoleon doesn't mean any harm. He's just curious!

[planetwaving]

my collection of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. tie-in Ace Books series !

plus these four British printing ones my friend gave me :)

[needcake]

Needcake! I'm losing my mind - I remember a scene from your fic (I think it was your fic - I can't think of anyone else who writes Portugal and England so *beautifully) where I *swear* Portugal was fending off France during the Napoleonic Wars and in the back of his mind was waiting for England's navy to show up (something something St George's Cross on the horizon) and I'm looking through your fic...did you write a scene like this, cos I *swear* I read it and it's emblazoned itself into my mind, like omy god.

hahaha thank you!!

I don't have a scene exactly like that, but I did write a Port/France interaction along those lines for the 2021 whumptober (here), if it's mine then it's probably that one bc the other fic hasn't gotten that far yet

(If it's not mine then please share that fic with me if you find it!!!) (@shachaai wrote a fic set in this time period as well here, maybe that is the one you're looking for?)

[wickedlittlecritta]

after that last reblog i’m tempted to write an extremely self-indulgent au where my wizard devin is a weird little mage-diplomat from tyra and they all have to deal with him.

he’s white girl wasted on red wine and speaking fantasy italian at 100 mph. alanna is crying.

[travsd]

Hat's Off to Kevin Brownlow

Today we salute one of the key figures in the silent movie Renaissance of the last several decades: author, collector, preservationist, director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor Kevin Brownlow (b. 1938). Brownlow’s 1968 book The Parade’s Gone By… is one of those seminal volumes like Walter Kerr’s The Silent Clowns that inspired thousands to explore silent cinema. With…

[empirearchives]

I’m dying at this letter from Napoleon to his uncle, Joseph Fesch, during the French Revolution.

“Liberty is fairer then they and eclipses them.”

Napoleon really called them ugly for not supporting the revolution. Wtf 😂😂😂

[diagnosed-anxiety-disorder]

okok new layout the plan is to look like im in the napoleon fandom so i can find more friends hopefully this works i am very lonely

[maggiec70]

Hello, dear Tumblr grandmother. I have a question…

HOW THE FUCK DID YOU HANDLE “THE QUEEN’S FORTUNE”?! I’m listening to the prologue of the book and I’m already not impressed!!!

I have a high tolerance for Really Awful Historical Fiction simply because the rewards from writing blistering, scathing, eviscerating reviews of said books are so great. Not to mention compelling the scribblers of the Awful Books to have heart failure and attempt to retaliate. I got two of them banned from Goodreads for their feeble attempts to take on my reviews.

[writer-and-artist27]

It's past 10 pm on a Friday night when the author posts this, but with a third family member having ascended to the world beyond in the span of a year from cancer treatment, the author had to process things.

And with the recent Halloween Rising 2023 event in FGO NA, a certain Foreigner's antics rubbed the author the wrong way enough to provide just enough of leeway to go try-hard in writing rage.

Fuck cancer in taking another person away from me.

Content warning for spoilers for Sections 4-6 of said Halloween event, graphic violence, cruel and unusual punishment, and mentions of torture. You've been warned.

AO3 link here. OST Playlist on YouTube here, with the new songs all included.

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

earlier i was thinking thoughts about your arthur and king arthur and my brain goes "what if arthur came back like king arthur was supposed to" then immediately i also think "what if napoleon came back too though"

hahaha chaos. just absolute chaos.

Murder Fairy world is definitly arthurian-adjacent in the sense that the murder fairy king is looking for his fisher king to shore these fragments against their ruin fix things/set things back in order. all very Eliot's Wasteland smashed up with some old celtic mythology.

Peredur asked Grandmother I seek the holy grail

Crone replied To what purpose & Peredur said that he was oathbound to complete the task his king bade him do

The crone looked long at Peredur then said You have already passed the grail of renewal which you call holy

How can this be Peredur cried for he had looked everywhere & asked everyone & been to new lands where stars were strange how can he have missed it – how can he come by the answer

Crone then said By way of a dead man’s mouth – bring me the head of a dead man & you will have your answer

Peredur does – which is a section my grandmother often glided over when I was a child for it was an unknightly endeavour

When older I asked her what Peredur did to obtain the dead man’s head & discovered that he slew a fellow knight

The crone took the head & placed it in the waters of her cauldron where out it spoke You had your grail at hand but when you spoke with the fisher king you asked the wrong question so he was not able to help ask the right one & you will know your grail

Despairing Peredur returned unto the old man fishing by the lake with the peacock feather in his hat & the old man said Mark those boats my brothers are on them & Peredur marked them & asked How is it I do not see them

They are dead

How was it they died

The fisher king did not answer then Peredur remembered the man’s wound & asked How was it you were wounded what is it that ails you

The fisher king then smiled saying I was wounded by the boar-hunt spear I meant to slay the animal but instead I slew myself

Peredur sensed he was on the right trail of questioning so asked How is it I can heal you & the fisher king said Bring me another king & we will drink of the waters of the cauldron & through it he & I will be healed for the grail of renewal is the same as the witch’s cauldron

Peredur said to the fisher king I promised my liege lord & king I would bring the grail to him but worry not I will bring my king to the grail

& he did

Mr. Carrington liked not this version of the story preferring the others he heard as a boy saying they were more upright with a good moral & I did not point out to him that the moral isn’t the point for Mr. Carrington would not understand

The point of course being: this is how you heal the fisher king

then there's Napoleon's: oh dear this isn't going well is it? moment with Maisie who is was a child stolen by the faie and now they wear her skin like it's a glamour.

We need not a doctor. Our king seeks his Peredur, Maisie says.

Napoleon starts. Frowns in confusion. ‘I mean no offense, but I don’t think your king is the fisher king. I’m certainly not a knight errant and I doubt I'm capable of magical healing. No matter the form it takes.’

The fisher king, wounded in the leg by a javelin to such a degree he could no longer mount a horse and struggled to walk, entertained himself by fishing. Hence the name. It’s one of the old stories Napoleon paid little mind to as a boy, preferring Gawain and Lancelot. He recalls there being something about Percival needing to ask the right question in order to heal the king. There was also something about the holy grail, he’s fairly certain, though he can’t recall the details.

This is all beside the point, Napoleon thinks. Magical healing quests are not his forte, no matter what may be said about the power of a monarch’s hands.

What is it that troubles you?

Napoleon’s brow furrows, ‘Only what is before me.’

Maisie shakes her head, lifts a finger, behind which are whispers of a clawed hand, and wags it. That is not the answer to the grail question. The fisher king needs the right question, but you are the answer. It is why you are here.

Then, before he can reply, she dances away – a strange sight to see – and disappears into tall river grass.

and then we have the real oh fuck moment

This is not your world and it does not operate by your rules. My land is bound to my body. If I am wasted away, so is my land. You have seen where it is barren. 'Even if that is so, I can't heal you,' Napoleon replies. 'My body, my skin, will not heal you. No one's body can heal you. You were wounded thus when you took Arthur's appearance? Percival’s? If so, that was no healing. It was applying a bandage to something requiring stiches. No matter what you take from me, or anyone else, you will not be healed.'

You cannot know that.

‘I am not your Percival. You are not my fisher king.'

The king shakes his head in a pitying manner. Reaching forward, he wraps a clawed hand around Napoleon's neck and lifts him up as if he were nothing but a rag doll. Napoleon tugs at the claws cutting through collar and neckcloth into skin, but the grip is iron. Sweat, or perhaps blood, drip under neckcloth and soak into shift. He tries stabbing at the hand but knife glances off skin which is cold and hard as marble.

The fisher king was healed by the Grail question. But that is legend, and this is real life. Real life where a woman is on fire, ripping apart a bridge. Real life where a fairy is strangling him. Real life where he dangles two feet off the ground fast heading towards unconsciousness. He tries for air, tries for the question, 'what is it that troubles—'

Searing pain across stomach. Everything is stars, blurred shapes, sharp colours. He thinks he might be screaming.

Movement. He is aware of being thrown. Tossed, rather. Hard rock. Searing hot rock. He feels it through clothes. His hands hold coiled intestines. He thinks he should ask for opium. He thinks it fitting he'd die on a bridge with stomach cut open. It’s poetic and his life has always been something of a romance.

poor Napoleon. bleeding out on a bridge that's on fire in the land of the faie. Shit gets real when you make dubious deals with the dead in your dreams.

all this to say - if Napoleon and Arthur came back a la the legends of old, things would go pear shaped real quick and in ways no one quite expected.