_Peace_: Napoleon's Hand - Update

David_Lebling · 07 May 1998, 10:05 · from urth-v0010.mbox · original

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From: David_Lebling at avid.com
Subject: (urth) _Peace_: Napoleon's Hand - Update
Date: Thu, 7 May 98 10:05:56
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I've just finished reading Emil Ludwig's _Napoleon_, which my local
library actually has. It's not bad, a very novelistic sort of biography.
There's a lot in it about how Napoleon invented himself, reinvented his
past, and other bits that make an interesting counterpoint to _Peace_.

There is _nothing_ about why he stuck his hand in his coat all the time.

The closest we come is the continuing motif of Napoleon's stomach cramps
(which helped decide Waterloo), his father's early death from liver
disease, and N's eventual death on St. Helena from (likely) stomach or
liver cancer.

In the edition I found, there are plenty of plates reproducing portraits
which show him in the characteristic pose. In the text, he is _never_
described as having his hand in his waistcoat: his hands are clenched,
or behind his back (most common), or he's pounding a table, or whatever.

If Weer (or Wolfe) read this book, my guess is that his explanation of
Napoleon's pose was "He had a stomachache."

     --viz
     (david_lebling at avid.com)

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