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#caroline murat
joachimnapoleon · 2 months
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Seeing the Memoirs of Mademoiselle Avrillion mentioned recently in an exchange between @josefavomjaaga and @phatburd, I figured I'd look through them for anything pertaining to the Murats. (I'm not convinced that she's the same person as Élisabeth de Vaudey though; Mlle Avrillion's memoirs are listed in the references sections of her Wiki page but there is nothing to indicate they are the same person that I've found; if either of you have since turned up anything to the contrary, please share.) Anyway, she had some interesting details and opinions on the two. I hope you all enjoy!
Excerpt:
The emperor often took the subject of his brother-in-law’s costumes for the text of his jokes; I have even heard him mock them seriously and with bitterness. Furthermore, I am authorized to believe that, deep down, the emperor did not like Prince Murat, and he spoke of him, in general, in an unobliging manner. His curly hair falling on his shoulders, which made him resemble a king of theatre, particularly displeased him; and if the emperor disdained to deal openly in such puerilities, it was not so in his moments of intimacy with the Empress, where nothing escaped his critical observations.
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tauremornalome · 4 days
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happy birthday to the power couple!
illustration by jacques onfray de breville (job)
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usergreenpixel · 7 months
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JACOBIN FICTION CONVENTION MEETING 36: THE GAME OF HOPE (2018)
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1. The Introduction
Well, hello there, Citizens and Neighbors! I’m alive and back with a review, as promised. (Very happy about it too because I missed you!)
Now, to cut to the chase, @josefavomjaaga was the first person who told me about the novel’s existence, which had me a bit intrigued already due to my constant search for new media to consume and review.
However, my dear friend @tairin helped seal the deal and officially put this particular piece onto my review bucket list, as a physical copy of the book (in Russian) was her present for my birthday last year. I read the book back then but, due to all the other reviews and personal life stuff, kept putting away this particular review.
Fortunately, I finally found free time to catch up on the piece and post it, so here we go.
Before we proceed, here’s a link for anyone who wants to download the book in English. As mentioned, it’s available in Russian too, but Russian-speaking members of my audience will need to purchase the epub or a physical copy to be able to read it. I’m not sure if it’s available in any other languages.
Also, this review is dedicated to @josefavomjaaga , @tairin and @frevandrest ! Okay, let’s. Fucking. Begin.
2. The Summary
“The Game of Hope” tells the story of Hortense de Beauharnais, Napoleon’s stepdaughter, and her coming of age journey, including crushes, rivalries, and her life at Madame Campan’s boarding school for girls.
Although I loathe Hortense with a passion, review material is review material and I was still intrigued by the premise, so let’s see how this premise plays out in the book!
3. The Story
Generally, I enjoy coming of age stories and YA novels and, luckily, this one is no exception. It is melodramatic, but it’s justified because Hortense is a teenager and a dramatic person, so her POV having melodrama is expected.
It’s a slice of life kind of story and most political events happen in the background but still realistically affect the characters, which is realistic and very neat!
Also, this is by far the only book where anti-Frev sentiments don’t give me an urge to flip the fuck out, since Hortense lost her father and almost lost her mother during Frev and is far too naive and young to understand politics! Of course she will think Frev is evil and of course she will believe that being noble would be enough to have her executed!
The pacing is great too. There are some time skips but the author clearly knew when to do them and when to slow down. Now complaints here.
If you are craving a story with typical teenage melodrama involving historical figures, then I guess it’s a book for you.
4. The Characters
I don’t like Hortense as a person here, but as a character she’s realistic and nuanced. She has the selfish and bratty nature that would stick way into adulthood, but she genuinely loves Eugene and her friends at the boarding school. Also her resentment towards her stepfather and the Bonaparte siblings is quite realistic, as from her point of view they’re just asses towards her mother for no reason.
Caroline Bonaparte starts off as a rude bitch (also thanks to Hortense incorporating her own bias), but luckily she becomes more and more nuanced along the way and becomes sort of a frenemy to Hortense. Caroline clearly doesn’t enjoy studying under Madame Campan and wants out of there. Perhaps due to my bias, or because we don’t see her POV, Caroline grew on me more than Hortense.
Eugene (I HAVE to mention him) appears later on in the story and, as expected, is an absolute cinnamon roll.
Josephine is idealized in the story by Hortense, but she isn’t flawless and keeps trying to find Hortense a husband in the beginning. However, she also helps Caroline and Joachim marry, which makes their treatment of her later on a fucking dick move.
Émilie, Hortense’s cousin and close friend, is slightly older and already married (not that unheard of back then), but is still a teenager going through the typical motions common for that age. She is more mature than Hortense and feels trapped in a loveless marriage with Captain Lavalette (no idea who that is).
Campan is very strict but genuinely cares about her students. I liked the part where she has The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen attached to the back of a portrait of Marie-Antoinette and flips the portrait when inspection arrives. Simple, but quite clever!
5. The Setting
No complaints here! Gorgeous descriptions that are very much historically accurate, and Hortense’s POV is conveyed masterfully, which aids the story greatly.
6. The Writing
Simple yet beautiful, without diving too much into purple prose territory and doesn’t shy away from mentioning or implying normal things like periods or sex. I can sense some pearl clutching might happen, but personally I think these topics should be normalized so I don’t complain. Also, my copy graciously included translations of Italian phrases, which is doubly awesome!
7. The Conclusion
Overall, an excellent, overall accurate and believable story! I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about Hortense or just looking for a Frev/Napoleonic coming of age story without too much action.
Alright, on this note, I’m concluding today’s meeting of Jacobin Fiction Convention. Stay tuned for updates, guys!
Love,
Citizen Green Pixel
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apurpledust · 8 months
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Joachim and Caroline Murat in Napoléon (1955)
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amypihcs · 8 months
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Hello friends from teh napoleonic community! I’m still vaguely alive! Yesterday i was to the Reggia di Caserta with my good friend @mostvaliantandmostpround, so here some Murat-themed photos! 
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His profile on a mantlepiece, and now his bedroom! 
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bed! blue! must’ve been cool sleeping there with the curtains closed in a tiny bubble of heat! 
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My man sure had taste in matters of furniture! 
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And obv Caroline with the girlssss!
There was also a fresco i didn’t photo where Mars has Murat’s face, but my friend commented that was quite the unwise thing to do, to be portrayed by the divine guy who gets slapped even by humans, right, my dear? @mostvaliantandmostpround​ i summon you to clarify my mythological doubts! 
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yaggy031910 · 11 months
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I tried to look up with whom Caroline Bonaparte had affairs and I found this website through my research and I don't know how to feel about this because these comments are not detailed and objective enough for me EVEN THOUGH there are sources mentioned at the end. With all of this in mind, I wanted to ask you all if you know more about these points and if you can confirm to have read about these incidents:
Let's look at some points which let me be confused, shall we?
1. Did Lannes and Caroline ever have a relationship/situationship?
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I was more confused than informed after reading these two sentences. Specifically the "unless it was him" part because I read it as if Napoleon made an exception for Lannes which he didn't? The structure of the sentence doesn't make any sense for me. At the same time, English is my third languages. Maybe I just need to read through my grammar books again and study... All of this aside, did they really have something going on?
2. Naps slapping Achille
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I heard about the incident of Naps pulling at Achille's ear once but just randomely mentioning this was ???? And the thing is, this wasn't elaborated at all. When did this happen? How did this happen? How did Murat and Caroline react? I can imagine Murat getting quite protective. This incident is described as the Bonapartes disputing about something and then Napoleon slapping his nephew out of nowhere. And that's it...
3. Was Caroline really "thrilled" about the idea of staying Queen?
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Pls, let me explain: I am aware of Caroline's ambitions but the verb "thrilled" sounds wrong in my eyes because, as far as I am concerned, it contains the fact that Joachim, the father of her four children, would be dead. She sounds like as if Murat didn't mean anything to her and... that wasn't the case, was it? I am open for corrections. I really want to learn.
4. This... just isn't true.
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If I remember corectly, Murat's and Napoleon's relationship wasn't the best already (before Russia) because Murat wanted to reign in Naples and not to be a puppet of Napoleon.
Caroline and Murat themselves went through big highs and very big lows in 1810... i. e., Caroline went through a miscarriage.
5. Murat's indecisiveness considering leaving Napoleon's side after everything..
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Gahwd, whoever wrote this, your choice of words is terrible. He wasn't an idiot. He was humane. . _.
6. Did all of the siblings really blame Caroline for everything that happened to Naps? As if they weren't done with his bullshit too... you can't tell me that Joseph wasn't just done after the peninsular war.
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Why on earth would Napoleon blame Caroline for Russia? She wasn't there? In addition to that, Naps was a realist who liked to take risks and had ambitions. He is not delusional... 😭🤡
In conclusion: I am confusion.
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empirearchives · 1 year
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Portrait of Caroline Bonaparte Murat, the youngest sister of Napoleon
Early 19th century
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josefavomjaaga · 5 months
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From a letter Eugène de Beauharnais wrote to his sister on 3 Messidor an VIII (22 June 1800), a couple of days after the battle of Marengo. He's on his way home, like the rest of the French troops, and tells his sister that Murat feels depressed.
[Transcription and translation to the best of my abilities.]
Murat est bien triste, il n'a pas reçu une lettre de sa femme depuis qu'elle l'a quitté. C'est affreux à Caroline si elle est dans son tort. Je le console du mieux que je peux mais c'est une entreprise un peu difficile.
Murat is very sad, he hasn't received a single letter from his wife since she left him. It's terrible for Caroline if she's in the wrong. I'm consoling him as best as I can, but it's a rather difficult business.
Considering that Hortense and Caroline were close friends and Hortense surely would tell her, I assume Eugène probably wrote this in order to get the message to Caroline and to warn her about Murat's state of mind. I also assume that this was merely a case of delayed mail during wartimes, and of Murat being overly emotional as was often the case.
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ic-napology · 1 year
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Murat in all his gorgeousness and better quality (and Napoleon's embarassed eyeroll as well)
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araiz-zaria · 1 year
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I have yet to see anyone on the Napoleonic fold playing with the Barbie Selfie thingy, so there you go, the first two Neapolitan Barbies 😌🤭😉😂✨
(pinging @joachimnapoleon , @histoireettralala and @amypihcs in particular 🤭😂🙈)
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Bonus one↓ on Murat (the colors seem better to me IMO 🤔)
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anatomicalmartyr · 2 years
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Cameo and intaglio diadems from the Napoleonic era
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joachimnapoleon · 2 months
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I’m thinking of taking on a project with Caroline Murat’s letters next, but I’m having trouble settling on an idea. The three options I’m looking at are:
Publish all of Caroline’s 1810 letters to Murat in installments on ProjectMurat (I’ve already got them all translated from years ago, I’d just need to clean them up, annotate them etc)
Self-publish all of those letters as a book/e-book via Amazon and/or Lulu
Compile 100 letters by Caroline to numerous people including Murat, Napoleon, her other siblings, Hortense de Beauharnais, Fouché, Ségur, Julie Récamier, and Metternich, and self-publish as Caroline Murat: A Portrait in Letters, a companion to my first book.
Thoughts?
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kaxenart · 2 years
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Junicorn 10 Centaur
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usergreenpixel · 1 year
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MALMAISON MEDIA SALON SOIRÉE 15: NEEDING NAPOLEON (2020)
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1. The Introduction
Hello, Neighbors! Welcome back to Malmaison Media Salon! At last we’re here and today is a bit of a special review. Why special?
Let me explain:
1. Firstly, it’s one of those cases where I stumble upon a media piece via recommendation from another community member. This time it was @suburbanbeatnik , who interviewed the author of the book and there was a contest where the first 3 users to comment would get a free ebook copy via email.
I was the first to comment because I was given the link and because I was really excited about what sounded like a promising story, considering my soft spot for the adventure genre, time travel and alternative history. So yeah, I became one of the lucky three users.
Unfortunately, the book is only available in English and has to be purchased through websites like Amazon, so those who don’t speak English too well might be out of luck for now.
2. Secondly, it’s one of the few anglophone (British, to boot!) media pieces that DO NOT paint Napoleon as a villain! How cool is that?! For newcomers, stumbling upon a gem like that is about as likely as seeing a UFO, so you can bet your asses that I HAD to check out the book!
3. Thirdly, I already mentioned that I’m a sucker for adventure, time travel, historical fiction and alternative history so that really boosted my excitement… as well as my worries. I prayed that the book would turn out to be good. Luckily, it did! More on that later though.
Anyway, before we proceed, this review is dedicated to @suburbanbeatnik and @garethwilliamsauthor . Not only is the latter, well, the author, but he also graciously gave me permission to write said review and I’m thankful for this.
Okay, with formalities out of the way, let’s begin!
2. The Summary
The novel tells the story of one Richard Davey, an ordinary schoolteacher who admires Napoleon and lives a very boring, lonely life.
However, during a fateful holiday in Paris, he gets a chance to leave his old life behind, meet his hero and maybe even change the course of history.
To me, the idea sounds very interesting, so let’s move onto the deeper analysis and see if the execution matches the potential.
3. The Story
Although the beginning of the story did confuse me a bit because we jump straight into action, I. Fucking. Love. This. Book. I was extremely hooked when reading and felt like I was back in my childhood, reading my favorite swashbuckling stories. The excitement is REAL.
The pacing is excellent, most loose ends get tied up in the end, the ending is satisfying yet also realistic and we don’t have the protagonist getting everything he wanted, which is awesome!
I did have a problem with the flashbacks though, mainly because they kept popping up and breaking the storyline immersion, but that’s just me.
Also, there’s a good mix of gritty artlessness (in a good way because it doesn’t gloss over war), a swashbuckling adventure, romance and down time (we can’t have action ALL the time).
The romantic subplot is very well-written and realistic, even though my asexual self still didn’t care much because I don’t normally like romance. Spoiler, it’s one of the few times where the protagonist doesn’t get the love interest in the end, for a lot of reasons.
So yeah, only minor complaints here and there.
(Oh, and tiny bonus for the Frev community: Frev isn’t demonized either!!! Yay!!!)
(P. S. Also there were a lot of moments that cracked me up, like the pun with HMS Bellerophon being called Billy Ruffian.)
4. The Characters
Richard Davey is by far one of the most relatable characters ever, since I can relate to his loneliness (me during the worse days of depression) and love for History (I’m a Frev and Napoleonic nerd). He’s flawed, reacts realistically and in his own way to situations and has a great character arc, from a man just going with the motions of life to a hero who can and does make a difference in history, just not in the way he first planned.
Emile Béraud, a soldier Richard befriends in the past, is an absolute sweetheart. Loyal to a fault, friendly and just as lonely as Richard, he takes part in the adventures and is a very compelling character.
Aunt Patricia, Richard’s only living relative, might be a minor character who doesn’t personally appear, but her presence is felt throughout the story and Richard constantly imagines what she would have to say in his position and how she would judge him.
Madame Odillet, the owner of an antique shop who helps Richard get back in time, is a mysterious woman with a troubled past, who definitely knows more than she first lets on. I like the book parallels between her and witches, even though she’s just a regular human.
Napoleon starts out as an insufferable punchable prick, but later on his portrayal becomes nuanced. He loves and misses his son, has a soft spot for kids, has a temper and at times alternates between acceptance of his fate and resolve to fight back. He’s not in a good place mentally nor physically, but he’s portrayed as someone flawed yet far from being a bad person.
Jerome is an arrogant hedonistic ass. Full stop. But he’s a minor character so I can understand why he’s not as nuanced, even if I wish there was a bit more complexity.
Gourgaud is an impulsive and arrogant bastard who is loyal to his emperor yet entitled due to having saved said emperor twice.
Bertrand and Fanny are extremely sweet.
Las Cases… I found him unpleasant and arrogant.
Murat and Caroline are mentioned and, LUCKILY, not depicted as traitors.
Ney in his cameo is his usual post-Russia reckless self (he possibly had PTSD, I believe).
Overall, the cast is memorable and I did enjoy the portrayals for the most part.
5. The Setting
The descriptions really sell the setting here, in my opinion. I particularly enjoyed the scenes at Malmaison where Napoleon essentially is Richard’s tour guide.
Always nice to see that the author really did their research and has a way with language to make immersion that much easier to achieve.
6. The Writing
Once again, the descriptions. Short, sweet, to the point.
The language is mostly easily understandable, but there are French words sprinkled in that (fortunately) can be more or less understood in context. I wish there were footnotes with translations though. Oh, and some words were unfamiliar to me as a foreigner so please keep that in mind too.
7. The Conclusion
If you can, please give the book a go. Remarkable adventures, nuanced characters and believable settings that are reminiscent of swashbuckling novels are definitely worth your money, in my humble opinion.
Of course, no work is perfect but I throughly enjoyed this one despite some flaws and I look forward to reading the sequel. It’s not every day we get an anglophone pro-Naps media piece, after all.
On that note, let us conclude today’s soirée. Please stay tuned for updates on future reviews, my dearest Neighbors.
Love,
Citizen Green Pixel
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roehenstart · 2 years
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Caroline Murat with her daughter Letizia. By Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun.
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amypihcs · 1 year
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOACHIM MURAT AND CAROLINE BONAPARTE!!
The King and Queen of Naples we needed but didn't deserve
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