The Black Room at Longwood

The author of this book, Jean-Paul Kauffmann, was held captive for three years by Shiite Muslims in Beirut. So it is not surprising that he should be fascinated by the story of his country's most famous captive. Kauffmann traveled to Saint Helena, the site of Napoleon's exile, and wrote this book which is "part travelogue, part history, part meditation on confinement. Kauffmann's imprisonment is never discussed in The Black Room at Longwood, but it greatly informs the text."

"This is not simply a book about Napoleon, rather it is a superb narrative on the passage of time." –Le Monde

". . . a luminescent book on which stretches the shadow of the fallen Emperor. . . this book is a mystical reflection on imprisonment and the confines of the mind." –Elle

The following is an excerpt from "The Second Day,"
"If you like, we can enter Longwood just as the Emperor and his companions did on 10 December 1815," Michel Martineau suggests. At that moment he has the serious but jubilant look of a magician who is master of his tricks.
. . . Michel Martineau opens the door. The first room I enter is the parlor, hastily built to enlarge the prisoner's accommodation. What surprises me at first is not the billiard table, which takes up almost the entire room, but the smell.
. . . The most lingering of all is the odor of boredom.

An excerpt from "The Sixth Day,"
It's 25 November 1816, and the Emperor is walking about the garden. "The wind had grown cold," notes Las Cases, who was accompanying him. The two men hurry back to the billiard room. As usual, the prisoner is reeling off his memories, walking up and down the room. The subject on that day is his marriage to Marie-Louise. Through the casement, he suddenly notices that a large detachment of English officers has appeared in the middle of the garden.   A servant rushes up to announce that Colonel Reade wants to see Las Cases very urgently. Napoleon's confidant indicates that he is in conversation with the Emperor, but the latter says to him:
     "My dear man, go and see what the fellow wants...and make sure you come straight back."
     These were the last words Las Cases heard from Napoleon's mouth. The author of the Memoirs writes:
    "Alas! I never saw him again! I can still hear his accent and the sound of his voice."

To purchase The Black Room at Longwood

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