« Le mépris » dans les Mémoires d’outre-tombe : l’attitude du mémorialiste à l’égard de Napoléon Bonaparte
“Scorn in Memoris from Beyond the Grave: A Memorialist’s Attitude Towards Napoleon Bonaparte”

Summary/Abstract: In Memoirs from Beyond the Grave Napoleon’s portrayal evokes various emotions. Indeed, the memorialist inscribes his discourse as two dimensional; symbolic and ethical at the same time. Hence, constant fluctuation between greatness and powerlessness and between approbation and disapproval. This twofold order allows readers to look at Napoleon’s vicissitude through the prism of outreaching personal’s antipathy and disrespect. Contempt in Memoirs from Beyond the Grave appears as a sign of moral demotion, creating didactic tool, stimulating the reader to reflection. In this context, the memorialist uses derision, to prove the reader, that Napoleon can be carried a penalty of the Providence. Despite trivial experiences of the Napoleon, the memorialist only disdains, to manifest his disappointment and ethic superiority. By doing so, Chateaubriand rehabilitates the term itself and its usage, approximating scorn to indignation seriousness used in a traditional art of persuasion.

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