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The Myth of Social Mobility: Napoleon's Legacy in Stendhal's The Myth of Social Mobility: Napoleon’s Legacy in Stendhal’s The Red and the Black and Balzac’s Lost Illusions Olivia Sklarew Barnard College, Columbia University Senior Thesis Seminar Professor Lisa Tiersten 19 April 2017 Sklarew 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………..3 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..4 Historiography…………………………………………………………………………………….7 Chapter One: The Cult of Napoleon: His Influence on Young Men of Ambition………………10 Chapter Two: Education: Tools for the Display of Social Status………………..........................20 Chapter Three: Excess of Ambition in the Bourbon Restoration………………………………..32 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….48 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………..51 Sklarew 3 Acknowledgements First, my most sincerely thank you is reserved for my two incredible advisors: Professors Lisa Tiersten and Laurie Postlewate. I have no doubt that without your flexibility, encouragement, and enduring enthusiasm, this joint project would not have been possible. Thank you to my suite mates in 2F, for suffering through those seemingly endless nights at the library with me, enduring months of my cranky, thesis-induced bad moods, and generally being amazing human beings. We survived, ladies. Thank you to Sarah Button, who inspired me to read The Red and the Black after she read it for a literature course during our year abroad in Paris. That inspiration led to this thesis. You’ve been my French buddy since the beginning, merci beaucoup. Finally, thank you to my mom, Barbara Braman. My biggest fan and best critic, your wisdom, patience, and kindness have helped me navigate anything and everything that’s ever been thrown my way, including this thesis. This is dedicated to you. Sklarew 4 Introduction You will hear plenty of other things said about the Emperor, but they are all monstrous nonsense. Because, look you, to no man of woman born would God have given the power to write his name in red, as he did, across the earth, where he will be remembered for ever…Long live “Napoleon, the father of the soldier, the father of the people!1 Honoré de Balzac In Honoré de Balzac’s The Country Doctor, a former French soldier of the Napoleonic Wars expounds upon the immortal legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte. In his praises, the soldier points to God as having ordained Napoleon’s power and success, thus elevating the former emperor above ordinary men to a hero of Biblical proportions. More importantly, he stresses how Napoleon has left an indelible mark on the world. He implies that history, society, and culture have been forever changed by his life and influence. Although taken from a work of fiction, this passage underscores a crucial historical fact: Napoleon’s influence was potent and widespread across the continent. The accuracy of the soldier’s portrayal, however, is subject to debate. Napoleon did introduce a period of relative political stability to France following the tumultuous events of the Revolution. However, the reality of his regime must be considered separately from his legacy and the memory of his reign. Napoleon’s legend is also influenced by a romantic idealization of his empire, informed by memory, history, and literature in varying degrees. A romanticized notion of Napoleon as the brilliant but tragic hero dominated the rhetoric surrounding his image throughout the nineteenth century. This thesis explores the implications of his influence on young men during the Bourbon Restoration (1815-1830). 1 Honoré de Balzac, “Napoleon of the People,” trans. by Ellen Marriage, in The Country Doctor: The Quest of the Absolute and Other Stories (Philadelphia: Gebbie, 1899), 196-197; “Toutes les autres choses que vous entendrez dire sur l’empereur sont des bêtises qui n’ont pas forme humaine. Parce que, voyez- vous, ce n’est pas à l’enfant d’une femme que Dieu aurait donné le droit de tracer son nom en rouge comme il a écrit le sien sur la terre, qui s’en souviendra toujours ! Vive Napoléon, le père du peuple et du soldat !” (Honoré de Balzac, Le médicine de campagne (Lausanne: Éditions Rencontre, 1968), 329.) Sklarew 5 Following the tumultuous events of the French Revolution (1789-1799), Napoleon Bonaparte came to power and built upon the new form of social hierarchy that had begun during the Revolution, one in which the aristocracy was no longer the ruling class. Young men of all socio-economic classes could be promoted in public service on the basis of merit and capability, rather than because of their high birth or wealth. The figure of the talented and ambitious young man was further emphasized by Napoleon’s own life. Even though he was the third son of a minor nobleman, he rose through the ranks of the French military to become emperor of France. Although this degree of social mobility was unprecedented and extraordinary for its time, it seduced a generation of young men to see the future as possessing a wealth of possibilities. This future ended with Napoleon’s abdication and the return of King Louis XVIII in 1815, which began a period known as the Bourbon Restoration. The Restoration not only marked the reinstatement of the monarchy and aristocracy to power, but also greatly reduced the opportunities available to poor young men. Social mobility was no longer the norm but rather the exception, as the government, civil service, and even military positions previously accessible to most young men were now obtainable by only the very few. Moreover, young men born during the Napoleonic reign were never able to participate in its wars, thus unable to reap its glory or benefit from military service as a means of social mobility. We can deduce from the soldier’s description in Balzac’s “Napoleon of the People,” how central the wars and its soldiers were to the period, as well as to the legacy of Napoleon. Much of the Napoleonic legend was based on jingoistic language describing military glory, yet for the poor young men who came along later during the Restoration, military opportunities were scarce. Therefore while military glory was still sought after, poor young men also attempted to find alternative paths to success. Sklarew 6 The implications of Napoleon’s legacy are revealed by an analysis of the main characters of two novels, The Red and the Black by Stendhal and Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac. In The Red and the Black, the young Julien Sorel develops a passionate admiration for Napoleon and wants to become soldier as a result. Although he later renounces a career in the military to become a priest, Julien admires and internalizes Napoleon’s social ambition, choosing to pursue his extraordinary example at all costs. Lost Illusions’ Lucien Chardon similarly wants to emulate Napoleon’s fame and meteoric trajectory, but in the literary world as a writer. Both protagonists exemplify poor young men with Napoleonic ambitions, born in a post-Napoleonic world. Examining their narratives illustrates the ways in which this ambition is inherently at odds with a Restoration society in which they lived. Moreover, it shows how this opposition creates major consequences for not only these characters, but for the generation of young men they represent. Chapter One investigates the potent narrative of the Napoleonic legend and its formative influence on masculine ambition. In the first part of the chapter, I give a brief explanation of the Napoleonic legend and its creation during the Restoration era. I argue that the legend encourages an intoxicating but unrealistic future of extreme social mobility for young men. Focusing on the characterisics of Julien and Lucien, the Chapter Two explores the development and maturation of ambition through education. In the second part of the chapter, I argue that education is key to social advancement and suggest that the untraditional methods of education in the novels lead to Julien and Lucien’s social advancement. The third chapter examines the limits of ambition and success in French high society. In the last part of Chapter Three, I demonstrate that these characters can never transcend the social hierarchy of the Bourbon Restoration, thus highlighting the social limits of Napoleonic ambition. Sklarew 7 Napoleon’s legacy offered young men an example of social mobility and influenced them to try to achieve the same. However, the belief that they could achieve the same level of success as Napoleon was unrealistic. Their limits were not in their lack of ambition or even in an unwillingness to do whatever it took to achieve their goals. Instead, these young men lacked social legitimacy in a culture where it was essential to political and occupational success. Napoleon was able to create his own, exceptional path toward legitimacy, but it became a path unavailable to the poor young men of the Bourbon Restoration. Belief in his legend and example sets his ideological descendants up for social and personal failure. Historiography Despite its relatively brief 15-year period, the Bourbon Restoration has accumulated a great deal of secondary literature. It important to note, however, that the majority of the literature was produced during the long nineteenth century, during which time the question of royal legitimacy and Orléanists claims remained a relevant topic. Legitimacy during the Restoration thus became a heavily researched topic. For survey works on Restoration history, this essay relies primarily on Guillaume de Bertier de Sauvigny, La Restauration (1977) to provide political context and brief social history. Other survey literatures examined for this thesis include John Hall’s political history survey, The Bourbon Restoration (1809), and Emmanuel de Waresquiel and Benoît Yvert’s Histoire de la Restauration: naissance de la France moderne (1996). Literature on Napoleon is immense. The treatment of Napoleon’s legacy in this thesis is heavily reliant upon Émile Kern’s presentation of the subject in Napoleon: deux cents ans de légende (2016).
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