RGRLL CONFERENCE: “Liberation, Occupation — Inspiration Bonaparte? Literary and Artistic Responses to Napoleon”

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) remains a fascinating, ambivalent, and polarizing figure some 200 years after his defeat at Waterloo in 1815. From the onset of the French Revolution in 1789, responses of authors and artists ranged from celebrations of a dawning age of liberation to prophesies of anarchic violence. The rise of Bonaparte from General (1795) to Consul (1799) and Emperor (1804) constitutes a paradigm shift from an Age of Revolution defined by the philosophy of happiness through individual and national autonomy to a period of republican military dictatorship that at once inspired, disappointed, and outraged thinkers around the world. As a representative of the liberation ideals of the French Revolution and a threat to regional concepts of autonomy through occupation and regime change, Napoleon is one of the most paradoxical inspirations ever to ride the horse of (literary and art) history.

The conference language will be English.

OFFICIAL PROGRAM: RGRLL Napoleon Conference Program

For information, please contact: bonaparte2014csulb@gmail.com.