End, The - Napoleon at Saint Helena 1815-1821

At Saint Helena it was Napoleon alone, devoid of the power he had been so used to. No great palaces anymore; just a mediocre, ‘petit bourgeois’ lodging and a retinue composed by a variety of personages ranging from self-interest to real loyalty: a stiffing little world pathetically clinched to the etiquette of a court existing never more; living on a glorious past and denying a painful present...

So Saint Helena doubles as a romantic epic and ‘laboratory’ to study the behavior of the exiles under pretty odd circumstances. Among them, and very especially, is Napoleon; finally exposed to the observation of all the people around. Friends and foes, partial or impartial; many of them –fortunately enough– left a huge variety of memoirs and reports on the fallen emperor so exposing to critical analysis and investigation the nature of this exceptional being and making possible an intriguing approach to the man and his personage almost two centuries since.