First, let me pile on to Amanda and mention that I will be at the RomCon conference. I will be chairing a panel on the anti-hero so woot! Awesome! If you’re going to be at RomCon, come find me and say hi so I don’t feel lonely. I am still coming to terms with the fact that I will have to wear something besides jeans. My hair, however, should be pretty spiffy as I have a beautifying appointment this weekend.
I also learned yesterday that my 2004 historical The Spare is being re-issued in October 2010. I found this out when I came home to find a stack of cover flats in the mail that were, how odd, a little different from the original cover. The original print run of this book was on the very small side, so small that I heard from people right away that they could not find the book even when it was freshly released. I’ve not seen used copies at a very reasonable price, so buying the re-issue might be cost-effective for some of you. (HINT!!)
Stuff about Waterloo
Google Books for Waterloo, 1814 to 1820 — LOTS of poetry. Today, the public response to something like this would be YouTube videos. And, of course, there would have been reporters embedded with the troops.
This is Sir Cecil Cakebeef reporting live from the camp of the Guard Dragoons just outside the charming little village of Waterloo. I’m speaking here with M. Albert DeFrenchman who’s just told me that he’s moved his cows out of Belgium and locked the barn. He’s written a poem entitled, Les Miserables complete with lyrics. My translator, Henri here (wearing the false mustache) explains that the poem is a lamentation on butter gone bad.
The Journal of the Three days of the Battle of Waterloo by an Eyewitness. Translated from the French. This book is from Oxford’s Bodelian library. ::swoon:: Having scanned through, I suspect the hand of an Englishman in this French journal.
Parliamentary Debate — on Waterloo prize money. Damn. Politics.
Anecdotes of the Duke of Wellington from The Scots Magazine,
Official Bulletins of the Battle of Waterloo – Not English ones, all the other guys.
I’m anxious to hear how RomCon goes. I hope it is a huge success and lots of fun for you and Amanda.
Another great Waterloo memoir available from Google Books is Waterloo Daysby Charlotte Eaton, an English woman who wrote of her experiences in Belgium during the time of the battle.
I loved the Wellington memoir. Wellington was present on the battlefield throughout the battle, while Napoleon was distant, even napping because he was ill. One wonders how the outcome might have been different if Napoleon had been in his prime.
Napoleon was napping? Seriously?
General? Wake up! The English are kicking our @ss!
Mmm. In a minute, m’sieur. (Rolls over and goes back to sleep)
Yeah, at Waterloo Napoleon was well past his peak, while Wellington was still in his prime but fighting with a cobbled-together and relatively inexperienced force. (A lot of the best troops from his Peninsular War army had been sent straight to North America in 1814 and hadn’t all made it back yet after the end of that war.) So for different reasons it wasn’t really either man at his best.
Of course, Wellington and Napoleon were the same age, and if you look at portraits of them from, say, 1805, they look it, but 1815 Napoleon looks a good ten years older than 1815 Wellington, IMHO. It’d be nice to think there’s some kind of lesson about excessive ambition there, but I think it’s just luck of the genetic draw. The Bonapartes tended to die relatively young, while all the Wellesleys of that generation who survived childhood made it into their 70’s and 80’s.
Anyway, I’d love to see what would happen if you could somehow match, say, Salamanca Wellington against Austerlitz Napoleon.
Great links, Carolyn, and I wish I was attending purely to hear your panel! I love nerdy heroes, if that’s your idea of an anti-hero, or at least one of the subspecies.
Ooh, Diane. When I read Napoleon in his prime I got such a naughty tingle.
Ooh, Diane. When I read Napoleon in his prime I got such a naughty tingle.
Now I’m blushing, Janet!