Napoleonic Mode: The 1802 Edition of La Fontaine's Fables

Abstract

What, if any use did Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) have for Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95), and for the Fables in particular? Such issues come to light in the 1802 Didot edition of La Fontaine's most noted work, which was designed and engraved by artists who worked closely with Napoleon. The text of the edition is itself rather unremarkable, as there are very few notations or emendations. By contrast, the engravings, when viewed alongside their specific fables, provide a valuable glimpse into French political culture during Bonaparte's rise to power. This study examines several fables against the backdrop of ‘Le Loup et l'Agneau' (Book I, Fable 10), delving into why these specific poems were illustrated and analysing them in terms of discourse on power relations as defined in political, familial, and sometimes sexual, contexts. For the most part, the discourse on authority communicated in the illustrated fables portrays a kind of enlightened despotism that advocates centralized authority, but one that protects those who do not wield influence and affirms their right to express grievances. While the edition does not show the disintegration of such a presumably thoughtful and ordered approach to governing, history unfortunately reveals that as Bonaparte's Consulate transitioned into Empire, the reason of the strongest became not just the dominant, but the exclusive, mode of governance.