Napoleon asked his savants to give lectures for his officers on deck during the voyage [to Malta]; in one Junot snored so loudly that Napoleon had him woken up and excused. He later discovered from his librarian that his senior officers were mostly reading novels. (They had started out gambling, until ‘everyone’s money soon found itself in a few pockets, never to come out again’.)
He pronounced that novels were ‘for ladies’ maids’ and ordered the librarian, ‘Only give them history books. Men should read nothing else.’
He was apparently overlooking the forty novels, including English ones in French translation, he himself had brought out.
Source:
Roberts, Andrew. "Egypt." Napoleon: A Life. New York: Penguin, 2014. 167. Print.
Original Source Listed:
ed. Frayling, Napoleon Wrote Fiction pp. xv-xvi.
Further Reading:
Napoleone di Buonaparte / Napoleon Bonaparte / Napoleon I
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