He wrote a romance novel

Behind the ruthless, battle-hardened facade, Napoleon was a bit of a softie, as both his embarrassingly soppy love letters and a recently unearthed romantic novella prove. Penned in 1795, when Napoleon was 26, Clisson et Eugénie is a brief (just 17 pages) exercise in sentimental self-mythologising that, according to most reviews, fails to establish him as a lost literary genius.

While Napoleon is remembered for his military career and politics, many might not be aware of his artistic side. In 1795, Napoleon wrote a romance novella called Clisson et Eugénie. The novella is about Clisson, a young soldier, and his relationship with a woman named Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary. Eugénie’s sister is married to Clisson’s brother Joseph.

The novella wasn’t published until after Napoleon’s death. Initially, Napoleon’s manuscript was split into segments and sold at auction houses (as souvenirs). Some segments of the novella were published at various times, and a completely reconstructed version of the novella was completed in 2009. Napoleon wrote Clisson et Eugénie when he was twenty-six years old. The parallels between the events and the characters in the novella provide intriguing insight into Napoleon’s own perspectives on love, relationships, women, and life as a military soldier.