The Dark Room at Longwood: A Voyage to St.Helena (Panther) Book

This is an unusually intelligent, elegiac book; not merely an account of Napoleon's last days in exile on the remote Atlantic island of St Helena, but also a meditation on the inter-relations of past and present and the shadow a figure as gigantic as Napoleon casts into futurity. On one level the book is a travelogue, as Kauffmann revisits modern St Helena and describes what he finds; the small-scale lives of the islanders are related with tenderness as well as humour. But we also learn a great deal about Napoleon as Kauffmann passes through the places associated with him, and attempts to get inside the head of the deposed emperor.There is a danger of pretentiousness, and there are moments where the Gallic gush is a little much; but overall the sheer force of Kauffmann's imagination fuses the whole into a powerful and affecting unity. In particular, his lyrical, poetic style has been well translated and there are many striking moments. The beaches of St Helena, for instance, are described as "black shingle, shiny as nuts of coal". Even the sunrise in this part of the world has a prison- like feel to it: "only one ray from the rising sun manages to pierce the clouds, falling on a corner of the coast as through a basement window." Thought-provoking and often exquisite, this is a unique sort of history. --Adam RobertsRead More