Vincent CroninCríticas

> MATTEO RICCI, LE SAGE VENU DE L’OCCIDENT, de Vincent Cronin (Albin Michel, 2010). — Le jésuite Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) est le premier Occidental à avoir réellement découvert et fait découvrir la civilisation chinoise. Auteur d’un célèbre dictionnaire de la langue chinoise, il s’assimila totalement à cette société lointaine dans laquelle il vécut jusqu’à la fin de sa vie. Son approche novatrice et bienveillante d’une culture inconnue lui valut d’être, aujourd’hui encore, une référence pour les Chinois, qui ont donné son nom à de nombreuses universités. (15,20 €) (Semi-poche)

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Cronin-Matteo-Ricci--Le-sage-venu-de-lOccident/17...
> Le Monde : https://www.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2010/04/01/matteo-ricci-le-sage-venu-de-l-...
> Yumpu : https://www.yumpu.com/fr/document/view/9330129/andre-comte-sponville-propos-sur-...
> L'Homme en Question (No 26 – printemps 2010) : http://www.albin-michel.fr/multimedia/Documents/hq/hq_26.pdf

This history shows the truth that contradicts the legends.

These two were victims of circumstance instead of the ignorant fools they have been portrayed as in popular history.

After the megalomaniac Louis XIV and the pleasure seeking Louis XV, these two were painted with the same broad brush. Louis actually tried many reforms to better the lot of his people; and in doing so he angered the nobility. The nobility consequently started a smear campaign to demonize him; they were behind the early scandal sheets that made both Louis and Marie Antoinette into the stereotypes that fueled the revolutionary ire.

While it is true that Marie Antoinette was foolish and spendthrift early in their marriage.....she was a teenage girl.....and she behaved like one. Once the marriage was finally consummated and she became a mother, her thoughtlessness and immaturity disappeared. Of course, by then it was too late to stem the bloodthirsty tide.

One wonders what the traitorous nobility thought about their pot-stirring and calumny while awaiting their own doom during the reign of terror. Did they realize how their own actions were the cause of their fate? Those who let loose the ravening beast cannot hope to not be devoured themselves. There was plenty of comeuppance for all, including Robespierre, consumed by the conflagration he fueled.

This book is a lesson in politics, reform and the perfidious nature of humanity that many would do well to read and learn from.

O autor busca em diários e relatos críveis contemporâneos ao Napoleão, bem como na própria produção extensa deste, para construir uma visão pessoal de uma figura que foi alvo de uma imensa campanha de propaganda de seus inimigos para formar a imagem de um monstro ambicioso disposto a tudo para conseguir poder. O livro mostra um Napoleão humano, bem-humorado, apaixonado e generoso, porém impaciente, impulsivo e nervoso, características que Vincent defende que foram responsáveis pelas suas derrotas. Buscando razões para seus comportamentos na sua ascendência e criação, o autor pode, em alguns momentos, oferecer uma visão otimista demais do general estadista, porém sempre baseando-se nos fatos encontrados em suas fontes.
Os capítulos seguem uma cronologia básica, porém alguns deles que dedicam-se à aspectos específicos podem ir e voltar um pouco no tempo, o que exige uma atenção do leitor para não se perder na ordem dos fatos.

I recently finished this book. I liked it as a biography and thought it was rich with detail. I enjoyed Cronin's organization and came away with an increased appreciation for Napoleon's many accomplishments as well as some sympathy for his failings.

Toward the end of this biography, Vincent Cronin asks,

But what, after all, did his [Louis XIV's] reign amount to? What did Louis the Great stand for? Surely not merely for growth and prosperity and patronage? A principle underlay these things: the principle of God-given authority.

If this is true, and Cronin makes a good case that it is, then the fact that Louis XIV's reign stands for little more than the divine right of kings makes him out to be a fairly dull character. This, however, isn't Vincent Cronin's fault. If Louis seems to be a slightly tedious character who made war for no other reason than his sense of glory and built Versailles for no other reason than his love of symmetry, don't blame Cronin who all in all has written a very readable biography of a surprisingly insipid monarch.

Estadista brillante, figura trágica exaltada por el Romanticismo, déspota y militar ambicioso al mando de grandes campañas expansionistas, Napoleón suscita el odio o la admiración, pero nunca la indiferencia. La simple mención de Waterloo y Austerlitz evoca amplios escenarios bélicos, victorias sublimes y derrotas devastadoras; el nombre de Santa Elena recuerda la soledad del héroe en cautiverio y su muerte en el abandono. Napoleón, que se autodenominó Hijo de la Revolución, sentó las bases de la estrategia de guerra convencional y fue autor del código que lleva su nombre y que propagó por toda Europa. Vincent Cronin combina su indudable habilidad narrativa y una amplia y nueva documentación sobre el personaje para trazar un retrato psicológico y profundamente humano de ese gran estadista

I can’t recall when or if I’ve ever read anything historically factual that was this captivating. Here’s a history book that reads better than a novel. Truly, the life of Louis XIV is described in such vivid details that I couldn’t help being totally absorbed by this book. There is a section dedicated to practically every imaginable aspect of Louis’ life.

Not only are the King’s numerous and lucrative achievements clearly explained throughout; the specifics of his attitude, beliefs, mannerisms, thought processes, creativity and more, unfold with such eloquence and sequence, it’s impossible to put this book down. Your curiosity passes from one topic to the other. Before you know it, you’ve read the whole book.

Louis was a King who was completely in his element as ruler of his country. His total and absolute regality was totally natural for him; yet, he had the keenest of abilities for understanding people of all levels.

There are sections dedicated to the important women in his life, filled with the most interesting personal particularities that were an absolute delight for me to read. There is also a section that goes into the minute specifics of a typical day in his life. I was surprised to learn of Louis’ unbelievably huge appetite (there’s a whole section on this too) as well as the whole ordeal of getting the meal to him. Here’s a passage on this:

‘To reach the royal table the King’s dinner had to cross the Rue de la Surintendance, enter the south wing, mount a staircase, pass through several corridors, cross the upper vestibule of the staircase of the princes, the salon of the shopkeepers (Versailles had its own shopping center), the Grand Hall of the guards, the upper vestibule of the marble case and finally the Hall of the King’s Guards.’

Louis was also the brains behind much of the Versailles creation- he was a patron of the arts and was responsible for much of France’s grandeur. There was also a domestic side to Louis as well as a profound devotion to Catholicism; both of these aspects being more prominent towards the latter days of his life.

I learned so much from this fact-filled book! I highly recommend Louis XIV to anyone who is interested in learning more about this great King, his Court, his Ladies, and all that he influenced throughout history. This historical read surpassed all expectations. Excellent!

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This is a well researched, well written and very detailed work, but these qualities are somewhat negated by its unquestioning, at times almost obsequious attitude towards its subject.

Two brief refs to Volney: one in Corsica, one regarding Egypt.

Popular biography/hagiography of Matteo Ricci, brillian scholar and Catholic missionary in Ming China

Hopelessly and ridiculously pro-Bonaparte

Although unobjective (decidedly pro-Napoleon), I recommend this book. It is very readable, gives a wealth of captivating detail, and captures the spirit of both the man and the time.

Cronin's biography is chatty, anecdotal, quite readable, but light on analysis. Wolf or Dunlap's biography of Louis XIV would be better choices for a serious scholar.

The true story of Mathew Ricci (1552-1610), a Jesuit missionary to China.
China in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Brother Pereira was born Yu Wen-hui.