Στα 1948 κυκλοφορεί στη Βρετανία ένα βιβλίο με τον πομπώδη τίτλο: Napoleon's Memoirs, edited by Somerset de Chair, που αυτοπροβάλλεται ως τάχα ένα συνεκτικό κείμενο με τις αναμνήσεις του μεγάλου ανδρός, αλλά στην πραγματικότητα είναι ένα συνονθύλευμα από ετερόκλητα κείμενα (επιστολές, ανακοινώσεις, διακηρύξεις, κ.ο.κ.). Ο Alan J. P. Taylor, ο κατά γενική ομολογία μέγιστος ιστορικός της Ευρώπης του 19ου αιώνα από την παλαιότερη γενιά, συντάσσει μια κατεδαφιστική κριτική που δημοσιεύεται στο περιοδικό New Statesman (25 Σεπτεμβρίου 1948):
A life of Napoleon written by himself! The appeal seems irresistible. Mr de Chair, the editor, describes it as "the voice" of the giant himself". The conversation of giants, then, must be very dull. The proclamations and bulletins of Napoleon show him to have been a propagandist of genius; so, too, was Goebbels. Yet the memoirs of the one are as dreary as the diaries of the other. In fact, the memoirs of Napoleon —undoubtedly a genuine product of his mind— convinced me that the Goebbels diaries were genuine; if Napoleon could write as boringly as this, Goebbels could also.
A life of Napoleon written by himself! The appeal seems irresistible. Mr de Chair, the editor, describes it as "the voice" of the giant himself". The conversation of giants, then, must be very dull. The proclamations and bulletins of Napoleon show him to have been a propagandist of genius; so, too, was Goebbels. Yet the memoirs of the one are as dreary as the diaries of the other. In fact, the memoirs of Napoleon —undoubtedly a genuine product of his mind— convinced me that the Goebbels diaries were genuine; if Napoleon could write as boringly as this, Goebbels could also.
