The Fiction Writing of Napoleon Bonaparte

In my recently and unhealthily thorough examination of the life of Napoleon (really almost a bromance from beyond the grave), I have found books detailing the fragmentary writings of the young Napoleon. As I had only discovered these writings, largely contained in the well-written Napoleon Wrote Fiction by Cristopher Frayling, using the more-than-ample resources of the old and prestigious US university which I attend, I wonder whether these writings are common knowledge. If other people have read the works of Napoleon, I would very much like to hear what they thought of them.

My personal assessment of what I have read in Napoleon's writing is mixed (it would perhaps be different if I were a Francophone and not reading English translations). Napoleon's has a lot of pretty okay philosophical essays, which while not super-original (okay, downright derivative), have some pretty cool sentence constructions such as in his Discourse to the Academy of Lyon:

"What is political liberty? It is nothing but obeying the laws of the political constitution.
What is animal liberty? It is nothing but obeying the laws of the animal constitution.
What is moral liberty? It is nothing but obeying the laws of the moral constitution"

Sadly, the fiction which I have read has not been particularly good (though as I perennial Napoleon apologist, I would like to note that French was not his first language [but then again look at Joseph Conrad...] and that in general most late 18th century French literature seems like flowery junk today). His longest work, Clisson et Eugenie is overly flowery and lyrical trash, with idealized characters of the born-soldier Clisson [fairly transparently based on himself] and his traitorous lover Eugenie. The story, which is believed to be based on Napoleon's failed romance with Desiree Clary, has no dialogue and is told in a very classical and almost so overly emotional that it is unemotional style. The one truly bright spot in the collection is one of his shortest stories, Meeting at the Palais Royale. Though it has quite a bit of structural issues, it has very interesting dialogue (ironically, this is by-in-large his only use of dialogue in fiction). The story, which focuses on Napoleon's conversation and possible propositioning of a prostitute on a cold night in Paris (it ends quite abruptly and ambiguously) vividly depicts the visceral angst of a young man (strangely Catcher in the Rye-esque and not just in content).

The other fictions tend to be a few Orientalist historical fiction short stories set in the Middle East (to be fair he spent a decent amount of time in Egypt and Syria, though I'm not sure if that was before or after writing such stories). Finally, the last category would be his Corsican Independence fantasies, which are far more interesting in revealing the idealistic beliefs of a young Napoleon than for their fictional value.

Although the stories tend to not be particularly good (except for one sort of) they are very humanizing and the stories and their analysis offer an interesting window on the psyche of the young Napoleon. And although I am not someone who automatically reads into the author's intentions based on their writing, the extremely personal nature of Meeting at the Palais Royale, Clisson et Eugenie, and his Corsican Independence fantasies makes that strategy of analysis seem quite viable in this case.

Interesting. I would like to read some of his fiction, even if it is, as you say, junk.