Prisons et exils: où sont allés les héros de Waterloo

By incorporating the battle of Waterloo into the events of their novels, Hugo and Stendhal create a portrait of its principal protagonist, Napoléon ler. Associated in one case with a spatial prison out of time and in the other case with a temporal exile out of space, the image of the emperor is that of a figure of power deprived of time and, consequently, of its legitimacy. Stendhal imprisons his character in the present to deny the reality of Napoleon's defeat. Hugo, on the other hand, exiles his character from the present to link the past to the future and propose a new model of heroism. (In French)(JB)