Alliance Francaise de Pasadena to offer Napoleon lecture

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE PASADENA
GUEST SPEAKER SERIES:

ON THE TRAIL OF THE EMPEROR: LA ROUTE NAPOLÉON
Friday, March 26 7:00 P.M.

Alliance Française de Pasadena
34 E. Union Street
Pasadena, CA 91103

E-mail afdepasadena@earthlink.net
Web site www.afdepasadena.org
Phone (626) 683-3774

Reservations required. Free for Alliance Française members; non-members $10


Fulbright scholar and Professor Anne Prah-Perochon will deliver a lecture on how the exiled and humiliated emperor Napoléon undertook a final exploit of astonishing daring to reclaim his throne, culminating in disaster at the battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Packed with heroic deeds and extraordinary anecdotes, it’s an epic tale that recounts Napoléon’s audacious escape from his island prison in the Mediterranean. Once on the mainland, he raises an army, makes his way through the French Alps and in a bloodless coup d’état, regains Paris and rules for 100 days. The lecture traces his journey of unbridled ambition and stunning defeat, traversing some of the most spectacular landscapes in Europe.

To this day, the road he forged through the French countryside with 1,200 loyal men is called “La Route Napoléon” and it winds from Golfe-Juan on the Côte d’Azur to Grenoble in the French Alps.

Professor Prah-Perochon takes us through Provence with its blue skies, lavender fields, olive groves, charming villages and age-old traditions. We pass through Cannet (home of painters Renoir and Bonnard), Cannes (capital of French cinema), Mougins (where Picasso spent his final years) and Grasse (perfume capital and birthplace of artist Fragonard). Traversing Chamonix, Grenoble and Albertville (later famous for their Winter Olympics), it was in front of Grenoble that one of the most moving episodes of the expedition occurred. The army dispatched to stop Napoléon instead switches sides and fights under his banner. His army secured, he captures Grenoble and from there retakes Paris.

Numerous films and documentaries touch on these exploits, from Abel Gance’s Napoléon (1927) to Jean Delannoy’s La Route de Napoléon (1953). Films such as Tom Tykwer’s Perfume (2006) capture the glory of the landscape.

Anne Prah-Perochon was Editor-in-Chief of Journal Français and France Today for 30 years, and continues to write for those publications. She is a Fulbright Scholar with a doctorate in medieval history from the Université d’Aix-en-Provence and an M.A. in English Philology. She taught art and French history for many years at the University of California, Berkeley as well as at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of two books on medieval history as well as numerous of articles. She has presented hundreds of lectures throughout the U.S. on French civilization. Dr. Prah-Perochon is Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur and Officier des Palmes Académiques for her role in the promotion of French culture in America.

The lecture will be delivered in French, but with a detailed outline available in English

The Alliance Française de Pasadena was founded in 1924. Its purpose is to encourage the study of the French language and culture and promote understanding and friendship between the French people and others who share these interests. The Pasadena chapter differs from other language schools by offering a blend of language learning and cultural immersion.