« Napoléon-Hitler », un anachronisme pour lutter contre les fascismes

This article analyses the role played by the historical anachronism comparing Napoleon and Hitler in the writings of André Suarès, Joseph Roth and Raymond Aron during the 1930s and 1940s. Particularly polemical, this analogy incorporates a history of appropriations in which the figure of Napoleon was first instrumentalised by Fascist propaganda. At a time when totalitarianism was flourishing in Europe and this phenomenon was new, the literature of ideas and fiction in turn inserted the comparison between Napoleon and Hitler with the aim of understanding authoritarian propaganda and deconstructing it. The comparison is seen as a way of questioning the political instrumentalisation of the Napoleonic legend, encouraging readers to interpret events actively and carefully.