The man with the broken ear

In Short

A flamboyant officer of Napoleon’s army, desiccated and preserved by a German scientist in 1813, is bought as a scientific curiosity and brought home to Fontainebleau in 1859. When a team of doctors successfully reanimates him, Colonel Fougas discovers that forty-six years have slipped away. His thunderous patriotism, romantic intensity, and imperial swagger collide headlong with modern middle-class life, rail travel, and peaceful bureaucracy. Edmond About’s satire owes its endurance to its sparkling comic timing, sharp social contrast, and warm-hearted absurdity.

The Story

In May 1859, young civil engineer Léon Renault returns home to Fontainebleau from Berlin, bearing a unique purchase: the dried, preserved body of a French officer contained in a wooden box. Bought for twenty-five louis, the mummy is the work of Professor John Meiser, a Dantzic scientist who perfected a method of animal and human desiccation during the Napoleonic Wars. Meiser had preserved the young Colonel Fougas in 1813 after the officer was condemned as a spy, hoping a future generation would restore him to life.

Léon’s fiancée, Clémentine Sambucco, takes an immediate, compassionate interest in the unfortunate soldier. Kneeling by the box, she kisses the frozen officer on the forehead and insists that no burial take place until Meiser’s scientific papers are thoroughly examined. When the documents arrive, Léon and a group of eminent local doctors follow the scientist's precise instructions to reanimate the body. The experiment succeeds wildly. Fougas leaps back to life in a violent fury, mistaking the assembled scientists and curious onlookers for enemy troops, smashing chairs, and clearing the room before declaring his unyielding loyalty to the Emperor.

Once restored to health, Fougas expects to find his old life waiting for him. Instead, he discovers that the year is 1859, Napoleon I is long dead, and his own youth belonged to a bygone era. Wealth awaits him through compound interest on Meiser’s legacy, but money means little to a man who lives solely for military glory, honor, and martial rhetoric. He embraces the modern 23d Regiment, visits his old comrade Marshal Leblanc in Paris, and even secures an audience with Napoleon III.

Yet private life proves far more complicated than military duty. Believing Léon’s fiancée, Clémentine Sambucco, to be his long-lost love Clementine Pichon, Fougas passionately throws himself at her feet and demands her hand. The truth soon emerges: Mademoiselle Sambucco is actually the granddaughter of his former sweetheart, who had long since married a provincial miller named Langevin. Fougas travels into the country to locate his descendants, finding a large family of rustics who share none of his romantic zeal. Though he eventually accepts the reality of his situation and blesses the marriage of Léon and the younger Clémentine, his frantic, high-strung second existence cannot endure the emotional strain. Exactly thirty-one days after his revival, the fiery colonel passes away, leaving his fortune to his old regiment and his heart to France.

How It Unfolds

The mummy arrives in Fontainebleau Léon Renault returns from Prussia with the desiccated corpse of a French colonel, presenting it to his family and friends as a scientific curiosity. The young engineering graduate recounts the history of Professor Meiser’s experiments in animal revivification.

A fiancée intervenes Clémentine Sambucco develops a deep, inexplicable sympathy for the dead officer and refuses to allow his burial. She demands that the family wait for documentation from Berlin regarding the possibility of restoring him to life.

The grand experiment Doctor Nibor and his colleagues carry out Meiser’s complex reanimation procedures in the laboratory. Fougas abruptly awakens with a burst of violence, driving the terrified crowd of spectators into the street with a brandished chair.

A hero out of time Fougas discovers he has slept for forty-six years and attempts to adjust to the peaceful world of 1859. He inspects his old regiment's flag, delivers ringing patriotic speeches, and rejects modern middle-class comforts.

Mistaken identity and romance Seeing Léon’s betrothed, Fougas insists she is his lost love from 1813 and demands that she marry him instead. He threatens to curse her if she marries Léon, throwing the household into chaos.

The quest for descendants The colonel travels across France and Germany to track down his true heirs and collect his accrued fortune. He finds his former sweetheart's living descendants living contentedly as prosperous, ordinary villagers.

A final farewell After consenting to Clémentine's wedding and bestowing his blessing on the young couple, Fougas succumbed to the exhaustion of his intense month-long second life. He dies leaving behind a patriotic will and a legend.

The People

• Colonel Pierre-Victor Fougas, a twenty-four-year-old officer of the First Empire whose life is paused in 1813. He wants military glory, immediate obedience, and the restoration of his youth. Confronted by a peaceful nineteenth-century society, his theatrical nature and hot-headed devotion to duty remain unchanged until his sudden death.
• Léon Renault, a practical, kindly French civil engineer. He wants to marry his fiancée and settle into a quiet life in Fontainebleau, but his purchase of the mummy drags him into absurd legal, domestic, and scientific complications.
• Clémentine Sambucco, Léon’s affectionate fiancée. Driven by pity and romantic sentiment, she protects the colonel's body from early burial and later uses her charm to manage the fiery soldier's erratic demands.
• Professor John Meiser, the deceased German scientist who preserved Fougas. Driven by a desire to conquer the brevity of human existence, his meticulous research and generous bequest make the colonel’s return possible.
• Nicholas Meiser, the professor's greedy nephew in Dantzic. He seeks to evade his uncle's will and retain the accrued millions, terrified by ghostly visitations and the relentless pursuit of the revived officer.

In Its Own Voice

"If I killed the French colonel who at this moment reposes beneath my coat tails, it was for the sake of saving his life, as well as of throwing light on a question of the deepest interest..."

Léon Renault explains Professor Meiser’s noble intentions to his family before attempting the reanimation.

"People! I have knocked down a hundred beggarly pandours who respect neither sex nor infirmity. For the benefit of those who are not satisfied, I will state that I call myself colonel Fougas of the 23d. And Vive l'Empereur!"

Fougas addresses the startled crowd outside the laboratory immediately after springing back to life.

"The proud pomp of wealth is a thousand times less sweet than the austere simplicity of the soldier--of a colonel, more than all. Colonels are the kings of the army."

Fougas rejects the lure of his newly acquired fortune in favor of military honor.

What It's Really About

The novel uses its science-fiction premise to contrast two distinct eras of French history: the dramatic, blood-soaked heroism of the First Empire and the comfortable, commercial middle-class world of the Second Empire. Through Fougas, the story examines how rapidly time erases human passions, achievements, and political causes. The colonel’s grand speeches about glory and conquest sound delightfully absurd to a generation concerned with railways, investments, and social standing. Beneath the satire lies a subtle meditation on memory and mortality—showing that even if science could conquer physical death, a person cannot easily survive the loss of their own time, culture, and purpose.

Why Read It Today

The Man with the Broken Ear remains a lightweight, charming speculative comedy that reads with remarkable swiftness. Readers who enjoy Victorian science fiction, period satires, or classic time-displacement stories will find much to admire in Edmond About's brisk narrative pace and witty dialogue.

The book avoids dense technical jargon, choosing instead to focus on the humorous culture clash between a fiery Napoleonic military man and polite French provincial society. Modern readers should anticipate nineteenth-century national stereotypes—particularly regarding Germans and the English—as well as period attitudes toward military conquest and social rank. The dialogue occasionally features dramatic rhetorical speeches typical of nineteenth-century French comedy, but these flourishes are deliberately exaggerated for humorous effect. What stays with the reader is the vivid, energetic character of Fougas himself: an unrepentant romantic hero who refuses to tone down his volume or soften his principles for a quieter, more sensible world.