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Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe
The only available edition in English of the greatest of all French autobiographies
By the time he came to write his extraordinary, highly entertaining memoirs, Chateaubriand had witnessed some of the iconic figures and events of French history—from the court of Louis XVI, to the reign of Napoleon, to the disaster of Waterloo, to life under the Restoration. Written across different times and places, Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb tells of exotic adventures to the farthest points of the globe, of heroic battles and political struggles, and of the loneliness of a restless soul. And its startling candor—because it would be published only “from beyond the tomb”—makes it almost ridiculously enjoyable.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
By the time he came to write his extraordinary, highly entertaining memoirs, Chateaubriand had witnessed some of the iconic figures and events of French history—from the court of Louis XVI, to the reign of Napoleon, to the disaster of Waterloo, to life under the Restoration. Written across different times and places, Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb tells of exotic adventures to the farthest points of the globe, of heroic battles and political struggles, and of the loneliness of a restless soul. And its startling candor—because it would be published only “from beyond the tomb”—makes it almost ridiculously enjoyable.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
1504 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1850
About the author
François-René de Chateaubriand
2,179 books232 followersFrançois-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand was a French writer, politician and diplomat. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.
He has also been mistakenly given the forename François-Auguste in an 1811 edition, but signed all his worked as just Chateaubriand or M. le vicomte de Chateaubriand.
He has also been mistakenly given the forename François-Auguste in an 1811 edition, but signed all his worked as just Chateaubriand or M. le vicomte de Chateaubriand.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
June 15, 2017
I read this book in French (because I'm french!). But I comment it in English, beacause I'd like you, English readers who would like to discover French state of mind from the late 18th and early 19th century and also the great History he really lived. It's not really fun, but it's Chateaubriand! So it's clever, pretentious (he could be!), historically very interesting and so many things more!
June 14, 2018
- Saint-Malo, as seen from the Petit Bé, near Chateaubriand's tomb
- The bulwarks of Saint-Malo
- The maritime fort
June 11, 2018
No he leído propiamente las "Memorias de ultratumba". He leído una antología o selección de las mismas. ¿Por qué? Porque soy cobarde.
August 13, 2020
Ho un debole per le biografie e le autobiografie, come per i trattati storici e le digressioni romantiche. Memorie d'oltretomba racchiude tutte le mie predilezioni, non potevo non leggerlo, dopo averlo guardato e scansato per molto tempo, ma infine arriva il tempo per ogni cosa.
Un libro affascinante, ricco di sfaccettature, forse non per tutti ma certo per gli amanti dei resoconti storici e gli affreschi d'epoca. Chi fosse spaventato dal cofanetto di oltre 2000 pagine sbaglierebbe, moltissime sono note, e il resto è una lettura molto godibile, lo stile di Chateaubriand è elegante e ironico, tranne quando indulge in una pompa autocelebrativa che sa un po', ebbene sì, pardon, di trombone.
I suoi dispacci di ambasciatore, i suoi discorsi alla Camera dei Pari, le sue lettere a vari personaggi hanno spesso il tratto della pompa e dell'autocelebrazione, inoltre i frequenti riferimenti al Cristianesimo pongono molti veli sulla sua vita di galante gentiluomo ammogliato (ebbe infinite amanti, relazioni contemporannee durate anni, la povera Madame de Chateaubriand doveva sopportare la presenza di queste Madames come le chiamava, perfino nella residenza della famiglia alla Vallée aux Loups, nelle Memorie di queste donne non si fa alcun cenno).
Del resto ogni autobiografia lavora di taglio e di cesello, non ci si aspetta la Verità, ma la sua rilettura, l'autoritratto che l'autore regala al mondo e le vicende autobiografiche qui sono anche le meno interessanti, per nostra fortuna le pagine di pompa autocelebrativa sono abbastanza limitate come numero, il resto è una delizia di affresco storico della Francia tra due secoli e due mondi. Chateaubriand ebbe la fortuna di vivere in anni ricchi di cambiamenti ed il meglio di sé, a mio avviso, lo dà come memorialista descrivendo gli eventi storici e i suoi personaggi (La Rivoluzione Francese, Vita di Napoleone) e poi l 'infanzia e la giovinezza, i suoi viaggi, il suo esilio a Londra – esilio politico a seguito della Rivlouzione Francese, come sostenitore della monarchia – . Nella descrizione dell'amatissima Bretagna e dei suio boschi di Comburg si scorge chiarissimo il Romaticismo di cui in Francia fu l'iniziatore, lasciando la residenza della Vallée aux Loups, che dovette vendere per dissesti economici, amatissimo luogo dove aveva piantato personalmente ogni albero, ogni pianta, romanticamente, mestamente sospirava quale Adamo esiliato dal suo Paradiso “Tutti i miei giorni sono degli addii”.
Tra le pagine migliori io annovero anche il viaggio in America, il ritorno e il naufragio, le peripezie come soldato realista in lotta contro le forze rivoluzionarie, la caduta in una vita piena di stenti a Londra, (con gran parte della famiglia uccisa o incarcerata durante la Rivoluzione) e a seguire la risalita ai vertici della società dopo il ritorno dell'Impero e della monarchia Borbonica, traversie che ne fanno l'emblema del vero eroe romantico, di cui ha tutto l'ardore del pensiero e dell'azione.
Memorabili le sue invettive contro Napoleone, dopo l'assassinio del duca d'Enghien, Chateaubriand fu un oppositore feroce e palese dell'imperatore, non si fece intimorire dalla possibilità che Napoleone lo facesse “far fuori a sciabolate sulle scale delle Tuileries”, come gli aveva preannunciato, né fece sconti dopo la caduta, la morte e l'esilio dell'amato/odiato corso (più odiato, in verità). Chateaubriand non perde occasione per dire quanto Napoleone fosse poca cosa dal punto di vista umano – egoista, maniaco, arrogante oltre misura, privo di gratitudine e feroce, ambiziosissimo e senza pietà – e politico, ma ne riconosce la grandezza militare, almeno fino alla campagnia di Russia. La cosa che io trovo ammirevole è che glielo dicesse in faccia o in pubblico, senza sconti né mezze misure, già per questo Chateaubriand mi sta simpatico, tra i suoi difetti non si può certo annoverare l'ipocrisia o il calcolo opportunista. Né opportunista e né ipocrita e come mostra il suo atteggiamento quando, a seguito della Rivoluzione del 1830, ci fu un ribaltamento nella successione al trono di Francia, nemmeno voltagabbana: si schierò sempre con la legittimità Borbonica contro il ramo cadetto “usurpatore” degli Orleans, malgardo le lusinghe e i prospettati favori.
Le Memorie dovevano essere pubblicate dopo la morte dell'autore, in realtà già nel 1836 ne cedette i diritti all'editore, con questi soldi Chauteaubraind, di nuovo la fortuna economica gli aveva voltato le spalle, visse dignitosamente per altri 12 anni. E' seppellito davanti al mare a Saint-Malo, nella sua Bretagna. Luogo non sarebbe stato più adatto a lui che del mare e della Bretagna ha fatto i protagonisti di alcune delle più belle pagine delle sue Memorie.
Un libro affascinante, ricco di sfaccettature, forse non per tutti ma certo per gli amanti dei resoconti storici e gli affreschi d'epoca. Chi fosse spaventato dal cofanetto di oltre 2000 pagine sbaglierebbe, moltissime sono note, e il resto è una lettura molto godibile, lo stile di Chateaubriand è elegante e ironico, tranne quando indulge in una pompa autocelebrativa che sa un po', ebbene sì, pardon, di trombone.
I suoi dispacci di ambasciatore, i suoi discorsi alla Camera dei Pari, le sue lettere a vari personaggi hanno spesso il tratto della pompa e dell'autocelebrazione, inoltre i frequenti riferimenti al Cristianesimo pongono molti veli sulla sua vita di galante gentiluomo ammogliato (ebbe infinite amanti, relazioni contemporannee durate anni, la povera Madame de Chateaubriand doveva sopportare la presenza di queste Madames come le chiamava, perfino nella residenza della famiglia alla Vallée aux Loups, nelle Memorie di queste donne non si fa alcun cenno).
Del resto ogni autobiografia lavora di taglio e di cesello, non ci si aspetta la Verità, ma la sua rilettura, l'autoritratto che l'autore regala al mondo e le vicende autobiografiche qui sono anche le meno interessanti, per nostra fortuna le pagine di pompa autocelebrativa sono abbastanza limitate come numero, il resto è una delizia di affresco storico della Francia tra due secoli e due mondi. Chateaubriand ebbe la fortuna di vivere in anni ricchi di cambiamenti ed il meglio di sé, a mio avviso, lo dà come memorialista descrivendo gli eventi storici e i suoi personaggi (La Rivoluzione Francese, Vita di Napoleone) e poi l 'infanzia e la giovinezza, i suoi viaggi, il suo esilio a Londra – esilio politico a seguito della Rivlouzione Francese, come sostenitore della monarchia – . Nella descrizione dell'amatissima Bretagna e dei suio boschi di Comburg si scorge chiarissimo il Romaticismo di cui in Francia fu l'iniziatore, lasciando la residenza della Vallée aux Loups, che dovette vendere per dissesti economici, amatissimo luogo dove aveva piantato personalmente ogni albero, ogni pianta, romanticamente, mestamente sospirava quale Adamo esiliato dal suo Paradiso “Tutti i miei giorni sono degli addii”.
Tra le pagine migliori io annovero anche il viaggio in America, il ritorno e il naufragio, le peripezie come soldato realista in lotta contro le forze rivoluzionarie, la caduta in una vita piena di stenti a Londra, (con gran parte della famiglia uccisa o incarcerata durante la Rivoluzione) e a seguire la risalita ai vertici della società dopo il ritorno dell'Impero e della monarchia Borbonica, traversie che ne fanno l'emblema del vero eroe romantico, di cui ha tutto l'ardore del pensiero e dell'azione.
Memorabili le sue invettive contro Napoleone, dopo l'assassinio del duca d'Enghien, Chateaubriand fu un oppositore feroce e palese dell'imperatore, non si fece intimorire dalla possibilità che Napoleone lo facesse “far fuori a sciabolate sulle scale delle Tuileries”, come gli aveva preannunciato, né fece sconti dopo la caduta, la morte e l'esilio dell'amato/odiato corso (più odiato, in verità). Chateaubriand non perde occasione per dire quanto Napoleone fosse poca cosa dal punto di vista umano – egoista, maniaco, arrogante oltre misura, privo di gratitudine e feroce, ambiziosissimo e senza pietà – e politico, ma ne riconosce la grandezza militare, almeno fino alla campagnia di Russia. La cosa che io trovo ammirevole è che glielo dicesse in faccia o in pubblico, senza sconti né mezze misure, già per questo Chateaubriand mi sta simpatico, tra i suoi difetti non si può certo annoverare l'ipocrisia o il calcolo opportunista. Né opportunista e né ipocrita e come mostra il suo atteggiamento quando, a seguito della Rivoluzione del 1830, ci fu un ribaltamento nella successione al trono di Francia, nemmeno voltagabbana: si schierò sempre con la legittimità Borbonica contro il ramo cadetto “usurpatore” degli Orleans, malgardo le lusinghe e i prospettati favori.
Le Memorie dovevano essere pubblicate dopo la morte dell'autore, in realtà già nel 1836 ne cedette i diritti all'editore, con questi soldi Chauteaubraind, di nuovo la fortuna economica gli aveva voltato le spalle, visse dignitosamente per altri 12 anni. E' seppellito davanti al mare a Saint-Malo, nella sua Bretagna. Luogo non sarebbe stato più adatto a lui che del mare e della Bretagna ha fatto i protagonisti di alcune delle più belle pagine delle sue Memorie.
April 9, 2020
Un tombeur de femmes notoire, Chateaubriand a choisi de publier ces mémoires à titre posthume afin d’éviter des défis aux duels. Le lecteur y trouve bien des belles descriptions d’amour; seulement sa femme l’a déçu. Néanmoins ce livre est surtout un chronique de malheurs :
« Trois catastrophes ont marqué les trois parties précédentes de ma vie : j’ai vu mourir Louis XVI pendant ma carrière de voyageur et de soldat; au bout de ma carrière littéraire, Bonaparte a disparu; Charles X en tombant, a fermé ma carrière politique. »
La seule déception pour le lecteur est la quatrième et ultime partie où Chateaubriand raconte l’histoire de ses flatteries interminables effectués auprès du roi Charles X en exil à Prague dans de but de l’influer. Ses efforts étaient en vaines parce que Charles X le détestait de longue date comme Madame la duchesse d’Orleans, (femme du Roi Louis-Philippe) lui a bien expliqué : « Madame la duchesse d’Orléans eut la bonté de me rappeler ce qu’elle nommait ma puissance sur l’opinion, les sacrifices que j’avais faits, l’aversion que Charles X et sa famille m’avaient toujours montrée malgré mes services. »
Il faut reconnaitre que Chateaubriand détestait le roi Charles X autant que Charles X. Pourtant, Chateaubriand était un homme de principe. Il préférait essayer de s’immiscer dans les grâces d’un roi légitime en exil que faire une belle carrière sous un roi illégitime en pouvoir.
La première partie du livre qui raconte son enfance et ses débuts dans le service militaire fait penser aux mémoires de Rousseau. Notamment il y a un choc d’une tentative de suicide : « Me voici arrivé à un moment où j’ai besoin de quelque force pour confesser ma faiblesse. L’homme qui attente à ses jours montre moins la vigueur de son âme que la défaillance de sa nature. Je possédais un fusil de chasse dont la détente usée partait souvent au repos. Je chargeai ce fusil de trois balles, … J’armai le fusil, introduisis le bout de canon dans ma bouche, je frappai la crosse contre terre; je réitérai plusieurs fois l’épreuve; le coup ne partit pas; l’apparition d’un garde suspendit ma résolution. Fataliste sans le vouloir et sans le savoir je supposai que mon heure n’était pas arrivée et je remis à un autre jour l’exécution de mon projet. »
Après la première partie, le ton Rousseauesque disparait. Dans les trois dernières parties Chateaubriand défend ses actes en tant que politicien, auteur et amant d’une manière conventionnelle. Cependant, son style est superbe et ses anecdotes sont tout à fait remarquables. Mon favori est le passage où comme ambassadeur Français auprès du Vatican, il décide sans consulter le roi Charles X de poser le véto français à la candidature du Cardinal Albani dans le conclave qui irait choisir Francesco Castiglioni (Pius VIII comme pape.
« Cette lettre d’exclusion, confiée à un cardinal par un ambassadeur qui n’y est pas autorisé formellement est une témérité en diplomatie : il y a de quoi faire frémir tous les hommes d’État, »
Dans un autre passage remarquable, Chateaubriand décrit sa fureur quand Charles X décide de céder son trône à son cousin Louis-Phillipe plutôt que de déclencher une guerre civile.
« Un peuple s’est souvent retrempé et régénéré dans les discordes intestines. Il n’a jamais péri par une guerre civile, il a souvent disparu dans des guerres étrangères. »
Les mémoires ont aussi des passages croustillants où il invective la Fayette le grand champion de la liberté et de la monarchie constitutionnelle.
« Dans le Nouveau Monde, M. de la Fayette a contribué à la formation d’une société nouvelle; dans le monde ancien, à la destruction d’une vieille société : la liberté invoquée à Washington, l’anarchie à Paris. »
Les Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe sont très longues et il y a beaucoup de passages ennuyants. Néanmoins, elles m’ont fourni un divertissement superbe pour la période de confinement Covid-19.
December 5, 2017
The first half was INCREDIBLE.
Second half was really good too, focuses on Napoleon a lot, almost a mini biography of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Francois Chateaubriand was a cool guy. I like him. We would have been friends. We have a similar haircut.
Second half was really good too, focuses on Napoleon a lot, almost a mini biography of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Francois Chateaubriand was a cool guy. I like him. We would have been friends. We have a similar haircut.
February 11, 2021
Typical the work of a man with a large 'ego', looking for justification; more than any other this book has strong Romantic traits. Chateaubriand is a liberal in his principles (freedom is central), but clearly conservative in politics (his option for monarchism); perhaps that explains his marginal relevance as a historical person. But this certainly is a remarkable historical document, presenting an enchanting introspection into a turbulent mind. The most interesting pages treat about Napoleon, the passages on his own public actions are less captivating. And oh, I almost forgot: what a succinct, eloquent French he wrote!
July 6, 2020
Wenn man heute an Chateaubriand denkt, so denkt man in erster Linie an ein Stück Rinderfilet. Vor 200 Jahren war das Anders. Chateaubriand zählte neben Byron, Scott und Goethe zu den meistgelesenen Autoren des ausgehenden 18. und frühen 19. Jahrhunderts, bevor er die Literatur aufgab und zum Diplomaten wurde. Aus dieser Warte kann er eine Vielzahl von interessanten Einblicken in das Exilleben nach der Revolution und die Regierung der Restauration geben. Das meiste an Hofintrige ist aber aus heutiger Sicht nicht mehr wirklich interessant, da sich Chateaubriand vor allen Dingen für dynastische Fragen interessiert und spätestens ab Louis-Phillippe völlig im Abseits steht.
Diese Autobiographie zeichnet sich durch einen vorzüglichen Stil aus, Ihr Inhalt kann heute kaum noch jemanden hinter dem Ofen hervorlocken. Die Übersetzung ist vorzüglich. Die Ausgabe ist es leider nicht. Mich haben die beiden misanthropischen Nachworte - die Herausgeberinnen können wenig mit dem Autor anfangen und sind vor allen Dingen bemüht, Chateaubriand Tatsachenfälschungen nachzuweisen - gestört und ich vermisse ca. 100 Seiten an Fußnoten, da man wirklich viel Nachschlagen muß und die Fußnoten sich oft auf Zitatnachweise beschränken und man alle historischen Hintergründe anderenorts nachschlagen muß.
Diese Autobiographie zeichnet sich durch einen vorzüglichen Stil aus, Ihr Inhalt kann heute kaum noch jemanden hinter dem Ofen hervorlocken. Die Übersetzung ist vorzüglich. Die Ausgabe ist es leider nicht. Mich haben die beiden misanthropischen Nachworte - die Herausgeberinnen können wenig mit dem Autor anfangen und sind vor allen Dingen bemüht, Chateaubriand Tatsachenfälschungen nachzuweisen - gestört und ich vermisse ca. 100 Seiten an Fußnoten, da man wirklich viel Nachschlagen muß und die Fußnoten sich oft auf Zitatnachweise beschränken und man alle historischen Hintergründe anderenorts nachschlagen muß.
November 11, 2020
Antes de abandonar Saint-Denis fui recibido por el rey y tuve con él la siguiente conversación.
—¡Bien! —me dijo Luis XVIII, iniciando el diálogo con esta exclamación.
—Bien, Sire, ¿aceptáis al duque de Otranto?
—No ha habido más remedio: desde mi hermano hasta el bailío de Crussol [y éste no era sospechoso], todos decían que no podíamos hacer otra cosa: ¿qué piensa usted?
—Sire, la cosa está hecha: pido permiso a Vuestra Majestad para no pronunciarme.
—No, no, diga: ya sabe lo mucho que me he resistido desde Gante.
—Sire, yo no hago sino obedecer vuestras órdenes; disculpad mi franqueza: creo que la monarquía está acabada.
El rey guardó silencio; yo comenzaba a temblar por mi osadía, cuando Su Majestad prosiguió:
—Pues bien, monsieur de Chateaubriand, soy de su misma opinión.
Memorias de ultratumba; François-René de Chateaubriand
Traducción de José Ramón Monreal para Acantilado.
La verdad es que hay mucho, mucho Chauteaubriand en sus memorias... demasiado a veces. Lo que más he disfrutado es la contraposición de lo que cuenta sobre Napoleón, sin duda los mejores pasajes de las Memorias, con lo que cuenta Tolstoi en Guerra y paz.
Cada vez estoy más alejado de la realidad, más decimonónico en mis gustos, más viejo.
Shelved as 'wish-list'
August 3, 2016"I want to be Chateaubriand, or nothing"
- Victor Hugo
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-...
To hunt down...
August 1, 2023
As I write these last words, on 16 November 1841, my window, which looks west over the gardens of the Foreign Missions, is open: it is six o'clock in the morning: I can see the pale and swollen moon; it is sinking over the spire of the Invalides scarcely touched by the first golden ray from the east: one might imagine that the old world was ending and the new beginning. I behold the light of a dawn whose sunrise I shall never see. It only remains for me to sit down at the edge of my grave: then I shall descend boldly, crucifix in hand, into eternity.
This is an excellent memoir, but it is also much more than a mere retelling of one man’s life. François-René de Chateaubriand is witness to a world in the midst of change. He observes as France goes from an old monarchy to constitutional, after the Republic follows Napoleon and finally a return to monarchy again. Melancholic musings on his childhood and youth convey the slow but sure decay of old rites and customs—ultimately finding its climax in the violence of the French Revolution. Tragedy is on every page, as his family members and acquaintances are sent to the guillotine, or when his sister and childhood companion dies. There is a sombre beauty in the manner in which he dualizes some events of the past, showing them as they appeared to him at the time but equipped with future knowledge. The smile of Marie-Antoinette is paired with the memory of him identifying her jaw-bone in a mass grave.
The memoir stands as a witness to history and a witness to a dying world and it catches a glimpse of what new order is to come. It is also a portrait of personal tragedy, of the melancholy of one man and his attempts to grasp life at its core. The writing is hauntingly beautiful at times, with Romantic renderings of nature and a tender understanding of the human soul.
This is an excellent memoir, but it is also much more than a mere retelling of one man’s life. François-René de Chateaubriand is witness to a world in the midst of change. He observes as France goes from an old monarchy to constitutional, after the Republic follows Napoleon and finally a return to monarchy again. Melancholic musings on his childhood and youth convey the slow but sure decay of old rites and customs—ultimately finding its climax in the violence of the French Revolution. Tragedy is on every page, as his family members and acquaintances are sent to the guillotine, or when his sister and childhood companion dies. There is a sombre beauty in the manner in which he dualizes some events of the past, showing them as they appeared to him at the time but equipped with future knowledge. The smile of Marie-Antoinette is paired with the memory of him identifying her jaw-bone in a mass grave.
The memoir stands as a witness to history and a witness to a dying world and it catches a glimpse of what new order is to come. It is also a portrait of personal tragedy, of the melancholy of one man and his attempts to grasp life at its core. The writing is hauntingly beautiful at times, with Romantic renderings of nature and a tender understanding of the human soul.
August 27, 2015
For an understanding of the romantic temperament that shaped so much mid-19th century European literature, art and music, Chateaubriand's "Memoirs from beyond the Tomb" is a good place to start. The title itself envisions a writer, now nothing more than dust, speaking from beyond the grave--a reminder to us, I suppose, of where we will soon enough be (in case we need a reminder!). A common enough perspective, I suppose, but the living author who has become a dead author, in this case Chateaubriand, repeatedly contemplates his future death as preferable to his melancholy, unhappy life. In his construction of things, despite all the good moments--he loved food, took as a lover Madame Récamier, a woman of stunning beauty (see the Francois Gerard portrait), spent time in positions of political importance in London and Rome, traveled to the United States where he claims to have met George Washington, became famous as a writer during his lifetime, etc.--he insists his life was exceedingly bleak. No number of good moments, it seems compensates for the general melancholy of mortality, at least in the eyes of the genuine romantic. This all might seem quite passé, but it remains instructive for those of us who want to understand the past--for some of us not just the 19th century but an earlier time in our own lives when we might, alas, have cherished just such ideas. But this book is much more than just a monument to the Romantic Movement. Chateaubriand, born only twenty days after Napoleon and seeing himself as somehow linked to the complex conqueror, writes of the march to Moscow and back, as well as many other Napoleonic adventures, with great shrewdness and real ambivalence. His account becomes a rich history of his own age; a history told from the perspective of a royalist with, I am sure he would insist, genuine democratic tendencies. A rewarding, important, and at times beautifully written book.
August 24, 2017
simply loved this. One of those books that you internalise and stays with you. His childhood! His forbidding father pacing the room from the fire to the end plunged in darkness, in silence! Those encounters with Napoleon. That occasion when the Napoleonic army crosses the river into Russia and he hears music, like in Antony and Cleopatra, the god of war whom he loved now leaving him. Heaven.
Want to read
June 22, 2018Whoops, turns out I don’t know French. But someday I might. I’m keeping this little book around for that day.
November 28, 2019
In realtà non è questa l'edizione che ho trovato in biblioteca, ma su Goodreads è troppo lungo far passare l'elenco di tutte le edizioni in tutte le lingue del mondo (preferivo Anobii in questo: se volevi vedere le edizioni in una lingua, te le estraeva).
La mia è una selezione dei passi tradotti e valutati più interessanti da Vitaliano Brancati, ed essendo del 1942-45 circa soffre di una certa polverosità.
Prima o poi, sono certa, mi capiterà in mano qualcosa di più recente, magari addirittura un'edizione integrale in francese, ma ora come ora - considerando che Brancati si vanta di aver sfrondato le memorie del loro lato più autocelebrativo, lagnoso e narcisista lasciando solo le parti più descrittive di personaggi e caratteri, mi posso accontentare di questo assaggio.
Autocelebrativo, alla sua maniera, Chateaubriand lo è di sicuro: e tuttavia lo si sente sincero quando sabota la sua carriera perché troppo pigro, introverso, timido e orgoglioso di fronte ai potenti; per cui non stupisce neanche un po' che rifiuti una carica diplomatica importante offerta da Napoleone perché gli fa orrore che questi abbia appena fatto assassinare il duca di Enghien, e che dopo la caduta dell'imperatore ne rivaluti lo spessore politico e quasi anche umano, confrontato con certe miserie e limiti oggettivi di Luigi XVIII e della Restaurazione in genere, il tutto rimanendo sempre legittimista e realista.
Ma incantano, divertono, fanno sorridere le sue frasi sorvegliate, cesellate con amore di fabbro più che di scrittore, i suoi ritratti fulminanti di regine, nobili, papi, e soprattutto quell'atmosfera da dopo il diluvio che è proprio il sapore unico di questo libro: il libro di un Noè privilegiato che, nobile di provincia, per caso, per calcolo e per poca ambizione scampa alla ghigliottina e vede tutto intorno a lui crollare, persone vive fino a ieri decapitate domani.
Torna dagli Usa nel 1789, vede i giacobini, i girondini, Mirabeau, la convenzione, Varenne, il Direttorio, il Consolato, l'Impero, tutte le guerre intraprese o subite dalla Francia; e poi la caduta del semidio, il ritorno di Talleyrand e compagni, i Cento Giorni, il congresso di Vienna...
Un uomo di straordinaria lucidità: che capisce le ragioni spirituali e spesso anche politiche (quelle economiche mai) della rivoluzione; un provinciale che vorrebbe rimanere ancorato alle sue idee, che sono quelle dell'ancien régime ma in realtà assistendo ai cambiamenti del popolo, della borghesia, della nobilità nelle loro varie componenti, passando da benestante a povero in canna, tornando in auge, e poi in disgrazia un altro paio di volte, non senza qualche successo letterario prima e diplomatico poi, non può fare a meno di cambiare anche lui, di disgustarsi della Reazione senza per questo convincersi mai della bontà della democrazia, che non gli era dispiaciuta in America ma non trovava adatta al suo Paese.
La mia è una selezione dei passi tradotti e valutati più interessanti da Vitaliano Brancati, ed essendo del 1942-45 circa soffre di una certa polverosità.
Prima o poi, sono certa, mi capiterà in mano qualcosa di più recente, magari addirittura un'edizione integrale in francese, ma ora come ora - considerando che Brancati si vanta di aver sfrondato le memorie del loro lato più autocelebrativo, lagnoso e narcisista lasciando solo le parti più descrittive di personaggi e caratteri, mi posso accontentare di questo assaggio.
Autocelebrativo, alla sua maniera, Chateaubriand lo è di sicuro: e tuttavia lo si sente sincero quando sabota la sua carriera perché troppo pigro, introverso, timido e orgoglioso di fronte ai potenti; per cui non stupisce neanche un po' che rifiuti una carica diplomatica importante offerta da Napoleone perché gli fa orrore che questi abbia appena fatto assassinare il duca di Enghien, e che dopo la caduta dell'imperatore ne rivaluti lo spessore politico e quasi anche umano, confrontato con certe miserie e limiti oggettivi di Luigi XVIII e della Restaurazione in genere, il tutto rimanendo sempre legittimista e realista.
Ma incantano, divertono, fanno sorridere le sue frasi sorvegliate, cesellate con amore di fabbro più che di scrittore, i suoi ritratti fulminanti di regine, nobili, papi, e soprattutto quell'atmosfera da dopo il diluvio che è proprio il sapore unico di questo libro: il libro di un Noè privilegiato che, nobile di provincia, per caso, per calcolo e per poca ambizione scampa alla ghigliottina e vede tutto intorno a lui crollare, persone vive fino a ieri decapitate domani.
Torna dagli Usa nel 1789, vede i giacobini, i girondini, Mirabeau, la convenzione, Varenne, il Direttorio, il Consolato, l'Impero, tutte le guerre intraprese o subite dalla Francia; e poi la caduta del semidio, il ritorno di Talleyrand e compagni, i Cento Giorni, il congresso di Vienna...
Un uomo di straordinaria lucidità: che capisce le ragioni spirituali e spesso anche politiche (quelle economiche mai) della rivoluzione; un provinciale che vorrebbe rimanere ancorato alle sue idee, che sono quelle dell'ancien régime ma in realtà assistendo ai cambiamenti del popolo, della borghesia, della nobilità nelle loro varie componenti, passando da benestante a povero in canna, tornando in auge, e poi in disgrazia un altro paio di volte, non senza qualche successo letterario prima e diplomatico poi, non può fare a meno di cambiare anche lui, di disgustarsi della Reazione senza per questo convincersi mai della bontà della democrazia, che non gli era dispiaciuta in America ma non trovava adatta al suo Paese.
January 18, 2018
J'avais choisi de découvrir ce monument de la littérature française en version abrégée, parce que l’œuvre m'intimidait beaucoup (et je ne dois pas être la seule ^^).
Mais au final je me suis fait avoir, car ce que j'ai lu m'a tellement plu que je n'ai qu'une envie : m'attaquer à la version intégrale !!!
Ne passez pas à côté de ce chef d’œuvre, quitte à tremper vos pieds dans le petit bain pour commencer, grâce à cette très bonne édition abrégée...
Mais au final je me suis fait avoir, car ce que j'ai lu m'a tellement plu que je n'ai qu'une envie : m'attaquer à la version intégrale !!!
Ne passez pas à côté de ce chef d’œuvre, quitte à tremper vos pieds dans le petit bain pour commencer, grâce à cette très bonne édition abrégée...
January 7, 2019
Memórias de vida do grande autor e político francês René dê Chateaubriand. Homem de gênio que viveu um dos períodos mais conturbados e decisivos da história humana entre a Revolução Francesa, a ascensão de Napoleão e o período das restaurações monárquicas.
O que mais me aproximou do autor foram as suas descrições do belo, de seus amores platônicos, sua apreciação crítica sobre as certas imposturas e intolerâncias dos radicais da Revolução Francesa, bem como suas previsões muito certas sobre o futuro (perigos da pasteurização das civilizações feita pela globalização por exemplo). Livro que narra grandes fatos, sem ser datado, pois fala sobre temas intrínsecos à natureza humana.
O que mais me aproximou do autor foram as suas descrições do belo, de seus amores platônicos, sua apreciação crítica sobre as certas imposturas e intolerâncias dos radicais da Revolução Francesa, bem como suas previsões muito certas sobre o futuro (perigos da pasteurização das civilizações feita pela globalização por exemplo). Livro que narra grandes fatos, sem ser datado, pois fala sobre temas intrínsecos à natureza humana.
July 23, 2021
An absorbing memoir of a man who led a most intriguing life. Moving from his early childhood through the various phases of his life, this autobiography reveals many of his personal characteristics and aspirations during a very interesting period of French history.
November 30, 2022
Such a great book!!
July 9, 2016
Chateaubriand leefde van 1768 tot 1848 en maakte dus én de hele Franse revolutie én de opkomst en ondergang van Napoleon én een flink deel van de restauratie mee. Omdat hij zelf ook flink betrokken was, hij was o.a. minister en ambassadeur, heeft hij deze gebeurtenissen van dichtbij mogen meemaken. En dan is hij ook nog op bezoek geweest in de dan nog kersverse staat Amerika. Het zijn dan ook deze verslagen uit de eerste hand die deze memoires zo boeiend maken, met de hoofdstukken over Napoleon als hoogtepunt. Chateaubriand is een scherp observator, heeft de vrijheid hoog in het vaandel staan en een grote afkeer van geweld. Daarnaast is hij een onmiskenbare romanticus en zijn stijl is doordrenkt van verzuchtingen, sublieme beschrijvingen van natuur en oudheden en vooral een sterk besef van de kortheid en zinloosheid van het bestaan. Zo zijn ook de passages waarin hij niet over politiek schrijft erg genietbaar en soms nog verrassend actueel. Leuk ook is dat Chateaubriand het schrijfproces zelf ook beschrijft - zo zien we hem bijna letterlijk de pen ter hand nemen.
Het is jammer dat deze Nederlandse uitgave slechts een uitreksel is - flinke passages en soms complete hoofdstukken worden overgeslagen, wat Chateaubriand's memoires soms een onbedoeld fragmentarisch karakter geeft. Toegegeven, niet alles is interessant en na Napoleons val zakt het boek wat in, maar deze schrijver, met gemak een van de groten van zijn tijd, verdient uiteindelijk meer.
Het is jammer dat deze Nederlandse uitgave slechts een uitreksel is - flinke passages en soms complete hoofdstukken worden overgeslagen, wat Chateaubriand's memoires soms een onbedoeld fragmentarisch karakter geeft. Toegegeven, niet alles is interessant en na Napoleons val zakt het boek wat in, maar deze schrijver, met gemak een van de groten van zijn tijd, verdient uiteindelijk meer.
February 17, 2015
A very smart man with a sharp quill. Probably one of my first literary love. I fancied the man who'd written such things, lived such a life. Damn he's got some ego, but mostly well deserved.
His memoirs are an amazing glimpse in the life and politics of some of the richest and most turbulent decades of french history.
His memoirs are an amazing glimpse in the life and politics of some of the richest and most turbulent decades of french history.
June 6, 2009
I felt like I belonged in the Tombe after reading this ponderous book.
January 28, 2013
Literally "Memoirs from Beyond the Grave" is an autobiography in 42 volumes. The version I read had volumes 9-12, covering life and travels from April to September 1822, revised in December 1846.
May 17, 2015
over rated. poor little rich kid grows up , flees france to save his head from the revolution. very self absorbed ponce.
March 7, 2018
Chateaubriand racontant sa naissance :
"Je n'avais vécu que quelques heures, et la pesanteur du temps était déjà marquée sur mon front. Que me laissait-on mourir ?"
il avait tout compris
"Je n'avais vécu que quelques heures, et la pesanteur du temps était déjà marquée sur mon front. Que me laissait-on mourir ?"
il avait tout compris
April 13, 2021
I was handicapped by lack of knowledge of French history, but I found the sections about Napoleon amazing.
November 1, 2022
The more I read books like this, the more I find that I enjoy them. The Education of Henry Adams, Confessions of an Italian (Ippolito Nievo), Remembrance of Things Past (Marcel Proust) and Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb to me are of the same family. Also his view of Napoleon and the misery he caused which is decidedly not the same as the monuments and street names all over Paris commemorating Napoleon.
True happiness is not expensive; if it costs dear, then it is of an inferior nature. pg. 34
Mathematics, Greek, and Latin occupied the whole of my winter at school. What time was not devoted to study was given up to those childhood games which are the same all over the world. The little English boy, the little German, the little Italian, the little Spaniard, the little Iroquois, and the little Bedouin all bowl the hoop and throw the ball. Brothers of one great family, children lose their common features only when they lose their innocence, which is the same everywhere. Then the passions, modified by climates, governments, and customs, create different nations; the human species ceases to speak, and understand the same language; society is the real Tower of Babel. pgs. 42-43
The man who tries to take his own life shows not so much the vigour of his soul as the feebleness of his nature. pg. 69
I shall never achieve success in this life, precisely because I lack one passion and one vice: ambition and hypocrisy. pg. 71
How rapidly and how often we change our illusions and our way of life! Friends leave us, others take their place; our relationships alter: there is always a time when we possessed nothing of what we now possess, and a time when we have nothing of what we once had. Man does not have a single, consistent life: he has several laid end to end, and that is his misfortune. pg. 72
Then, like Adam after his sin, I went forth into unknown country, and the world was all before me. pg. 73
[i]t is not man that stops time, it is time that stops man. pg. 76
There is a melancholy pleasure in meeting people we have known at different periods of our life and in considering the changes which have occurred in their existence and ours. Like markers left behind us, they trace the way we have come through the desert of the past. pg. 82
One has seen nothing if one has never seen the pomp of Versailles ... pg. 88
Louis XVI could have answered his judges as Christ answered the Jews: 'Many good works I have shown you; for which of those works do you stone me?' pg. 89
When, before the Revolution, I read the history of public disturbances among various nations, I could not understand how it was possible to live in those times; ....The Revolution made me understand the possibility of living in such conditions. pgs. 106-107
I cannot depict the society of 1789 and 1790 better than by comparing it with the architecture of the time of Louis XII and François I, when the Greek orders began to be combined with Gothic style.... pg. 107
Philadelphia offers a monotonous appearance. In general, what is missing from the Protestant cities of of the United States is great work of architecture: the Reformation, young in years, and sacrificing nothing to the imagination, ha rarely erected those domes, those airy naves, those twin towers with which the old Catholic religion ha crowned Europe. Not a ingle monument in Philadelphia, New York, or Boston soars above the mass of walls and roofs: the eye is saddened by this uniform level. pg. 131
At the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, the same mob from the Faubourg Saint-Antoine demolished the Protestant church at Charenton with just as much zeal as when it laid waste the church of Saint-Denis in 1793. pg. 133
A notable example of the concatenation of human affairs: a finance Bill passed by the English Parliament in 1765 creates a new empire on this earth in 1782, and causes one of the oldest kingdoms of Europe to disappear from the world in 1789! pg. 137
The earth is a charming mother; we come forth from her womb; in childhood, she hold us to her breasts, which are swollen with milk and honey; in youth and manhood, she lavishes upon us her cool waters, her harvests, and her fruits; she offers us, wherever we may go, shade, a bath, a table, and a bed; when we die, she opens her bosom to us again and throws a coverlet of grass and flowers over our remains while she secretly transforms us into her own substance to be reproduced in some new and graceful shape. pg. 150
Fortune and I took a dislike to each other at first sight. pg. 156
..for the death of our friends is not to be reckoned from the moment when they die, but from that when we cease to live with them. pgs. 179-180
Cicero was right to recommend reading as an antidote to the sorrows of existence. pg. 186
Mme. de Beaumont passed along the road which all of us have to take. pg. 216
...when all tremble before the tyrant, and it is as dangerous to incur his favour a to merit his displeasure, the historian appears, entrusted with the vengeance of the nations. Nero prospers in vain, for Tacitus has already been born within the Empire; pgs. 220-221
Let us be gentle if we would be regretted; great genius and superior qualities are mourned only by the angels. pg. 227
Posterity is not as fair in its judgments as is usually maintained; there are passions, infatuations, and errors born of distance just as there are passions and errors born of proximity. When posterity admires unreservedly, it is shocked that the contemporaries of that man it admires should not have had the same opinion of that man as itself. This is easy to explain, however: the things which caused offence in that person are past; his infirmities have died with him; all that remains of him is his imperishable life; but the evil which he caused is nonetheless real for all that; evil in itself and its essence, and evil above all for those who endured it. pg. 267
The Allies did not defeat us: we ourselves, choosing between two scourges, gave up shedding our blood, which had ceased to flow for our freedom. pg. 268
Do two perjuries add up to loyalty? pg. 281
An Irish Protestant, a British general with no understanding of our history or our way life, a man who saw nothing in the French year of 1793 but the English antecedent of 1649, was given the task of deciding our fate! Bonaparte's ambition had brought us to this sorry pass. pg. 288
I refuse to behave like a simpleton and fall into a fit of admiration. pg. 303 (about Napoleon)
Posterity will not ask .... whether Napoleon was justly punished for his crimes, but whether England showed the generosity befitting a great country. pg. 311
At the present time, everything disintegrates in a day; whoever lives too long dies alive. pg. 312
Man is as much deceived by the success of wishes as by their disappointment. pg. 327
When a man looks at or listens to his past life, he seems to see on a deserted sea the wake of a vessel that has vanished; he seems to hear the tolling of a bell whose old tower is lost from sight. pg. 327
We do not like a man to despise what we worship, and to think himself entitled to insult the mediocrity of our life. pg. 329
Prosperity does not recognize her sister Adversity. Thus do illusions, shattered for one, begin again for another; thus do the fickle destinies of human life pass each other on the windswept waves: happy or baleful, the same abyss carries them and engulfs them. pgs. 341-342
Death takes no account of what we may have been. pg. 343
The talent which expires impresses one more than the individual who dies: it is a general grief that afflict society; everyone suffer the same loss at the same time. pg. 345
When a man has been reunited with his destiny, he imagines that he has never left it; life, according to Pythagoras, is nothing but a reminiscence. pg. 346
Death seems to have been born in Rome. pg. 353
I was expected to sacrifice myself on the spot to Liberalism, to the doctrine which had constantly attacked me; I was expected to run the risk of shaking the legitimate throne in order to win the praises of a few cowardly enemies who had not the whole-hearted courage to starve, pg. 358
This is the way in which the English, who live a sheltered life on their island, take revolution to other nations; you find them in the four corners of the world mixed up in quarrels which are no concern of their: provided they can sell a piece of calico, what do they care if thy plunge a nation into calamity? What right had this Mr. Folks to shoot at French soldiers? Was it the British Constitution that Charles X had violated? pg. 360
True happiness is not expensive; if it costs dear, then it is of an inferior nature. pg. 34
Mathematics, Greek, and Latin occupied the whole of my winter at school. What time was not devoted to study was given up to those childhood games which are the same all over the world. The little English boy, the little German, the little Italian, the little Spaniard, the little Iroquois, and the little Bedouin all bowl the hoop and throw the ball. Brothers of one great family, children lose their common features only when they lose their innocence, which is the same everywhere. Then the passions, modified by climates, governments, and customs, create different nations; the human species ceases to speak, and understand the same language; society is the real Tower of Babel. pgs. 42-43
The man who tries to take his own life shows not so much the vigour of his soul as the feebleness of his nature. pg. 69
I shall never achieve success in this life, precisely because I lack one passion and one vice: ambition and hypocrisy. pg. 71
How rapidly and how often we change our illusions and our way of life! Friends leave us, others take their place; our relationships alter: there is always a time when we possessed nothing of what we now possess, and a time when we have nothing of what we once had. Man does not have a single, consistent life: he has several laid end to end, and that is his misfortune. pg. 72
Then, like Adam after his sin, I went forth into unknown country, and the world was all before me. pg. 73
[i]t is not man that stops time, it is time that stops man. pg. 76
There is a melancholy pleasure in meeting people we have known at different periods of our life and in considering the changes which have occurred in their existence and ours. Like markers left behind us, they trace the way we have come through the desert of the past. pg. 82
One has seen nothing if one has never seen the pomp of Versailles ... pg. 88
Louis XVI could have answered his judges as Christ answered the Jews: 'Many good works I have shown you; for which of those works do you stone me?' pg. 89
When, before the Revolution, I read the history of public disturbances among various nations, I could not understand how it was possible to live in those times; ....The Revolution made me understand the possibility of living in such conditions. pgs. 106-107
I cannot depict the society of 1789 and 1790 better than by comparing it with the architecture of the time of Louis XII and François I, when the Greek orders began to be combined with Gothic style.... pg. 107
Philadelphia offers a monotonous appearance. In general, what is missing from the Protestant cities of of the United States is great work of architecture: the Reformation, young in years, and sacrificing nothing to the imagination, ha rarely erected those domes, those airy naves, those twin towers with which the old Catholic religion ha crowned Europe. Not a ingle monument in Philadelphia, New York, or Boston soars above the mass of walls and roofs: the eye is saddened by this uniform level. pg. 131
At the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, the same mob from the Faubourg Saint-Antoine demolished the Protestant church at Charenton with just as much zeal as when it laid waste the church of Saint-Denis in 1793. pg. 133
A notable example of the concatenation of human affairs: a finance Bill passed by the English Parliament in 1765 creates a new empire on this earth in 1782, and causes one of the oldest kingdoms of Europe to disappear from the world in 1789! pg. 137
The earth is a charming mother; we come forth from her womb; in childhood, she hold us to her breasts, which are swollen with milk and honey; in youth and manhood, she lavishes upon us her cool waters, her harvests, and her fruits; she offers us, wherever we may go, shade, a bath, a table, and a bed; when we die, she opens her bosom to us again and throws a coverlet of grass and flowers over our remains while she secretly transforms us into her own substance to be reproduced in some new and graceful shape. pg. 150
Fortune and I took a dislike to each other at first sight. pg. 156
..for the death of our friends is not to be reckoned from the moment when they die, but from that when we cease to live with them. pgs. 179-180
Cicero was right to recommend reading as an antidote to the sorrows of existence. pg. 186
Mme. de Beaumont passed along the road which all of us have to take. pg. 216
...when all tremble before the tyrant, and it is as dangerous to incur his favour a to merit his displeasure, the historian appears, entrusted with the vengeance of the nations. Nero prospers in vain, for Tacitus has already been born within the Empire; pgs. 220-221
Let us be gentle if we would be regretted; great genius and superior qualities are mourned only by the angels. pg. 227
Posterity is not as fair in its judgments as is usually maintained; there are passions, infatuations, and errors born of distance just as there are passions and errors born of proximity. When posterity admires unreservedly, it is shocked that the contemporaries of that man it admires should not have had the same opinion of that man as itself. This is easy to explain, however: the things which caused offence in that person are past; his infirmities have died with him; all that remains of him is his imperishable life; but the evil which he caused is nonetheless real for all that; evil in itself and its essence, and evil above all for those who endured it. pg. 267
The Allies did not defeat us: we ourselves, choosing between two scourges, gave up shedding our blood, which had ceased to flow for our freedom. pg. 268
Do two perjuries add up to loyalty? pg. 281
An Irish Protestant, a British general with no understanding of our history or our way life, a man who saw nothing in the French year of 1793 but the English antecedent of 1649, was given the task of deciding our fate! Bonaparte's ambition had brought us to this sorry pass. pg. 288
I refuse to behave like a simpleton and fall into a fit of admiration. pg. 303 (about Napoleon)
Posterity will not ask .... whether Napoleon was justly punished for his crimes, but whether England showed the generosity befitting a great country. pg. 311
At the present time, everything disintegrates in a day; whoever lives too long dies alive. pg. 312
Man is as much deceived by the success of wishes as by their disappointment. pg. 327
When a man looks at or listens to his past life, he seems to see on a deserted sea the wake of a vessel that has vanished; he seems to hear the tolling of a bell whose old tower is lost from sight. pg. 327
We do not like a man to despise what we worship, and to think himself entitled to insult the mediocrity of our life. pg. 329
Prosperity does not recognize her sister Adversity. Thus do illusions, shattered for one, begin again for another; thus do the fickle destinies of human life pass each other on the windswept waves: happy or baleful, the same abyss carries them and engulfs them. pgs. 341-342
Death takes no account of what we may have been. pg. 343
The talent which expires impresses one more than the individual who dies: it is a general grief that afflict society; everyone suffer the same loss at the same time. pg. 345
When a man has been reunited with his destiny, he imagines that he has never left it; life, according to Pythagoras, is nothing but a reminiscence. pg. 346
Death seems to have been born in Rome. pg. 353
I was expected to sacrifice myself on the spot to Liberalism, to the doctrine which had constantly attacked me; I was expected to run the risk of shaking the legitimate throne in order to win the praises of a few cowardly enemies who had not the whole-hearted courage to starve, pg. 358
This is the way in which the English, who live a sheltered life on their island, take revolution to other nations; you find them in the four corners of the world mixed up in quarrels which are no concern of their: provided they can sell a piece of calico, what do they care if thy plunge a nation into calamity? What right had this Mr. Folks to shoot at French soldiers? Was it the British Constitution that Charles X had violated? pg. 360
March 11, 2022
Quizá la edición canónica sea la de Acantilado, que es íntegra y puede disfrutarse en todo su esplendor, pero está edición no está mal.
La selección está muy bien hecha y los recortes casi no se notan; lástima que los momentos descriptivos hayan sido los elegidos, pues en mi opinión son de lo mejor de Chateaubriand.
En todo caso la obra puede ser disfrutada.
Toda una personalidad enigmática la de este aristócrata, que resistió y se exilió en varias ocasiones. Católico, monárquico, culto, romántico, eterno viajero y superviviente, fue testigo de un tiempo revuelto, intenso, cruel y apasionante.
Su vida privada fue igual de fogosa, pero en las "Memorias de Ultratumba" Chateaubriand pasa por esos temas de puntillas, jajaja.
Muy interesantes las páginas en las que escribe de la epidemia del cólera; lo cambias por el Covid y casi no se aprecia diferencias. Y es que todas las pandemias se parecen mucho.
La selección está muy bien hecha y los recortes casi no se notan; lástima que los momentos descriptivos hayan sido los elegidos, pues en mi opinión son de lo mejor de Chateaubriand.
En todo caso la obra puede ser disfrutada.
Toda una personalidad enigmática la de este aristócrata, que resistió y se exilió en varias ocasiones. Católico, monárquico, culto, romántico, eterno viajero y superviviente, fue testigo de un tiempo revuelto, intenso, cruel y apasionante.
Su vida privada fue igual de fogosa, pero en las "Memorias de Ultratumba" Chateaubriand pasa por esos temas de puntillas, jajaja.
Muy interesantes las páginas en las que escribe de la epidemia del cólera; lo cambias por el Covid y casi no se aprecia diferencias. Y es que todas las pandemias se parecen mucho.
February 25, 2018
The man certainly knows how to tell a story - the premise being living through the birth of America, the French Revolution, Napoleon's rise and fall, and finally the last gasps of the monarchy in France. His presents himself as one weathering countless ideology & political storms, staying true to his own beliefs. It's a little funny to hear him talk so much about a love of liberty contra Napoleon just after he denounced the Terror (which spilt the blood of his family in the name of liberty). As a thinker he's not so interesting - just a standard reactionary who believes it is good to be well off and religious (and those less well off should grit their teeth and bear it).
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