Having obtained this economic stability, he completed the work with a fourth set of volumes. The project had by now become more ambitious indeed, he tried to reproduce not only his personal exploits, but the epic historical and political events of the era.Īfter fragmented public readings of his work in salons, in 1836 Chateaubriand yielded the rights to his work to a society that published it until his death, paying him accordingly. He divided his life before 1830 into three periods: soldier and traveler, novelist, and statesman. In 1830, however, Chateaubriand decided to change the scope of the work, revising the title to Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe, making a thorough revision of the original text, and writing several new volumes. At this point, he intended to entitle the book Memories of My Life. The first manuscript, probably written while he was serving as ambassador to London, did not reach completion until 1826. It was while in Rome at the close of 1803 that Chateaubriand decided to write his memoirs however, he did not begin writing them until 1809, and even then demands from other projects slowed his progress. 1810s) by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson. On the other hand, the melancholy of the autobiography helped establish Chateaubriand as the idol of the young French Romantics a young Victor Hugo wrote: 'I will be Chateaubriand or nothing.'Ĭhateaubriand Meditating on the Ruins of Rome ( c.

The work abounds in instances of the poetic prose at which Chateaubriand excelled. Chateaubriand, a writer, politician, diplomat and historian, remains widely regarded as the founder of French Romanticism.Īlthough the work shares characteristics with earlier French 'memoirs' (like the Memoirs of Saint-Simon), the Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe are also inspired by the Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau: in addition to providing a record of political and historical events, Chateaubriand includes details of his private life and his personal aspirations.

Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe (English: Memoirs from Beyond the Grave) is the memoir of François-René de Chateaubriand (1768–1848), collected and published posthumously in two volumes in 18, respectively.

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Memoirs from beyond the grave 1768 1800