Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Several reasons have led me to apply myself to the study of Chateaubriand's life. The first was a great admiration for the writer, one of those who have exercised the most lasting and profound in fluence on French literature; the second the desire to compare a French romantic with the English romantics I had studied, and especially to find in Chateaubriand the original of which Byron was so often a copy; the third a keen interest in that strange existence which found itself bound up with the whole history of France throughout the most dramatic period of that history. The Old Order, the Revolution, the Empire, the Restoration, the July monarchy, Chateaubriand knew them all; he was banished by the Republic, a rival of the Emperor, a minister and afterwards an opponent of the King; he lived in England and in America. In his time he was traveller, soldier, novelist, ambassador, religious writer and political publicist; he was loved by the most beautiful and sphinx-like woman of her age. In all this there is so much material for a biography that it is surprising to find that Chateaubriand's has all things considered, been rarely written.
Synopsis
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.