Synopses & Reviews
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 historyfrom 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 candorbecause it would be published only from beyond the tomb”makes it almost ridiculously enjoyable.
Synopsis
The most enjoyable, glamorous and gripping of all 19th-century autobiographies - a tumultuous account of France hit by wave after wave of revolutions
Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb is the greatest and most influential of all French autobiographies - an extraordinary, highly entertaining account of a uniquely adventurous and frenzied life. Chateaubriand gives a superb narrative of the major events of his life - which spanned the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Era and the uneasy period that led up to the Revolution of 1830.
About the Author
François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) was the most conspicuous figure in French literature during the First Empire and is credited as the founder of French Romanticism. Philip Mansel is the author of over a dozen books on French history and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Literature.