René

Name: René
Author: François-René de Chateaubriand

With the Preface of 1805 and two reviews reprinted by the author

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René · p. 140

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French

p. 140

sur son cœur : le premier, par une indulgence aimable ; l’autre, au contraire, par une extrême sévérité. Depuis la chasse du castor, où le Sachem aveugle raconta ses aventures à René, celui-ci n’avoit jamais voulu parler des siennes. Cependant Chactas et le missionnaire désiroient vivement connoître par quel malheur un Européen bien né avoit été conduit à l’étrange résolution de s’ensevelir dans les déserts de la Louisiane. René avoit toujours donné pour motifs de ses refus, le peu d’intérêt de son histoire qui se bornoit, disoit-il, à celle de ses pensées et de ses sentiments. « Quant à l’événement qui m’a déterminé à passer en Amérique, ajoutoit-il, je le dois ensevelir dans un éternel oubli. »

Quelques années s’écoulèrent de la sorte, sans que les deux vieillards lui pussent arracher son secret. Une lettre qu’il reçut d’Europe, par le bureau des Missions étrangères, redoubla tellement sa tristesse, qu’il fuyoit jusqu’à ses vieux amis. Ils n’en furent que plus ardents à le presser de leur ouvrir son cœur ; ils y mirent tant de discrétion, de douceur et d’autorité, qu’il fut enfin obligé de les satisfaire. Il prit donc jour avec eux, pour leur raconter, non les aventures de sa vie, puisqu’il n’en avoit point éprouvé, mais les sentiments secrets de son âme.

a.Source editor’s annotation1802. une indulgence toute aimable, ‘an altogether kindly indulgence’.

b.Source editor’s annotation1802. avoit raconté, ‘had told’.

c.Source editor’s annotation1802. celui-ci, quoique souvent sollicité, n’avoit jamais…, ‘René, though often pressed, had never…’.

d.Source editor’s annotation1802. désiroient vivement savoir quel malheur avoit pu conduire un Européen bien né à l’étrange résolution…, ‘keenly wished to know what misfortune could have brought a well-born European to the strange resolve…’.

e.Source editor’s annotation1802. 1802 has only à celle de ses pensées, ‘to that of his thoughts’; et de ses sentiments is not in 1802.

f.Source editor’s annotation1802. Quelques années se passèrent de la sorte, sans que les vieillards pussent parvenir à lui arracher son secret. Enfin, une lettre…, ‘Some years passed in this way, without the old men’s managing to draw his secret from him. At last a letter…’.

g.Source editor’s annotation1802. forcé, ‘forced’.

René

Source p. 140

over his heart: the first by a kindly indulgence; the other, on the contrary, by an extreme severity. Since the beaver hunt, when the blind Sachem told René his adventures, René had never been willing to speak of his own. Yet Chactas and the missionary keenly wished to know by what misfortune a well-born European had been brought to the strange resolve of burying himself in the wildernesses of Louisiana. René had always given, as the reason for his refusals, how little of interest there was in his story, which was confined, he said, to that of his thoughts and feelings. “As for the event that decided me to cross to America,” he would add, “I must bury it in an eternal oblivion.”

Some years went by in this way without the two old men being able to draw his secret from him. A letter he received from Europe, through the office of the Foreign Missions, so redoubled his sadness that he fled even his old friends. They were only the more eager to press him to open his heart to them; they brought to it such discretion, such gentleness and such authority that at last he was obliged to satisfy them. He therefore fixed a day with them, to tell them, not the adventures of his life, for he had met with none, but the secret feelings of his soul.

a.Source editor’s annotation1802. une indulgence toute aimable, ‘an altogether kindly indulgence’.

1.The expedition told in the prologue to Atala (p. 26 of this volume): Chactas, though blind, led the hunt, and one moonlit night on the Ohio told René the story of his youth, which is Atala.

b.Source editor’s annotation1802. avoit raconté, ‘had told’.

c.Source editor’s annotation1802. celui-ci, quoique souvent sollicité, n’avoit jamais…, ‘René, though often pressed, had never…’.

2.désert in Chateaubriand is uninhabited land, not arid land: forest, prairie, river country. It is rendered ‘wilderness’ throughout.

e.Source editor’s annotation1802. 1802 has only à celle de ses pensées, ‘to that of his thoughts’; et de ses sentiments is not in 1802.

g.Source editor’s annotation1802. forcé, ‘forced’.

About This Reading Edition

Chateaubriand’s tale of René and Amélie, with the Preface of 1805, two contemporary reviews, and the longer readings of 1802. This French–English edition preserves the 1826 printed pages, with a new English translation, author’s notes, variant readings, introduction and glossary.

Historical Text and Translation

François-René de Chateaubriand, Œuvres complètes, tome XVI (Paris: Ladvocat, 1826), pp. 1–16, 137–192 and 351–358, University of Toronto Library copy. Earlier witness: Génie du Christianisme, tome II (Paris: Migneret, 1802), pp. 158–216, Bibliothèque nationale de France copy.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The historical French source is in the public domain in the United States. New English translation and editorial matter © 2026 Diotimos Editions. Chateaubriand’s author notes and historical variants remain separately attributed.