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. 141

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p. 141

Le 21 de ce mois que les sauvages appellent la lune des fleurs, René se rendit à la cabane de Chactas. Il donna le bras au Sachem, et le conduisit sous un sassafras, au bord du Meschacebé. Le père Souël ne tarda pas à arriver au rendez-vous. L’aurore se levoit : à quelque distance dans la plaine, on apercevoit le village des Natchez, avec son bocage de mûriers, et ses cabanes qui ressemblent à des ruches d’abeilles. La colonie françoise et le fort Rosalie se montroient sur la droite, au bord du fleuve. Des tentes, des maisons à moitié bâties, des forteresses commencées, des défrichements couverts de Nègres, des groupes de Blancs et d’Indiens, présentoient dans ce petit espace, le contraste des mœurs sociales et des mœurs sauvages. Vers l’orient, au fond de la perspective, le soleil commençoit à paroître entre les sommets brisés des Apalaches, qui se dessinoient comme des caractères d’azur, dans les hauteurs dorées du ciel ; à l’occident, le Meschacebé rouloit ses ondes dans un silence magnifique, et formoit la bordure du tableau avec une inconcevable grandeur.

Le jeune homme et le missionnaire admirèrent quelque temps cette belle scène, en plaignant le Sachem qui ne pouvoit plus en jouir ; ensuite le père Souël et Chactas s’assirent sur le

René

Source p. 141

On the twenty-first of the month the savages call the moon of flowers, René went to Chactas’s cabin. He gave his arm to the Sachem, and led him beneath a sassafras on the bank of the Meschacebé. Father Souël was not slow to come to the meeting-place. Dawn was breaking: some way off on the plain could be seen the village of the Natchez, with its grove of mulberry trees and its cabins that look like beehives. The French colony and Fort Rosalie showed on the right, along the river. Tents, half-built houses, fortresses begun, clearings covered with Negroes, groups of whites and Indians, set out in that small space the contrast of social manners and savage manners. Toward the east, at the far end of the prospect, the sun was beginning to appear between the broken summits of the Appalachians, which stood out like characters of azure against the golden heights of the sky; to the west, the Meschacebé rolled its waters in a magnificent silence, and bordered the picture with an inconceivable grandeur.

The young man and the missionary admired this fine scene for some time, pitying the Sachem who could no longer enjoy it; then Father Souël and Chactas sat down on the

a.Source editor’s annotation1802. au Sachem aveugle, ‘to the blind Sachem’.

1.Chateaubriand’s name for the Mississippi. His note at its first appearance in Atala (p. 20 of this volume) calls it the ‘true name of the Mississipi or Meschassipi’.

2.Enslaved Africans, shipped to French Louisiana from 1719 to work the settlers’ land grants; Chateaubriand’s word is the period’s.

3.The Appalachians lie several hundred miles east of Natchez and cannot be seen from it. The prospect is composed, not observed.

b.Source editor’s annotation1802. des caractères de toutes les formes, ‘characters of every shape’.

c.Source editor’s annotation1802. 1802 tells the sentence and the next differently: René et le missionnaire admirèrent quelque temps cette belle scène, et plaignirent l’aveugle Chactas, qui ne pouvoit plus en jouir. Ensuite le solitaire et le Sachem s’assirent sur le gazon, au pied de l’arbre, ‘René and the missionary admired this fine scene for some time, and pitied blind Chactas, who could no longer enjoy it. Then the hermit and the Sachem sat down on the grass, at the foot of the tree.’ Here 1802 calls Father Souël ‘the hermit’.

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.