Diotimos Library · Literary Fiction Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 32 of 94
René · p. 147
French
p. 147» Le cœur ému par ces conversations pieuses, je portois souvent mes pas vers un monastère voisin de mon nouveau séjour ; un moment même j’eus la tentation d’y cacher ma vie. Heureux ceux qui ont fini leur voyage sans avoir quitté le port, et qui n’ont point, comme moi, traîné d’inutiles jours sur la terre !
» Les Européens, incessamment agités, sont obligés de se bâtir des solitudes. Plus notre cœur est tumultueux et bruyant, plus le calme et le silence nous attirent. Ces hospices de mon pays, ouverts aux malheureux et aux foibles, sont souvent cachés dans des vallons qui portent au cœur le vague sentiment de l’infortune et l’espérance d’un abri ; quelquefois aussi on les découvre sur de hauts sites où l’âme religieuse, comme une plante des montagnes, semble s’élever vers le ciel pour lui offrir ses parfums.
» Je vois encore le mélange majestueux des eaux et des bois de cette antique abbaye où je pensai dérober ma vie aux caprices du sort ; j’erre encore au déclin du jour dans ces cloîtres retentissants et solitaires. Lorsque la lune éclairoit à demi les piliers des arcades, et dessinoit leur ombre sur le mur opposé, je m’arrêtois à
René
Source p. 147“My heart moved by these pious conversations, I often turned my steps toward a monastery near my new abode; for a moment I was even tempted to hide my life there. Happy are those who have finished their voyage without ever leaving port, and who have not, like me, dragged out useless days upon the earth!
“Europeans, ceaselessly restless, are obliged to build themselves solitudes. The more tumultuous and noisy our heart, the more calm and silence draw us. These refuges of my country, open to the unhappy and the weak, are often hidden in valleys that bring to the heart the vague feeling of misfortune and the hope of shelter; sometimes too one comes upon them on high places where the religious soul, like a mountain plant, seems to rise toward heaven to offer it its perfumes.
“I still see the majestic mingling of waters and woods about that ancient abbey where I came near to stealing my life away from the caprices of fate; I still wander, at the close of day, in those echoing and solitary cloisters. When the moon half lit the pillars of the arcades and traced their shadow on the opposite wall, I would stop to
Socrates
Reading René · René · René · p. 147
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.