René

Name: René
Author: François-René de Chateaubriand

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

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RenéRené · p. 158

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French Page · Branch 43 of 94

René · p. 158

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French

p. 158

secret couler mes larmes dans ces retraites sacrées, tu sais combien de fois je me jetai à tes pieds, pour te supplier de me décharger du poids de l’existence, ou de changer en moi le vieil homme ! Ah ! qui n’a senti quelquefois le besoin de se régénérer, de se rajeunir aux eaux du torrent, de retremper son âme à la fontaine de vie ? Qui ne se trouve quelquefois accablé du fardeau de sa propre corruption, et incapable de rien faire de grand, de noble, de juste ?

» Quand le soir étoit venu, reprenant le chemin de ma retraite, je m’arrêtois sur les ponts pour voir se coucher le soleil. L’astre, enflammant les vapeurs de la cité, sembloit osciller lentement dans un fluide d’or, comme le pendule de l’horloge des siècles. Je me retirois ensuite avec la nuit, à travers un labyrinthe de rues solitaires. En regardant les lumières qui brilloient dans la demeure des hommes, je me transportois par la pensée au milieu des scènes de douleur et de joie qu’elles éclairoient, et je songeois que sous tant de toits habités je n’avois pas un ami. Au milieu de mes réflexions, l’heure venoit frapper à coups mesurés dans la tour de la cathédrale gothique ; elle alloit se répétant sur tous les tons et à toutes les distances d’église en église. Hélas ! chaque heure

a.Source editor’s annotation1802. Quand le soir approchoit, ‘When evening drew near’.

b.Source editor’s annotation1802. de la grande horloge, ‘of the great clock’.

c.Source editor’s annotation1802. Je me retirois ensuite à travers un labyrinthe de rues solitaires, où diverses scènes s’offroient à ma rêverie, à mesure que la nuit descendoit, ‘Then I made my way home through a labyrinth of solitary streets, where various scenes offered themselves to my reverie as night came down.’

d.Source editor’s annotation1802. En regardant toutes ces lumières, ‘Looking at all those lights’.

e.Source editor’s annotation1802. en imagination, ‘in imagination’.

f.Source editor’s annotation1802. Mais au milieu de mes réflexions, l’heure venoit à frapper à coups mesurés à l’horloge d’une cathédrale gothique, ‘But in the midst of my reflections the hour would come striking, in measured strokes, on the clock of a Gothic cathedral’.

René

Source p. 158

secret my tears flow in those sacred retreats, you know how many times I threw myself at your feet to beg you to lift from me the burden of existence, or to change the old man in me! Ah! who has not felt at times the need to be born again, to grow young in the waters of the torrent, to temper his soul anew at the fountain of life? Who does not find himself at times crushed beneath the weight of his own corruption, and incapable of doing anything great, or noble, or just?

“When evening had come, taking the road back to my retreat, I would stop on the bridges to watch the sun go down. The orb, setting the city’s vapours aflame, seemed to swing slowly in a fluid of gold, like the pendulum of the clock of the ages. Then I made my way home with the night, through a labyrinth of solitary streets. Looking at the lights that shone in the dwellings of men, I carried myself in thought into the midst of the scenes of grief and joy they lit, and I reflected that under so many inhabited roofs I had not one friend. In the midst of my reflections the hour would come striking, in measured strokes, in the tower of the Gothic cathedral; it went on repeating itself in every tone and at every distance, from church to church. Alas! every hour

1.The ‘old man’ of St Paul: ‘put off … the old man, which is corrupt’ (Ephesians 4:22; also Colossians 3:9).

2.‘For with thee is the fountain of life’ (Psalm 36:9; Vulgate 35:10).

a.Source editor’s annotation1802. Quand le soir approchoit, ‘When evening drew near’.

b.Source editor’s annotation1802. de la grande horloge, ‘of the great clock’.

d.Source editor’s annotation1802. En regardant toutes ces lumières, ‘Looking at all those lights’.

e.Source editor’s annotation1802. en imagination, ‘in imagination’.

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.