Diotimos Library · Literary Fiction Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 51 of 94
René · p. 166
French
p. 166» Pour bien sentir quelle dut être dans la suite l’amertume de ma douleur, et quels furent mes premiers transports en revoyant Amélie, il faut vous figurer que c’étoit la seule personne au monde que j’eusse aimée, que tous mes sentiments se venoient confondre en elle, avec la douceur des souvenirs de mon enfance. Je reçus donc Amélie dans une sorte d’extase de cœur. Il y avoit si long-temps que je n’avois trouvé quelqu’un qui m’entendît, et devant qui je pusse ouvrir mon âme !
» Amélie se jetant dans mes bras, me dit : « Ingrat, tu veux mourir, et ta sœur existe ! Tu soupçonnes son cœur ! Ne t’explique point, ne t’excuse point, je sais tout ; j’ai tout compris, comme si j’avois été avec toi. Est-ce moi que l’on trompe, moi, qui ai vu naître tes premiers sentiments ? Voilà ton malheureux caractère, tes dégoûts, tes injustices. Jure, tandis que je te presse sur mon cœur, jure que c’est la dernière fois que tu te livreras à tes folies ; fais le serment de ne jamais attenter à tes jours. »
» En prononçant ces mots, Amélie me regardoit avec compassion et tendresse, et couvroit mon front de ses baisers ; c’étoit presqu’une
René
Source p. 166“To feel fully what the bitterness of my grief must afterwards have been, and what my first raptures were on seeing Amélie again, you must imagine that she was the only person in the world I had ever loved, that all my feelings came to mingle in her, with the sweetness of the memories of my childhood. So I received Amélie in a kind of ecstasy of the heart. It was so long since I had found anyone who understood me, and before whom I could open my soul!
“Amélie, throwing herself into my arms, said to me: ‘Ungrateful one, you wish to die, and your sister is living! You suspect her heart! Do not explain, do not excuse yourself, I know everything; I have understood everything, as if I had been with you. Am I the one to be deceived, I who saw your first feelings born? There is your unhappy character, your disgusts, your injustices. Swear, while I press you to my heart, swear that this is the last time you will give yourself up to your follies; take the oath never to make an attempt on your life.’
“As she spoke these words, Amélie looked at me with compassion and tenderness, and covered my brow with her kisses; it was almost a
Socrates
Reading René · René · René · p. 166
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.