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Facing Pages · Branch 82 of 94
Appendix I · 1802 readings · 4. Page 181 (1802, p. 205)
French
4. Page 181 (1802, p. 205)… Eclairé sur les maux de ma sœur, je me figurois tout ce qu’elle avoit dû souffrir auprès de moi, victime d’autant plus malheureuse, que la pureté de ma tendresse devoit lui être à-la-fois odieuse et chère, et qu’appelée dans mes bras par un sentiment, elle en étoit repoussée par un autre.
» Que de combats dans son sein! que d’efforts n’avoit-elle point faits! Tantôt voulant s’éloigner de moi, et n’en ayant pas la force; craignant pour ma vie, et tremblant pour elle et pour moi. Je me reprochois mes plus innocentes caresses, je me faisois horreur. En relisant la lettre de l’infortunée, (qui n’avoit plus de mystères!) je m’apperçus que ses lèvres humides y avoient laissé d’autres traces que celles de ses pleurs. Alors s’expliquèrent pour moi plusieurs choses…
René: Appendix I · 1802 readings
4. Page 181 (1802, p. 205)4. Page 181 (1802, p. 205)
What René understands after the ceremony. 1826 keeps only ‘je me figurois ce qu’elle avoit dû souffrir’ (‘I pictured to myself what she must have suffered’) and passes straight on to ‘Then several things became clear to me’.
… Enlightened as to my sister’s ills, I pictured to myself all that she must have suffered at my side, a victim all the more unhappy in that the purity of my tenderness must have been at once hateful and dear to her, and that, called into my arms by one feeling, she was driven from them by another.
“What struggles in her breast! what efforts had she not made! Now wishing to go far from me, and not having the strength; fearing for my life, and trembling for herself and for me. I reproached myself for my most innocent caresses; I was a horror to myself. Rereading the unhappy girl’s letter (now without mysteries!), I perceived that her moist lips had left other traces on it than those of her tears. Then several things became clear to me…
Socrates
Reading René · Appendix I · 1802 readings · 4. Page 181 (1802, p. 205)
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.