The Memoirs of Chateaubriand

The life of Chateaubriand spans two ages and two continents. Born in 1768 he fought for Louis XVI after the revolution of 1789 and died in the revolutionary year of 1848. His travels took him to America, where he lived with the Iroquois, to England, Italy, and elsewhere. From being a penniless exile he became a successful writer, a noted lover, a famous diplomat, and a bellicose foreign minister. His ‘Memoirs’ are those of a man who not only witnessed history but help to make it; above all they are the record of an astonishingly crowded life and the self portrait of a complex and fascinating egoist.