Narrative
Memoirs from Beyond the Grave
Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe
Opening lines
Il y a quatre ans qu'à mon retour de la Terre Sainte, j'achetai près du hameau d'Aulnay, dans le voisinage de Sceaux et de Châtenay, une maison de jardinier, cachée parmi les collines couvertes de bois.
Four years ago, on my return from the Holy Land, I bought near the hamlet of Aulnay, in the neighbourhood of Sceaux and Châtenay, a gardener's house hidden among wooded hills.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
A man writes the account of his life so that it will appear only after his death, and addresses his readers from the tomb. He goes back to his childhood in Saint-Malo and at the château of Combourg, then tells of his journey to America, emigration, war and exile in London. His years as a writer follow, then those as a statesman, ambassador and minister, through the successive regimes from the Revolution to the July Monarchy: the story of a life is intertwined with that of its century.
Context
Begun in 1809 under the title Mémoires de ma vie and completed in 1841, the text is divided into four parts: childhood, youth and travels; the literary career; the political career; the last years. In 1836, a joint-stock company was formed to exploit its posthumous publication, in return for a life annuity paid to the author. The text first appeared as a serial in La Presse, from 21 October 1848, then in twelve volumes with Eugène and Victor Penaud, from January 1849 to October 1850.
Who it is for
A very long text, in forty-two books, often published in extracts; each part can be read separately, beginning with the Breton childhood.
Prizes and reception
Translated into English several times, they have been the subject since 2018 of a complete translation by Alex Andriesse for New York Review Books.
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