Chateaubriand, François-René de, French poet and statesman (1768-1848). 1 autograph letter signed and 1 letter signed.

Geneva and n. p., 09. X. 1831 and 15. III. 1842.

8vo. Together 2 pp.

 4,500.00

In the earlier letter Chateaubriand asks his secretary Hyacinthe Pilorge to strike a sentence from a forthcoming publication "if there is still time". Chateaubriand had contributed a text to a collection of articles published in 1831 by Pierre-François Ladvocat under the title "Paris ou le Livre des Cent-et-un". The text is a response to a poem by Pierre-Jean de Béranger entitled "Chanson à M. de Chateaubriand" that calls Chateaubriand to end his voluntary exile following the July Revolution and his refusal to pledge allegiance to King Louis-Philippe and the House of Orléans. The first stanza of the chanson that precedes Chateaubriand's response in Ladvocat's publication reads: "Chateaubriand, why flee your country, | Flee its love, our incense and our care? | Don't you hear France crying out: | My beautiful sky is crying for one less star". Chateaubriand's sentence that ultimately wasn't printed is a somewhat ambiguous comment on the contrast between Béranger's contemporary subject and his style: "If your subjects are of the moment, your style isn't; in the anarchy of the new school." He announces his arrival in Paris for the 16 October and asks Pilorge to try to delay the publication until then.

The letter from 15 March 1842 is written in Pilorge's hand and addressed to an unnamed vicar. Apparently, the recipient had asked Chateaubriand for authorization of a translation of his 1809 poem Les Martyrs to Spanish on behalf of the cleric and theologian Justo Barbagero. Chateaubriand gives the answer that the vicar "desires" and hopes that "Barbagero is content", although he seems to put the auspices of the project in question when he adds that he has "no trust" in his name. The letter is generally melancholic, Chateaubriand informs the recipient that he was barely able "to sign the lines" that he had dictated to Pilorges because of his gout and closes with the expectation of his nearing death: "Unfortunately, you won't be right and I consider the rest of my life as lost: all the better, it is a few hours more to my profit as a Christian." - Justo Barbagero's translation of Les Martyrs was published in Burgos in 1845.

The autograph letter with a deap tear to the right margin affecting the text.

References

Paris ou le Livre des Cent-et-un. Tome premier, Paris: Ladvocat, 1831, pp. 215-227.

Stock Code: BN#31621 Tag: