This is the most enjoyable, glamorous and gripping of all 19th-century autobiographies - a tumultuous account of France hit by wave after wave of revolutions. Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb is the greatest and most influential of all French autobiographies - an extraordinary, highly entertaining account of a uniquely adventurous and frenzied life. Chateaubriand gives a superb narrative of the major events of his life - which spanned the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Era and the uneasy period that led up to the Revolution of 1830.
Author Biography
Francois-Rene, Vicomte de Chateaubriand, was the most conspicuous figure in French literature during the First Empire. He was born in St Malo in 1768, and received a commission in the army in 1786. While living in Paris, he met the men of letters of whom he left remarkable portraits in his memoirs. His second publication, Atala, appeared in 1801 and immediately made his reputation. Chateaubriand died on the 4th of July 1848, leaving behind his controversial and celebrated Memoires d'outre-tombe.
