Correspondance générale, VIII: 1828-1830 (review)

The eighth volume of Chateaubriand's correspondence draws from a wide variety of archives located in more than twenty libraries and private collections. Although this is a substantial tome, it covers a mere three years (1828-1830) when Chateaubriand was a diplomat and, for a while, French Ambassador in Rome. Letters sent to Chateaubriand are, however, not included here. Like any correspondence, this volume does not tell a linear story other than that of the everyday life of a celebrated author and politician, but we find in it his main preoccupations and projects, his relationships and his journeys, written in a rich, sensitive, and sometimes flamboyant style. A detailed preface by Agnès Kettler, completed by a chronology, situates the main events in Chateaubriand's life: his professional projects, his friendships, his loves. As the Ambassador of France, Chateaubriand visited Pope Pius VIII, and some of his letters to the Pope are included here (p. 409). Chateaubriand was also in touch with many of the celebrities of his day, such as Madame Récamier, to whom he wrote about three times a week (p. 9). Some beautiful love letters were written by Chateaubriand during the turmoil of July 1830 (pp. 425-27). The volume editors, Pierre Riberette and Agnès Kettler, are to be congratulated for compiling this immense body of research and detailing the context. In almost two hundred pages of endnotes, completed by two indexes, they provide a who's who of correspondents and works cited. For scholars of the period, this correspondence offers an invaluable resource. It will be an essential acquisition for university libraries.