Chateaubriand
Look up the greatest reads ever today and than you'll still find 'Memoirs From Beyond the Grave' by François-Auguste-René (vicomte) de Chateaubriand amongst them. He was once not only a famous French author and diplomat, but also the one of the very first Romantic writers. Preeminent literary figure in France in the early 19th century he had a profound and lasting influence on the youth of his day. One can even state that he then steered great authors like Hugo, Dumas and Tocqueville to start and continue writing.
Ask me what one needs to do in one's lifetime then I'll say: learn languages, travel and read more, and trust the values of ages past. In old age we all decline but some things are so definite that they can't be questioned. Love and civilization are only two of them but they're so important that they need to stressed at every occasion.
Victor Hugo, who had long ago given up wanting to be Chateaubriand, wrote in detail of the elderly man’s physical decline and of his daily visits with Madame Récamier, at her house a few blocks away: "By early 1847, Monsieur de Chateaubriand was a paralytic and Madame Récamier was blind. Every day, at three in the afternoon, Monsieur de Chateaubriand was carried to Madame Récamier’s bedside. The scene was touching and sad. The woman who could no longer see fumblingly stretched out her hands to the man who could no longer feel; their hands met. God be praised! Life was dying, but love still lived."
[media=https://youtu.be/IzW9CX2j0kA]
Ask me what one needs to do in one's lifetime then I'll say: learn languages, travel and read more, and trust the values of ages past. In old age we all decline but some things are so definite that they can't be questioned. Love and civilization are only two of them but they're so important that they need to stressed at every occasion.
Victor Hugo, who had long ago given up wanting to be Chateaubriand, wrote in detail of the elderly man’s physical decline and of his daily visits with Madame Récamier, at her house a few blocks away: "By early 1847, Monsieur de Chateaubriand was a paralytic and Madame Récamier was blind. Every day, at three in the afternoon, Monsieur de Chateaubriand was carried to Madame Récamier’s bedside. The scene was touching and sad. The woman who could no longer see fumblingly stretched out her hands to the man who could no longer feel; their hands met. God be praised! Life was dying, but love still lived."
[media=https://youtu.be/IzW9CX2j0kA]
51-55
