On a rock overlooking the quaint Brittany village of Combourg, 25 miles south-east of St Malo, sits an imposing 11th-century castle. An ideal setting for a dark fairy tale, its four machicolated towers and witches' hat turrets seem sinister even on a sunny evening.
The castle was bought in 1761 by a shipowner who later moved his wife and two youngest children, Franτois-RenΘ and Lucile, to live within its walls. The writer was nine years of age.
In 'La Vie au ChΓteau de Combourg', an extract from MΘmoires d'outre tombe (Memories from Beyond the Grave), Franτois-RenΘ Chateaubriand describes his haunted youth at home where "months would go by without any human creature knocking on the door of our fortress".
The cheerless atmosphere of the castle was increased by his father's taciturn and unsociable temperament. Instead of gathering his family around him, he scattered each of them to the four corners of the castle and forbade even polite conversation in his presence.
Young Chateaubriand lived in isolation, spending many hours in what is now known as the Cat Tower. When he did get out it was to explore the deep woods surrounding the castle with his sister, Lucile.
The young Franτois-RenΘ talks of autumn and winter nights when, after supper, the family would retire to the other side of the large dining-room lit by one lone candle. His father, dressed in white robe and hat, would pace the room back and forth, vanishing into darkness at the far corner.
During these brief disappearances, Franτois-RenΘ and Lucile would quickly exchange a few whispers. Then, slowly, their father came towards them like a ghost emerging from the shadows.
"De quoi parliez vous?" he demanded as he passed them. Terror-stricken, they couldn't reply. He continued his march and "Le reste de la soirΘe, l'oreille n'Θtait plus frappΘe que du bruit mesurΘ de ses pas, des soupirs de ma mΦre et du murmure du vent."
At the stroke of 10 p.m., the father stopped, offered his dry cheek to be kissed and retired to his chamber at the bottom of the tower. Free of the father's intimidating presence, words poured from Franτois-RenΘ, his mother and sister until he escorted them to their rooms. Before they let him go to his own lonely turret, they made him look under beds, in the chimneys, behind doors and into neighbouring passages to make sure there was nothing there.
Townspeople were convinced the castle was haunted by a former count of Combourg who had lost a leg. They said the clomping of his wooden leg and the miaows of his black cat could be heard around the stairwells. Later renovation work on the castle exposed the mummified remains of a cat, buried deep in the walls of the tower in which Franτois-RenΘ slept. It now lies enclosed in a glass case in his bedroom.
Chateaubriand describes hearing noises from the basement galleries rise up along the circular stairs to his turret. The wind would violently shake and rattle at his door. He would stay alert until 4 a.m. when his father, calling his valet, sounded "comme la voix du dernier fant⌠me de la nuit".
In MΘmoires, written just before his death, Chateaubriand says his unenviable life at the castle eventually worked to his advantage in later life, establishing a courageous temperament, a deep religious sense and an illuminated imagination. His writing career began in the woods surrounding the grim castle where, during one of his many rambles with his sister, he described to her the agonies and ecstasies of his solitude. She told him he should write it all down.
He had an eventful life, became a soldier, was wounded and took refuge in London, penniless and hungry. In later life he became an ambassador to Berlin, London and Rome and was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs under Louis XVIII.
The late 18th and early 19th centuries witnessed enormous social upheaval and revolution. Although influenced by Rousseau, Chateaubriand did not join the revolutionists of 1789. He did visit America to see the "new young republic" in action. Although the itinerary he describes was an impossibility in 1791, what he did find was great material for his art.
Atala is a prose poem set in a wild American setting. It appeared in 1801 and suddenly made Chateaubriand famous. It is an extract from his wider Le GΘnie du Christianisme in which appeared the story of "RenΘ", a thinly-disguised young Chateaubriand.
The story's main themes are loneliness, unhappiness and aimlessness as RenΘ ponders the mysteries of nature and religion. In essence, it describes an acute state of dislocation. This affliction was to became known as "le mal de RenΘ" and later as "le mal du siΦcle".
He died in Paris in 1848. His deathbed was brought from the Rue de Bac to the castle, where it is on display in the archives room. The man himself is buried on a rocky islet off St Malo.