François-René de Chateaubriand on Grand Bé, Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine (35)

My next post will concern François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) – recognised as a founder of romanticism in France – in Saint-Malo itself, although here I'm concerned with his death. He chose the spot for his burial himself, close to the place where he was born, and facing the ocean on the tiny island of Grand Bé. Even twenty-five years before his death (Bertrand Beyern tells us*) he worried about this, and struggled with the mairie in Saint-Malo along with the ministry of war which owned the land. This is not the original monument: the granite cross remains, but the railings were replaced in  1948 after war bombings had damaged the tomb. The  nearby plaque reads:

'UN GRAND ÉCRIVAIN FRANÇAIS 

A VOULU REPOSER ICI

POUR N'Y ENTENDRE

QUE LA MER ET LE VENT

PASSANT

RESPECTE SA DERNIÉRE VOLONTÉ'

Grand Bé becomes a peninsula at low tide, making it easily accessible to sightseers.

*Bertrand Beyern, Guide des tombes des hommes célèbres, 2008.