The 285 letters contained in this volume of the "Correspondance gA(c)nA(c)rale" date from the years following Constant's exclusion from the Tribunal. They reflect his work on religious issues, his dreams of literary success, and his travels in France, Germany, and Switzerland. In addition, they provide an impression of political life at the beginning of the Napoleonic empire and the emotional vicissitudes undergone by their author: his unsuccessful attempts to break with Germaine de StaAl, his desire to marry (but whom?), his presence at the deaths of Julie Talma and Isabelle de CharriA]re, and his initial lack of enthusiasm after renewing his acquaintance with Charlotte von Hardenberg.

The volume contains 422 letters. Constant marries Charlotte von Hardenberg, which leads to an estrangement from Germaine de StaAl, his fellow-writer and mistress of long standing. In the letters from this period, political life takes a back seat, and after the appearance of Wallstein his literary creativity enters a dormant phase. The reader is confronted above all with Constanta (TM)s turbulent private life.

This volume contains 339 letters between 1806 and 1807. In this period, Constant edites Adolphe and writes both the tragedy Wallstein and his essay Principes de politique. His emotional life, particularly the resumption of his relationship to Charlotte von Hardenberg, features prominently in the correspondence, yet neither his family in Lausanne nor his friends in Paris and elsewhere are neglected. The correspondence also describes in detail important events of these years in which the Napoleonic Era reached its high point.

Volume 7 contains the journal written in Greek characters and kept by the author between 1811 and 1816. It traces his itinerary from the point where he left Switzerland for Germany up to his return to Paris under the Second Restoration. The journal records Constant's stay in Germany, the Cent-jours, his volte-face to Napoleon and the Empire, and his exile in London, alongside the author's errant sentimental attachments to Charlotte von Hardenberg, Juliette RA(c)camier, and Mme de StaAl, and his ongoing scholarly aspirations and frustrated political ambitions. The journal is followed by the carnet written after an accident, and a series of notebooks on his expenses, which Constant kept to his death. The texts come with the usual resources: a chronology, a record of the author's movements, listings of persons and proper names, a bibliography, and various indexes.

Volume VI of the AComplete WorksA contains the first two of the Intimate Journals, the full-length Journal (1804-1805) and the abridged version (1804-1807), complete with an exhaustive description of notable features in the manuscripts and a set of notes far broader in scope than those of the first edition (1952). The Journals are followed by a hitherto unedited dossier kept by Constant on the financial differences between himself and his father. This document, titled AAffaire de mon pA]reA, enhances our understanding of the complex relations between the two men. The volume also provides a useful critical apparatus including a chronology, a list of works cited by Constant, a bibliography, indexes of personal and place names, etc.