François René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768-1848), one of the first French romantic writers, was a master stylist. Through the poetic prose of his voluminous work he was able to evoke exotic places and to transform and idealize his own...

François-René de Chateaubriand was the outstanding French literary figure of the early nineteenth century. He can only loosely be attached to the history of the novel, but he did produce two famous romances, Atala, ou les amours de deux...

Chateaubriand, FranÇois RenÉ De(1768–1848) François René de Chateaubriand, the French author, was born at Saint-Malo in Brittany and educated at Dol-de-Bretagne and Rennes in preparation for studying for the priesthood...

François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (pronounced [fʀɑ̃swa ʀəˈne də ʃatobriˈjɑ̃] in French) (September 4, 1768 – July 4, 1848) was a French writer, politician and diplomat. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French...

A rebours de sa reputation de restaurateur de la cathedrale gothique ou de premier ecrivain romantique francais, Chateaubriand est, pour ce qui est des arts plastiques, resolument classique dans ses gouts, admirateur de l'Antiquite et de son retour sous le ciseau de Canova....

Jean-Marie Roulin. L'Epopee de Voltaire a Chateaubriand: poesie, histoire, et politique. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2005. In L'Epopee de Voltaire a Chateaubriand: poesie, histoire et politique, Jean-Marie Roulin restores a missing chapter to French literary history. A victim of our cultural amnesia, the...

In the following essay, Bailey concentrates on the image of the crocodile in Atala. Using a psychoanalytic perspective, Bailey claims Chateaubriand's work depicts tensions between nature and civilization and between sexuality and Christianity, especially in its representations of desire.

In the following essay, Moscovici argues that Atala challenges French Romanticism's dichotomy between nature and culture in its representations of Western and Native American cultures. Rather than positioning these cultures as ethical opposites—with the implicit superiority of Western culture—Chateaubriand's work offers a model of hybrid cultural identity.

In the following essay, Doran examines both Chateaubriand's and Tocqueville's depiction of American forests as more than descriptions, but as images of human experience. Doran contrasts Chateaubriand's more positive depictions of the wilderness—as an expansive space reflecting one's personal power and God's presence—with the depersonalized and isolated environments portrayed by Tocqueville.