SOURCE: O'Neil, Mary A. “Chateaubriand's Atala: A Study of the French Revolution.” Nineteenth-Century French Studies 22, nos. 1-2 (fall-winter 1993-94): 1-14.

In the following essay, O'Neil presents Chateaubriand's Atala, The Genius of Christianity, and Memoirs, as organized around contemporary history, particularly the French Revolution. In so doing, Chateaubriand critiqued government, religion, and the excesses of the Revolution.

The young Chateaubriand was a perceptive critic of his own work. In his preface to the first edition of Atala, he predicted that this book would confuse its audience:

Je ne sais si le public goûtera cette histoire qui sort de toutes les routes connues, et qui présente une nature tout à fait étrangère à l'Europe. Il n'y a point d'aventures dans Atala. C'est une sorte de poème, moitié descriptif, moitié dramatique: tout consiste dans la peinture de deux amants qui marchent et causent dans la solitude; tout gît...