View source for François-René de Chateaubriand

{{Short description|French writer, politician and historian (1768–1848)}}
{{redirect|Chateaubriand|the steak dish|Chateaubriand (dish)|other uses|Chateaubriand (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name            = François-René de Chateaubriand
| image           = Anne-Louis_Girodet-Trioson_006.jpg
| image_size      = 
| caption         = ''[[Portrait of Chateaubriand]]'' by [[Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson]], 1809
| office          = [[List of French ambassadors to the Holy See|French Ambassador to the Papal States]]
| appointer       = [[Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac|Jean-Baptiste de Martignac]]
| term_start      = 4 January 1828
| term_end        = 8 August 1829
| predecessor     = [[Anne-Adrien-Pierre de Montmorency-Laval|Adrien-Pierre de Montmorency-Laval]]
| successor       = [[Auguste, comte de La Ferronays|Auguste de La Ferronays]]
| office1         = [[Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
| prime_minister1 = [[Jean-Baptiste de Villèle]]
| term_start1     = 28 December 1822
| term_end1       = 4 August 1824
| predecessor1    = [[Mathieu de Montmorency]]
| successor1      = [[Ange Hyacinthe Maxence, baron de Damas|Hyacinthe Maxence de Damas]]
| office2         = [[List of Ambassadors of France to the United Kingdom|French Ambassador to the United Kingdom]]
| appointer2      = [[Jean-Baptiste de Villèle]]
| term_start2     = 22 December 1822
| term_end2       = 28 December 1822
| predecessor2    = [[Antoine VIII de Gramont|Antoine de Gramont]]
| successor2      = [[Jules de Polignac]]
| office3         = [[List of Ambassadors of France to Germany|French Ambassador to Prussia]]
| appointer3      = [[Jean-Baptiste de Villèle]]
| term_start3     = 14 December 1821
| term_end3       = 22 December 1822
| predecessor3    = [[Charles François, Marquis de Bonnay|Charles-François de Bonnay]]
| successor3      = [[Maximilien Gérard de Rayneval]]
| office4         = [[Embassy of France, Stockholm|French Ambassador to Sweden]]
| appointer4      = [[Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand]]
| term_start4     = 3 April 1814
| term_end4       = 26 September 1815
| office5         = [[List of members of the Académie française|Member of the ''Académie française'']]
| term_start5     = 1811
| term_end5       = 1848
| predecessor5    = [[Marie-Joseph Chénier]]
| successor5      = [[Paul, 6th duc de Noailles|Paul de Noailles]]
| birth_date      = {{birth date|df=y|1768|9|4}}
| birth_place     = [[Saint-Malo]], [[Brittany]], France
| death_date      = {{death date and age|df=y|1848|7|4|1768|9|4}}
| death_place     = Paris, France
| spouse          = {{marriage|Céleste Buisson de la Vigne|1792|1847|end=her death}}
| profession      = Writer, translator, diplomat
| allegiance      = [[Kingdom of France]]
| branch          = ''[[Armée des Émigrés]]''
| service_years   = 1792
| rank            = [[Captain(rank)|Captain]]
| battles         = {{hlist|[[French Revolutionary Wars]]|[[Siege of Thionville (1792)|Siege of Thionville]]}}
| awards          = {{plainlist|
* [[Legion of Honour]]
* [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic)|Order of the Holy Sepulchre]]
* [[Order of Saint Louis]]
* [[Order of the Holy Spirit]]
* [[Order of Saint Michael]]
}}
| module          = {{Infobox writer
| embed         = yes
| period        = [[19th century in literature|19th century]]
| genre         = Novel, memoir, essay
| subject       = Religion, [[exoticism]], [[existentialism]]
| movement      = [[Romanticism]]<br />[[Conservatism]]
| notable_works = {{hlist |''[[Atala (novella)|Atala]]'' |''[[The Genius of Christianity|Génie du christianisme]]'' |''[[René (novella)|René]]'' |''[[Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe]]''}}
| years_active  = 1793–1848
| signature     = Signature de Chateaubriand - Archives nationales (France).png
}}
| relatives       = *Jean-Baptiste de Châteaubriand (brother, 1759 – 1794)

*Lucile de Chateaubriand (sister, 1764 — 1804)
}}
'''François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand'''{{efn|English pronunciation: {{IPAc-en|ʃ|æ|ˌ|t|oʊ|b|r|iː|ˈ|ɑː|n}};<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/f+chateaubriand "Chateaubriand"]. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> French pronunciation: {{IPA|fr|fʁɑ̃swa ʁəne də ʃɑtobʁijɑ̃|}}.}} (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who influenced [[French literature]] of the 19th century. Descended from an old aristocratic family from [[Brittany]], Chateaubriand was a [[Monarchism in France|royalist]] by political disposition. He served as [[Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] from 1822 to 1824 and as the French ambassador to Sweden, Prussia, the United Kingdom, and the Papal States.

In an age when large numbers of intellectuals turned against the Church, Chateaubriand authored ''[[The Genius of Christianity|Génie du christianisme]]'' (''The Genius of Christianity'') in defense of the [[Catholic faith]]. His works include the autobiography ''[[Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe]]'' (''Memoirs from Beyond the Grave''), published posthumously in 1849–1850, now widely regarded as one of the most important works in French literature. In 1811 he was made a member of the [[Académie Française]]. Historian [[Peter Gay]] said that Chateaubriand saw himself as the greatest lover, the greatest writer, and the greatest philosopher of his age. Gay states that Chateaubriand "dominated the literary scene in France in the first half of the nineteenth century".<ref>Peter Gay, "The Complete Romantic," ''Horizon'' (1966) 8#2 pp 12-19.</ref>

== Biography ==

=== Early years and exile ===
{{More citations needed section|date=November 2021}}
[[File:Combourg.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Château de Combourg]], where Chateaubriand spent his childhood]]
Born in [[Saint-Malo]] on 4 September 1768, the last of ten children, Chateaubriand grew up at his family's castle (the [[château de Combourg]]) in [[Combourg]], Brittany. His father, René de Chateaubriand, was a [[sea captain]] turned [[ship-owner]] and [[Atlantic slave trade|slave trader]]. His mother's maiden name was Apolline de Bedée. Chateaubriand's father was a morose, uncommunicative man, and the young Chateaubriand grew up in an atmosphere of gloomy solitude, only broken by long walks in the Breton countryside and an intense friendship with his sister Lucile. His youthful solitude and wild desire produced a suicide attempt with a hunting rifle, although the weapon failed to discharge.

English agriculturist and pioneering travel writer [[Arthur Young (agriculturist)|Arthur Young]] visited Comburg in 1788 and he described the immediate environs of the "romantic" Chateau de Combourg thusly:

<blockquote>"SEPTEMBER 1st.  To Combourg, the country has a savage aspect; husbandry not much further advanced, at least in skill, than among the [[Hurons]], which appears incredible amidst inclosures; the people almost as wild as their country, and their town of Combourg one of the most brutal filthy places that can be seen; mud houses, no windows, and a pavement so broken, as to impede all passengers, but ease none - yet here is a chateau, and inhabited; who is this Mons. de Chateaubriant, the owner, that has nerves strung for a residence amidst such filth and poverty?  Below this hideous heap of wretchedness is a fine lake..."<ref>{{cite book |last=Young |first=Arthur |date=1794 |title=Travels During the Years 1787, 1788 & 1789; Undertaken More Particularly With a View of Ascertaining the Cultivation, Wealth, Resources and National Prosperity of the Kingdom of France |publisher=W. Richardson, Royal Exchange, London |page=97|edition=Second }}</ref></blockquote>

Chateaubriand was educated in [[Dol-de-Bretagne|Dol]], [[Rennes]] and [[Dinan]]. For a time he could not make up his mind whether he wanted to be a naval officer or a priest, but at the age of seventeen, he decided on a military career and gained a commission as a second lieutenant in the French Army based at [[Navarre]]. Within two years, he had been promoted to the rank of [[Captain (Land)|captain]]. He visited Paris in 1788 where he made the acquaintance of [[Jean-François de La Harpe]], [[André Chénier]], [[Louis-Marcelin de Fontanes]] and other leading writers of the time. When the [[French Revolution]] broke out, Chateaubriand was initially sympathetic, but as events in Paris - and throughout the countryside (including, presumably, "wretched" "brutal" and "filthy" Combourg) - became more violent he wisely decided to journey to North America in 1791.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/dialjournallitcrit65chicrich#page/16/mode/2up Nitze, William A.] "Chateaubriand in America", The Dial, Vol. LXV, June–December 1918.</ref> He was given the idea to leave Europe by [[Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes]], who also encouraged him to do some botanical studies.<ref>Tapié, V.-L. (1965) Chateaubriand. Seuil.</ref>

=== Journey to America ===
[[File:François-René de Chateaubriand by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy Trioson.jpg|left|thumb|190px|Young Chateaubriand, by [[Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson|Anne-Louis Girodet]] ({{circa|1790}})]]
In ''Voyage en Amérique'', published in 1826, Chateaubriand writes that he arrived in Philadelphia on 10 July 1791. He visited [[New York City|New York]], [[Boston]] and [[Lexington, Massachusetts|Lexington]], before leaving by boat on the [[Hudson River]] to reach [[Albany, New York|Albany]].<ref name="Chateaubriand_1826">Chateaubriand, F-R. (1826) Voyage en Amérique</ref> He then followed the [[Mohawk Trail]] up the [[Niagara Falls]] where he broke his arm and spent a month in recovery in the company of a Native American tribe. Chateaubriand then describes Native American tribes' customs, as well as zoological, political and economic consideration. He then says that a raid along the [[Ohio River]], the [[Mississippi River]], [[Louisiana]] and [[Florida]] took him back to [[Philadelphia]], where he embarked on the ''Molly'' in November to go back to France.<ref name="Chateaubriand_1826"/>

This experience provided the setting for his exotic novels ''[[Les Natchez]]'' (written between 1793 and 1799 but published only in 1826), ''[[Atala (novella)|Atala]]'' (1801) and ''[[René (novella)|René]]'' (1802). His vivid, captivating descriptions of nature in the sparsely settled American [[Deep South]] were written in a style that was very innovative for the time and spearheaded what later became the Romantic movement in France. As early as 1916,<ref>Lebègue, R. (1965) Le problème du voyage de Chateaubriand en Amérique. Journal des Savants, 1,1 from http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jds_0021-8103_1965_num_1_1_1104</ref> some scholars have cast doubt on Chateaubriand's claims that he was granted an interview with [[George Washington]] and that he actually lived for a time with the Native Americans he wrote about. Critics{{who|date=August 2024}} have questioned the veracity of entire sections of Chateaubriand's claimed travels, notably his passage through the [[Mississippi Valley]], Louisiana and Florida.

=== Return to France ===
[[File:Chateaubriand Condé.jpg|thumb|Chateaubriand in the army of Condé]]
Chateaubriand returned to France in 1792 and subsequently joined the army of [[House of Bourbon|Royalist]] ''[[émigré]]s'' in [[Koblenz]] under the leadership of [[Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé|Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince of Condé]]. Under strong pressure from his family, he married a young aristocratic woman, also from Saint-Malo, whom he had never previously met, Céleste Buisson de la Vigne (in later life, Chateaubriand was notoriously unfaithful to her, having a series of love affairs). His military career came to an end when he was wounded at the [[Siege of Thionville (1792)|Siege of Thionville]], a major clash between Royalist troops (of which Chateaubriand was a member) and the [[French Revolutionary Army]]. Half-dead, he was taken to [[Jersey]] and exiled to England, leaving his wife behind.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-06-30 |title=François-Auguste-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand {{!}} French Author & Romantic Poet {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Auguste-Rene-vicomte-de-Chateaubriand |access-date=2025-08-11 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

=== Exile in London ===
Chateaubriand spent most of his exile in poverty in London, scraping a living offering French lessons and doing translation work, but also worked as a French teacher in [[Beccles]] in [[Suffolk]]. While he was in Suffolk he fell in love with Charlotte Ives, the daughter of a clergyman living in [[Bungay]], but the romance ended when he was forced to reveal he was already married.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/chateaubriandhis00grib/mode/2up|title=Chateaubriand and his court of women|first=Francis|last=Gribble|publisher=Chapman and Hall Ltd|location=London|date=1909|pages=51–56}}</ref> During his time in Britain, Chateaubriand also became familiar with [[English literature]]. This reading, particularly of [[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' (which he later translated into French prose), had a deep influence on his own literary work.

His exile forced Chateaubriand to examine the causes of the French Revolution, which had cost the lives of many of his family and friends; these reflections inspired his first work, ''Essai sur les Révolutions'' (1797). An attempt in 18th-century style to explain the French Revolution, it predated his subsequent, romantic style of writing and was largely ignored. A major turning point in Chateaubriand's life was his conversion back to the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] faith of his childhood around 1798.

===Consulate and Empire===
{{further|French Consulate}}
{{further|First French Empire}}
Chateaubriand took advantage of the amnesty issued to ''émigrés'' to return to France in May 1800 (under the [[French Consulate]]); he edited the ''[[Mercure de France]]''. In 1802, he won fame with ''[[The Genius of Christianity|Génie du christianisme]]'' ("The Genius of Christianity"), an [[apologetics|apologia]] for the Catholic faith which contributed to the post-revolutionary religious revival in France. It also won him the favour of [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]], who was eager to win over the Catholic Church at the time.

James McMillan argues that a Europe-wide Catholic Revival emerged from the change in the cultural climate from intellectually-oriented classicism to emotionally-based [[Romanticism]]. He concludes that Chateaubriand's book:
{{blockquote|did more than any other single work to restore the credibility and prestige of Christianity in intellectual circles and launched a fashionable rediscovery of the Middle Ages and their Christian civilisation. The revival was by no means confined to an intellectual elite, however, but was evident in the real, though uneven, rechristianisation of the French countryside.<ref>James McMillan, "Catholic Christianity in France from the Restoration to the separation of church and state, 1815-1905." in Sheridan Gilley and Brian Stanley, eds., ''The Cambridge history of Christianity'' (2014) 8 217-232</ref>}}

Appointed secretary of the legation to the [[Holy See]] by Napoleon, he accompanied [[Joseph Fesch|Cardinal Fesch]] to Rome. But the two men soon quarrelled, and Chateaubriand was appointed minister to the [[Rhodanic Republic|Republic of Valais]] in November 1803.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.napoleon.org/histoire-des-2-empires/articles/quand-le-valais-etait-francais/|title=Quand le Valais était français|access-date=2 June 2021|language=fr|website=[[Fondation Napoléon]]|author=Czouz-Tornare, Alain-Jacques}}</ref> He resigned his post in disgust after Napoleon ordered the execution in 1804 of Louis XVI's cousin, [[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien]]. Chateaubriand was, after his resignation, completely dependent on his literary efforts. However, and quite unexpectedly, he received a large sum of money from the Russian Tsarina [[Elizabeth Alexeievna (Louise of Baden)|Elizabeth Alexeievna]]. She had seen him as a defender of Christianity and thus worthy of her royal support.

Chateaubriand used his new-found wealth in 1806 to visit Greece, [[Asia Minor]], the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Tunisia, and Spain. The notes he made on his travels later formed part of a prose epic, ''Les Martyrs'', set during the Roman [[Persecution of Christians|persecution of early Christianity]]. His notes also furnished a running account of the trip itself, published in 1811 as the ''Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem'' (''Itinerary from Paris to [[Jerusalem]]''). The Spanish stage of the journey inspired a third novella, ''Les aventures du dernier Abencérage'' (''The Adventures of the Last [[Abencerrages|Abencerrage]]''), which appeared in 1826.

On his return to France at the end of 1806, he published a severe criticism of Napoleon, comparing him to [[Nero]] and predicting the emergence of a new [[Tacitus]]. Napoleon famously threatened to have Chateaubriand sabred on the steps of the [[Tuileries Palace]] for it, but settled for merely banishing him from the city.<ref>Douglas Hilt, "Chateaubriand and Napoleon" ''History Today'' (Dec 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 12, pp 831-838</ref>  Chateaubriand therefore retired, in 1807, to a modest estate he called ''Vallée-aux-Loups'' ("''Wolf Valley''"), in [[Châtenay-Malabry]], {{convert|11|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of central Paris, where he lived until 1817. Here he finished ''Les Martyrs'', which appeared in 1809, and began the first drafts of his ''Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe''. He was elected to the [[Académie française]] in 1811, but, given his plan to infuse his acceptance speech with criticism of the Revolution, he could not occupy his seat until after the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]]. His literary friends during this period included [[Germaine de Staël|Madame de Staël]], [[Joseph Joubert]], and [[Pierre-Simon Ballanche]].

=== Under the Restoration ===
{{further|Bourbon Restoration in France}}
[[File:Portrait_of_Francois_Rene_Vicomte_de_Chateaubriand,_1828.jpg|left|thumb|190px|Chateaubriand as a [[Peerage of France|Peer of France]] (1828)]]
Chateaubriand became a major figure in politics as well as literature.  At first he was a strong Royalist in the period up to 1824. His liberal phase lasted from 1824 to 1830. After that he was much less active.
After the fall of Napoleon, Chateaubriand rallied to the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbons]]. On 30 March 1814, he wrote a pamphlet against Napoleon, titled ''De Buonaparte et des Bourbons'', of which thousands of copies were published. He then followed [[Louis XVIII]] into exile to [[Ghent]] during the [[Hundred Days]] (March–July 1815), and was nominated ambassador to Sweden.

After Napoleon's final defeat in the [[Battle of Waterloo]] (of which he heard the distant cannon rumblings outside Ghent), Chateaubriand became [[Peerage of France|peer of France]] and [[state minister]] (1815). In December 1815 he voted for [[Michel Ney|Marshal Ney's]] execution. However, his criticism of Louis XVIII in ''[[La Monarchie selon la Charte]]'', after the ''[[Chambre introuvable]]'' was dissolved, resulted in his disgrace. He lost his function of state minister, and joined the opposition, siding with the [[Ultra-royalist]] group supporting the future [[Charles X of France|Charles X]], and becoming one of the main writers of its mouthpiece, ''[[Le Conservateur]]''.<ref>{{Citation |last=Goldman |first=Lawrence |chapter=Conservative political thought from the revolutions of 1848 until the fin de siècle |date=2011 |title=The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Political Thought |pages=691–719 |editor-last=Stedman Jones |editor-first=Gareth |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-nineteenthcentury-political-thought/conservative-political-thought-from-the-revolutions-of-1848-until-the-fin-de-siecle/FA5FCFA3FCC597BCE799A33ADE196AF5 |access-date=2024-05-02 |series=The Cambridge History of Political Thought |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-43056-2 |editor2-last=Claeys |editor2-first=Gregory}}</ref>

Chateaubriand sided again with the Court after the murder of the [[Charles Ferdinand, duc de Berry|Duc de Berry]] (1820), writing for the occasion the ''Mémoires sur la vie et la mort du duc''. He then served as ambassador to [[Prussia]] (1821) and the United Kingdom (1822), and even rose to the office of [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] (28 December 1822 – 4 August 1824). A [[plenipotentiary]] to the [[Congress of Verona]] (1822), he decided in favor of the [[Quintuple Alliance]]'s [[Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis|intervention in Spain]] during the ''[[Trienio Liberal]]'', despite opposition from the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]]. Chateaubriand was soon relieved of his office by Prime Minister [[Joseph de Villèle]] on 5 June 1824, over his objections to a law the latter proposed that would have resulted in the widening of the electorate. Chateaubriand was subsequently appointed French ambassador to [[Genoa]].<ref>{{cite book | author=Bernard, J.F. | title=Talleyrand: A Biography | publisher=Putnam | location=New York | year=1973 | isbn=0-399-11022-4 | url=https://archive.org/details/talleyrand00jack|page=503}}</ref>

Consequently, he moved towards the liberal opposition, both as a Peer and as a contributor to ''[[Journal des Débats]]'' (his articles there gave the signal of the paper's similar switch, which, however, was more moderate than ''[[Le National (newspaper)|Le National]]'', directed by [[Adolphe Thiers]] and [[Armand Carrel]]). Opposing Villèle, he became highly popular as a defender of [[Freedom of the press|press freedom]] and the [[Greek War of Independence|cause of Greek independence]]. After Villèle's downfall, Charles X appointed Chateaubriand ambassador to the Holy See in 1828, but he resigned upon the accession of the [[Jules, Prince de Polignac|Prince de Polignac]] as premier (November 1829). In 1830, he donated a monument to the French painter [[Nicolas Poussin]] in the church of [[San Lorenzo in Lucina]] in Rome.

=== July Monarchy ===
{{further|July Monarchy}}
[[Image:House of Chateaubriand 120 rue du Bac.jpg|thumb|upright|His last home, 120 [[rue du Bac]], where Chateaubriand had an apartment on the ground floor]]

In 1830, after the [[July Revolution]], his refusal to swear allegiance to the new [[House of Orléans]] king [[Louis-Philippe of France|Louis-Philippe]] put an end to his political career. He withdrew from political life to write his ''[[Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe]]'' ("Memoirs from Beyond the Grave"), published posthumously in two volumes in 1849–1850. It reflects his growing pessimism regarding the future. Although his contemporaries celebrated the present and future as an extension of the past, Chateaubriand and the new Romanticists couldn't share their nostalgic outlook. Instead he foresaw chaos, discontinuity, and disaster. His diaries and letters often focused on the upheavals he could see every day — abuses of power, excesses of daily life, and disasters yet to come. His melancholy tone suggested astonishment, surrender, betrayal, and bitterness.<ref>Peter Fritzsche, "Chateaubriand's Ruins: Loss and Memory after the French Revolution." ''History and Memory'' 10.2 (1998): 102-117. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25681029 online]</ref><ref>Peter Fritzsche, "Specters of history: On nostalgia, exile, and modernity." ''American Historical Review'' 106.5 (2001): 1587-1618.</ref>

His ''Études historiques'' was an introduction to a projected ''History of France''. He became a harsh critic of the "bourgeois king" Louis-Philippe and the [[July Monarchy]], and his planned volume on the arrest of [[Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, duchess de Berry|Marie-Caroline, duchesse de Berry]] caused him to be (unsuccessfully) prosecuted.

Chateaubriand, along with other Catholic traditionalists such as [[Pierre-Simon Ballanche|Ballanche]] or, on the other side of the political divide, the socialist and republican [[Pierre Leroux]], was one of the few men of his time who attempted to conciliate the three terms of [[Liberté, égalité, fraternité|''Liberté'', ''égalité'' and ''fraternité'']], going beyond the antagonism between liberals and socialists as to what interpretation to give the seemingly contradictory terms.<ref name=Ozouf/> Chateaubriand thus gave a Christian interpretation of the revolutionary motto, stating in the 1841 conclusion to his ''Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe'':

{{blockquote|Far from being at its term, the religion of the Liberator is now only just entering its third phase, the political period, liberty, equality, fraternity.<ref name=Ozouf>[[Mona Ozouf]], "Liberté, égalité, fraternité", in ''Lieux de Mémoire'' (dir. [[Pierre Nora]]), tome III, Quarto Gallimard, 1997, pp.4353–4389 {{in lang|fr}} (abridged translation, ''Realms of Memory'', Columbia University Press, 1996–1998 {{in lang|en}})</ref><ref>French: "''Loin d'être à son terme, la religion du Libérateur entre à peine dans sa troisième période, la période politique, liberté, égalité, fraternité.''</ref>}}

In his final years, he lived as a recluse in an apartment at 120 [[rue du Bac]], Paris, leaving his house only to pay visits to [[Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier|Juliette Récamier]] in [[Abbaye-aux-Bois]]. His final work, ''Vie de Rancé'', was written at the suggestion of his confessor and published in 1844. It is a biography of [[Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé]], a worldly seventeenth-century French aristocrat who withdrew from society to become the founder of the [[Trappist]] order of monks. The parallels with Chateaubriand's own life are striking. As late as 1845–1847, he also kept revising ''Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe'', particularly the earlier sections, as evidenced by the revision dates on the manuscript.

Chateaubriand died in Paris on 4 July 1848, aged 79, in the midst of the [[The Revolutions of 1848 in France|Revolution of 1848]], in the arms of his dear friend Juliette Récamier,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gribble|first=Francis Henry|url=http://archive.org/details/chateaubriandhis00grib|title=Chateaubriand and his court of women|date=1909|publisher=London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd.|others=The Centre for 19th Century French Studies - University of Toronto}}</ref> and was buried, as he had requested, on the tidal island [[Grand Bé]] near [[Saint-Malo]], accessible only when the tide is out.

== Influence ==
Chateaubriand's descriptions of Nature and his analysis of emotion made him the model for a generation of Romantic writers, not only in France but also abroad. For example, [[Lord Byron]] was deeply impressed by ''[[René (novella)|René]]''. The young [[Victor Hugo]] scribbled in a notebook, "To be Chateaubriand or nothing." Even his enemies found it hard to avoid his influence. [[Stendhal]], who despised him for political reasons, made use of his psychological analyses in his own book ''De l'amour''.

Chateaubriand was the first to define the ''vague des passions'' ("intimations of passion") that later became a commonplace of Romanticism: "One inhabits, with a full heart, an empty world" (''Génie du Christianisme''). His political thought and actions seem to offer numerous contradictions: he wanted to be the friend both of legitimist royalty and of republicans, alternately defending whichever of the two seemed more in danger: "I am a [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]]ist out of honour, a monarchist out of reason, and a republican out of taste and temperament". He was the first of a series of French men of letters ([[Alphonse de Lamartine|Lamartine]], [[Victor Hugo]], [[André Malraux]], [[Paul Claudel]]) who tried to mix political and literary careers.

"We are convinced that the great writers have told their own story in their works", wrote Chateaubriand in ''[[The Genius of Christianity|Génie du christianisme]]''. "One only truly describes one's own heart by attributing it to another, and the greater part of genius is composed of memories". This is certainly true of Chateaubriand himself. All his works have strong autobiographical elements, overt or disguised. [[George Brandes]], in 1901, compared the works of Chateaubriand to those of Rousseau and others:<blockquote>The year 1800 was the first to produce a book bearing the imprint of the new era, a work small in size, but great in significance and mighty in the impression it made. ''Atala'' took the French public by storm in a way which no book had done since the days of ''[[Paul and Virginia]]''. It was a romance of the plains and mysterious forests of North America, with a strong, strange aroma of the untilled soil from which it sprang; it glowed with rich foreign colouring, and with the fiercer glow of consuming passion.<ref>George Brandes, ''Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature'', '''1''':''The Emigrant Literature'' [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/47675/47675-h/47675-h.htm#I p. 7]</ref>
</blockquote>

Chateaubriand was a food enthusiast; [[Chateaubriand steak]] is most likely to have been named after him.<ref>see the [[Chateaubriand steak]] article for discussion</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Chateaubriand {{!}} Origins, Definition, Sauce, & Methods for Making and Serving {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/chateaubriand |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Honors and memberships==
In 1806, Chateaubriand was invested as a [[Knight]] of the [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic)|Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem]] during a pilgrimage to the [[Holy Land]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Siberry |first=Elizabeth |date=1995 |editor-last=Riley-Smith |editor-first=Jonathan |title=The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=365–385 |chapter=Chapter 14: Images of the Crusades in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries |isbn=978-0192854285}}</ref> Chateaubriand was elected a member of the [[American Antiquarian Society]] in 1816.<ref>[http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistc American Antiquarian Society Members Directory]</ref> A French school in [[Rome]] is named after him.

== Works ==
[[File:Itinéraire de Paris a Jérusalem et de Jérusalem a Paris.tif|thumb|''Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem et de Jérusalem à Paris'', 1821]]
* 1797: ''[[Essai sur les révolutions]]''.
* 1801: ''[[Atala (novella)|Atala, ou Les Amours de Deux Sauvages dans le Desert]]''.
* 1802: ''[[René (novella)|René]]''.
* 1802: ''[[Génie du christianisme]]''.
* 1809: ''Les Martyrs''.
* 1811: ''[[Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem]]''. English translation by [[Frederic Shoberl]], 1814. ''[https://archive.org/details/travelsingreece00chatgoog Travels in Greece, Palestine, Egypt, and Barbary, during the years 1806 and 1807]''.
* 1814: "On Buonaparte and the Bourbons", in Blum, Christopher Olaf, editor and translator, 2004. ''Critics of the Enlightenment''. Wilmington, DE: [http://www.isibooks.org ISI Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205051420/http://isibooks.org/ |date=5 December 2006 }}. 3–42.
* 1820: ''[[Mémoires sur la vie et la mort du duc de Berry]]''.
* 1825: ''[[Note sur la Grèce]]''.
* 1826: ''[[Les Natchez]]''.
* 1826: ''[[Les Aventures du dernier Abencérage]]''.
* 1827: ''[[Voyage en Amérique]]''.
* 1831: ''[[Études historiques]]''.
* 1833: ''[[Mémoires sur la captivité de Madame la duchesse de Berry]]''.
* 1844: ''[[La Vie de Rancé]]''.
* 1848–50: ''[[Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe]]''.
** [https://archive.org/stream/catholicpolitica00menc#page/98/mode/2up "Progress,"] in Menczer, Béla, 1962. ''Catholic Political Thought, 1789–1848'', University of Notre Dame Press.

=== Digitized works ===
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*{{Cite book
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== See also ==
* [[Chateaubriand steak]]
* [[:fr:Liste des membres de la Chambre des pairs (Restauration)|Viscountcy of Chateaubriand (cr. 1817)]]
* [[List of Ambassadors of France to the United Kingdom]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{NIE |wstitle = Chateaubriand, François René Auguste }}
* [[Marc Fumaroli]], ''Chateaubriand: poésie et terreur'', Fallois, Paris: 2004.
* {{cite Appletons |wstitle = Chateaubriand, François Auguste }}
* {{cite CE1913 |wstitle = François-René de Chateaubriand }}
* {{cite EB1911 |wstitle = Chateaubriand, François René }}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Robert Baldick|Baldick, Robert]] (trans.) ''The Memoirs of Chateaubriand'' (Hamish Hamilton, 1961)
* Boorsch, Jean. "Chateaubriand and Napoleon." ''Yale French Studies'' 26 (1960): 55–62 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2929224 online].
* Bouvier, Luke. "Death and the Scene of Inception: Autobiographical Impropriety and the Birth of Romanticism in Chateaubriand's Mémoires d'outre-tombe." ''French Forum'' (1998), vol. 23, no. 1, pp.&nbsp;23–46. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40551991 online]
* Byrnes, Joseph F. "Chateaubriand and Destutt de Tracy: Defining religious and secular polarities in France at the beginning of the nineteenth century." ''Church History'' 60.3 (1991): 316-330 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3167470 online].
* Counter, Andrew J. "A Nation of Foreigners: Chateaubriand and Repatriation." ''Nineteenth-Century French Studies'' 46.3 (2018): 285–306. [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/692199/summary online]
* Fritzsche, Peter. "Chateaubriand's Ruins: Loss and Memory after the French Revolution." ''History and Memory'' 10.2 (1998): 102–117 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25681029 online].
* Huet, Marie-Hélène. "Chateaubriand and the Politics of (Im) mortality." ''Diacritics'' 30.3 (2000): 28-39 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1566341 online].
* Painter, George D. ''Chateaubriand: A Biography:  Volume I (1768–93) The Longed-For Tempests.'' (1997) [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1978/07/20/what-chateaubriand-saw/ online review]
* Rosenthal, Léon, and Marc Sandoz. "Chateaubriand, Francois-Auguste-Rene, Vicomte De 1768–1848." ''Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760–1850'' (2013): 168.
* Scott, Malcolm. ''Chateaubriand: The Paradox of Change'' (Peter Lang, 2015). vi + 216 pp. [http://www.h-france.net/vol16reviews/vol16no61counter.pdf online review]
* Thompson, Christopher W. ''French Romantic Travel Writing: Chateaubriand to Nerval'' (Oxford University Press, 2012).

===In French===
* [[Ghislain de Diesbach]], ''Chateaubriand'' (Paris: Perrin, 1995).
* Jean-Claude Berchet, ''Chateaubriand'' (Paris: Gallimard, 2012).

===Primary sources===
* de Chateaubriand, François-René. ''Chateaubriand's Travels in America.'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2015).
* Chateaubriand, François-René. ''The genius of Christianity'' (1884). [https://archive.org/details/TheGeniusOfChristianity15thEd online]
* Chateaubriand, François-René. ''Travels in Greece, Palestine, Egypt and Barbary: during the years 1806 and 1807'' (1814). [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=lang_en&id=-J42AAAAMAAJ online]
* Chateaubriand's works were edited in 20 volumes by [[Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve|Sainte-Beuve]], with an introductory study of his own (1859–60).

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|s=Author:François-René de Chateaubriand|n=no|b=no}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=7255}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=François-René de Chateaubriand |sopt=t}} 
* {{Librivox author |id=12165}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040407142643/http://www2.cg92.fr/chateaubriand/index.htm Maison de Chateaubriand à la Vallée-aux-Loups]
* {{in lang|fr}} [http://athena.unige.ch/athena/chateaubriand/chateaubriand.html ''Atala'', ''René'', ''Le Dernier Abencerage'' at athena.unige.ch]
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071118130641/http://www.livropolis.com/index.php?i=6&author=377 Works in digital reading]
* {{in lang|en}} [http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Chateaubriand/Chathome.htm ''Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe''] at Poetry in Translation: a complete English translation of the Memoirs by A. S. Kline, with a hyper-linked in-depth index and over 600 illustrations of the people, places and events of Chateaubriand's life. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
* {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.poesies.net/chateaubriand.html Complete works]
*[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Auguste-Rene-vicomte-de-Chateaubriand François-Auguste-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand in Britannica] 
*[https://aleteia.org/2019/01/06/chateaubriand-the-author-who-wanted-to-return-france-to-its-christian-roots/ Chateaubriand, the author who wanted to return France to its Christian roots]

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