CHATEAUBRIAND François-René Atala. René. [Oeuvres, Tome IX]

Uncommon collective edition of Atala and René, part of the Oeuvres published by the bookseller-publisher Fournier.

Published in 10 volumes, this is the first volume, curiously numbered IX. This edition of the Complete Works started with volume IX and ended with volume XVIII. The work opens with a reprint of the 1805 Preface. Following René are the ‘Notes et critiques sur Atala’ (pp.245-363), followed by the ‘Préfaces’ to the 4 previous editions (pp. 364-end).

In 1791, Châteaubriand travelled to America, which inspired him to write two works, including Atala. Châteaubriand was fascinated by the American landscape, with its luxuriant, wild and transcendent nature. He did not forget to incorporate this nature into Atala, as the story combines his travel impressions with a tragic love story. In this, he is a worthy heir to Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Chateaubriand develops the love story between two Indians from different tribes.

Chactas, captured by the Muscogulges, is saved by the chief’s daughter, Atala. The two inevitably fall in love and flee. However, realising that her love would break the vow of chastity she had made to her mother, Atala decides to poison herself. She dies in the arms of Chactas and receives the last rites from Father Aubry, who had taken them in.

The climax of the story, and also the most moving pages of the work, is Atala’s burial. Her funeral takes up a substantial passage in which the feelings of Chactas and Father Aubry are highlighted. Thus, in his work, Chateaubriand embraced the romantic motifs of impossible love precipitated by death and the torments of passion.

At the end of the century, Villiers de l’Isle-Adam took up this theme, darkening it still further in Axël and Barbey d’Aurevilly in Léa. Chactas is also one of René’s characters, this time accompanied by Father Souël. The two men listen to the story of René’s life as he is exiled to the Natchez tribe after travelling across Europe and America in search of himself. This is a tale of apprenticeship, similar to Voltaire’s, but focusing on human feelings, in particular loneliness and longing.

An exceptional copy that once belonged to Mallarmé, with his signature in blue ink on the title page. Mallarmé was undoubtedly influenced by Chateaubriand’s writing.