A short tale of thwarted love and passion set in the American wilderness, Chateaubriand’s Atala was first published in 1801. It is now most often read alongside its companion tale René (1802), and Chateaubriand published them together in 1805. Both tales, however, can also be situated within two very different longer works. In 1802 Chateaubriand integrated them within his influential apologia, Le Génie du christianisme [The Genius of Christianity]. Less obviously, both René and Atala were first conceived as part of an epic called The Natchez that recounts the defeat of a Native American tribe. An admirable re-edition of The Natchez…
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Citation: Yee, Jennifer. "Atala". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 February 2018 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11157, accessed 22 November 2024.]
