Editing François-René de Chateaubriand (section)

== Influence ==
His 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>