"Atala" is an early novella by François-René de Chateaubriand, first published in 1801. The work, inspired by his travels in North America, had an immense impact on early Romanticism, and went through five editions in its first year. Along with René, it began as a discarded fragment from a long prose epic the author had composed between 1793 and 1799, Les Natchez, which would not be made public until 1826. In 1802 both Atala and René were published as part of Chateaubriand's Génie du christianisme. René is also available from Molière & Co.
A young disillusioned Frenchman, René, has joined an Indian tribe and married a woman named Céluta. On a hunting expedition, one moonlit night, René asks Chactas, the old man who adopted him, to relate the story of his life.
ISBN 978-1-58977-116-1
Molière & Co. #22