René
René, novel by François-Auguste-René Chateaubriand, published in French as René, ou les effets de la passion in 1805 with a revised edition of Atala (1801). It tells the story of a sister who enters a convent rather than surrender to her passion for her brother. In this thinly veiled autobiographical work, Chateaubriand began the Romantic vogue for world-weary, melancholy heroes suffering from vague, unsatisfied yearnings in what has since been called the mal du siècle (“the malady of the age”).
Citation Information
Article Title:
René
Website Name:
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published:
31 January 2022
Access Date:
April 20, 2025