Chateaubriand, poet of revolt

Chateaubriand no longer appeals to young people. Yet the political impact of his writings was considerable in the 19th century, so much so that he was long considered one of the beacons of rebellious youth. His style, which today is a little off-putting, had a lot to do with it.

«I met between two centuries as at the confluence of two rivers», wrote Chateaubriand at the beginning of his Mémoires d'outre-tombe. This Breton gentleman, considered one of the fathers of French Romanticism, dreamed of addressing the younger generation when he wielded his pen, despite the image of a reactionary, ultra-royalist Catholic he suffered from as soon as he voiced his opposition to the excesses of the French Revolution. Admittedly, his attachment to certain principles of the old order, stemming from the strict upbringing he received during his childhood as a Malouin hobber, never matched t