Chateaubriand's Atala and Le Suire's America

This study suggests an addition to the long list of works that can be claimed to have contributed to Chateaubriand's writing of Atala. It argues that Chateaubriand's Indian adventure was deeply influenced by an American idyll contained within Le Nouveau Monde, a heroic poem that Le Suire had published two decades previously. It adduces similarities in such areas as the portraits of the protagonists, the issue of incest, the descriptions of death and novel attitudes to nature. The article also submits that Le Suire influenced Atala indirectly, by drawing Chateaubriand's attention to details in the books that they both consulted. (TMP) [Treatment of New World Sources in Le Suire, Robert-Martin: Le Nouveau Monde, ou Christophe Colomb.]