François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa ʁəne də ʃatobʁijɑ̃]) (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician and diplomat. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.
Born in Saint-Malo, the last of ten children, Chateaubriand grew up in his family's castle in Combourg, Brittany. His father, René de Chateaubriand (1718-86), was a former sea captain turned ship owner and slave ...
more
François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa ʁəne də ʃatobʁijɑ̃]) (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician and diplomat. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.
Born in Saint-Malo, the last of ten children, Chateaubriand grew up in his family's castle in Combourg, Brittany. His father, René de Chateaubriand (1718-86), was a former sea captain turned ship owner and slave trader. His mother's maiden name was Apolline de Bedée. Chateaubriand's father was a morose, uncommunicative man and the young Chateaubriand grew up in an atmosphere of gloomy solitude, only broken by long walks in the Breton countryside and an intense friendship with his sister Lucile.
Chateaubriand was educated in Dol, Rennes and Dinan. For a time he could not make up his mind whether he wanted to be a naval officer or a priest, but at the age of seventeen, he decided on a military career and gained a commission as a second lieutenant in the...
less
