Birth of Chateaubriand (1768)
François René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) is known as the pioneer of the French Romantic Movement. Born in Saint Malo, Chateaubriand became a multi-faceted writer but was exiled during the Revolution. A politician, an enemy of Napoleon, in exile, he travelled widely throughout America and the East "astride two centuries and in fact two worlds, the 18th and the 19th centuries, licentiousness and passion, during an era of light and romanticism". (Jean d'Ormesson). Successful author of Atala, Memoirs from Beyond the Grave, René, The Genius of Christianity, The Natchez.