A man of magnificent imagination but of poor
character, of indisputable power, but cursed with a cold egotism and an
incurable barrenness of feeling, which made it impossible for him to
tolerate about him anybody but slaves or adorers. A tormented soul and
miserable life, when all is said, under its aureole of glory and its
crown of laurels!
Essentially jealous and choleric, Chateaubriand from the beginning was
inspired by mistrust, by the passion for contradicting, for crushing and
conquering. This motive may always be traced in him. Rousseau seems to
me his point of departure, the man who suggested to him by contrast and
opposition all his replies and attacks, Rousseau is revolutionary:
Chateaubriand therefore writes his "Essay on Revolutions." Rousseau is
republican and Protestant; Chateaubriand will be royalist and Catholic.
Rousseau is _bourgeois_; Chateaubriand will glorify nothing but noble
birth, honor, chivalry and deeds of arms. Rousseau conquered nature for
French letters, above all the nature of the mountains and of the Swiss
and Savoy, and lakes. He pleaded for her against civilization.
Chateaubriand will take possession of a new and colossal nature, of the
ocean, of America; but he will make his savages speak the language of
Louis XIV., he will bow Atala before a Catholic missionary, and sanctify
passions born on the banks of the Mississippi by the solemnities of
Catholic ceremonial.
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