What happens when the liberty of ancient nobility collides with the revolutionary ideals of equality? This groundbreaking study explores how the American, French, Haitian, and Greek Revolutions redefined freedom—and how French Romantic figure Chateaubriand mourned that transformation. Tracing his travels across England, North America, and the Mediterranean, this book uncovers Chateaubriand’s seductive visions of “paradises lost,” which were taken up, challenged, and reimagined by Anglophone and Hispanic writers.

From Charlotte Brontë to Harriet Beecher Stowe, from Byron to Bolaño shaping postcolonial identity, readers find in Chateaubriand a conflicted but powerful voice at the crossroads of liberty, race, religion, and empire. This is the first comprehensive study to situate Chateaubriand within the histories of colonialism and global revolution, revealing a literary legacy that remains startlingly relevant in today’s struggles over identity, power, and belonging.

Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

List of Illustrations

Abbreviations  

Introduction: Equivocations or Chateaubriand Exposed        

1          Chateaubriand: Who Am I?

2          North America, Between Heaven and Hell

3          The Rival British Empire

4          Multicultural Mediterranean in Chateaubriand and Byron’s work

5          Moorish Spain 

6          Latin America Writes Back

Conclusion

Transatlantic Epilogue

Appendix

Select Chronology

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index