Through Atala Chateaubriand contrasts nature and religion through descriptions of the primitive American landscape. Written with a lyrical and unbridled romantic voice, the tale is in the tradition of unrequited love —between Chactas and Atala— that brings to mind the romances of Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet, Paris and Helen of Troy, Odysseus and Penelope, and Orpheus and Eurydice—among others.
