Atala, novel by François-Auguste-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand, published in French as Atala, ou les amours de deux savages dans le désert in 1801. It was revised and reissued with René in 1805. A portion of an unfinished epic about Native Americans, the work tells the story of a Euro-American girl who has taken a vow to remain celibate but who falls in love with a Natchez man. Torn between love and religion, she poisons herself to keep from breaking her vow. The lush Louisiana setting and the playing-out of romantic passion in primitive American surroundings are captured in a rich, harmonious prose style that yields many beautiful descriptive passages.