Chateaubriand's Memoirs' `Louisianaise'

Concerning the woman he called, in his memoirs, the "Louisianaise," Chateaubriand came close to being reticent. Scavenging among records of all kinds in France and the United States, however, makes it possible to reconstruct the life of this beautiful young Creole who made a deep impression upon the author of Atala and René. Born near Baton Rouge 1n 1804, she married a cousin in New Orleans in 1823, then moved to France four years later. She never obtained a separation from her husband, whom she rather liked but did not love. Chateaubriand's attentions flattered her but evoked no other response. She died in Paris in 1882. (HRJr)