The worldly consecration of the writer Chateaubriand at the Abbaye-aux-Bois

From February to March 1834, Chateaubriand gives to read extracts of his future Mémoires d’outre-tombe in Juliette Récamier’s salon, at the Abbaye-aux-Bois. These readings quickly become a media event which goes beyond the strictly social framework of the salon. This paper analyses this episode in detail to show that the critical articles that report on it form a collective operation intended to ensure the literary dissemination of the Mémoires beyond a restricted audience.