Mal du siècle
Mal du siècle (French: [mal dy sjɛkl], "sickness of the century") is a term used to refer to the ennui, disillusionment, and melancholy experienced by primarily young adults of Europe's early 19th century, when speaking in terms of the rising Romantic movement. François-René de Chateaubriand's protagonist René characterizes the Romantic ennui that would become a benchmark of the Romantic esthetic in the first half of the century: René is a young man who was suffering from the moral malady known as "le mal du siècle".