When Anatole France died on October 12, 1924, the music of “Thais“ -one of the works that made his prose part of European culture- was playing on the stage in Paris. The writer, born Jacques Anatole François Thibaut, was 80 years old. He went to La Bechlerie near Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, after a life spent between books, journalism and the great political controversies of France.
The son of a Parisian bookseller, France entered the world of literature at an early age. He wrote poetry, literary criticism, novels and journalism. Between 1888 and 1892 he was a literary critic for the newspaper Le Temps, and in 1896 he was elected a member of the French Academy.
From gentle prose to political satire
His first great success came with the novel “The Crime of Sylvester Bonnard“, published in 1881. In it, France created a character who combines learning, absent-mindedness and human kindness - qualities that would remain recognizable in his subsequent books.
Among his most famous works is “Thais“ - a novel about an Egyptian courtesan and ascetic, in which the writer confronts carnal desire with religious fanaticism. The story later inspired an opera by Jules Massenet.
In “The Island of the Penguins“ France tells a fictional story of penguins who are mistakenly baptized and transformed into humans. From this seemingly fantastic plot is born a satire of wars, nationalism, property and political institutions.
“The Gods Thirst“ takes the reader to the time of the French Revolution. The novel shows how ideas of justice can be swallowed up by suspicion, violence and revolutionary fanaticism. This criticism of dogma continues in “The Revolt of the Angels“, where the heavenly order is presented as a mirror of human power.
The Writer in Public Life
Anatole France did not remain a mere observer of politics. During the Dreyfus Affair, he sided with Alfred Dreyfus and supported the public struggle against his unjust conviction. This position made him one of the most visible intellectuals in French public life.
In 1921, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, the Nobel Committee distinguished him for his “brilliant literary achievements“, marked by nobility of style, profound human sympathy, and “true Gallic temperament“.
Only a year later, his works were included in the Index of Prohibited Books of the Catholic Church – a sign of the tension between his skepticism and religious authority.
After his death, his collected works were published in 25 volumes between 1925 and 1935. Time changes literary fashions, but it does not erase France's fundamental question: what happens to a person when he turns his own beliefs into absolute truth.
Sources: time.com, lemonde.fr, thecrimson.com