Anatole France: biography, personal life, creativity, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Anatole France is a famous French writer and literary critic. In 1921 he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Swedish academicians noted his refined style, humanism and classical Gallic temperament. Interestingly, he donated all the money to the starving Russia, where at that time there was a civil war. Among his most famous works are the novels Thais, Penguin Island, The Gods Thirst, Rise of the Angels.

Writer's biography

Anatole France was born in Paris in 1844. His real name is different. François Anatoli Thibaut became known to the world by his pseudonym.

His father had his own bookstore that specialized in literature on the history of the French Revolution. The hero of our article did not study well in his youth, graduated from the Jesuit college with difficulty, several timesfailing their final exams. He could finally pass them only by the age of 20.

At the age of 22, Anatole France began to earn his own living by taking a job as a bibliographer. So he began to get acquainted with the literary world for the first time, and soon found himself among the participants in the Parnassus school. This is a creative group united around Theophile Gauthier. In their work, they sought to resist the poetics of romanticism, which, in their opinion, was outdated by that time.

When the Franco-Prussian war began in 1870, Anatole France went to serve in the army. After demobilization, he returned to editorial activities.

Working as a journalist

In 1875, Frans began working as a journalist for the Parisian newspaper Le Temps. From the publication, he receives an order for a series of critical articles on contemporary writers. A year later, he becomes the leading critic of this publication, opens his own column called "Literary Life".

In 1876, the hero of our article gets the position of deputy director in the library of the French Senate. He remained in this position for the next 14 years. This work allowed me to devote enough time to literature.

In 1924 Frans died at the age of 80. Shortly before that, he went to bed with the last stage of sclerosis.

An interesting fact: his brain was examined by anatomists, who found that the mass of the organ exceeds one kilogram, which is incredibly large for an ordinary person. The writer was buried in a cemetery in a smalltown of Neuilly-sur-Seine. In this place he spent the last years of his life.

Public position

In 1898, Frans became one of the most active participants in the Dreyfus affair. It is known that he was among the first to sign the famous letter of Emile Zola "I accuse".

After this, the writer becomes a supporter of the first reformist, and then the socialist camp. In France, he participates in the creation of popular universities, participates in rallies organized by left-wing political forces, lectures to workers.

Over time, he becomes a close friend of the leader of the French socialists, Jean Jaurès. Visits Russia in 1913.

Private life

France had a wife, Valerie, but his personal life was not at all cloudless. After the success of his works "The Parisian Chronicle" and "The Crime of Sylvester Bonnard", the hero of our article finds himself in the high French society.

In 1883, he met the owner of one of the most influential literary salons, Leontina Armand de Caiave. She was a powerful and educated aristocrat who highly appreciated the works of Frans.

For many years after that, he had to live between two women, and his wife constantly sort things out and settle scores with her rival. Valerie's main drawback was that she did not understand the spiritual component of her husband's life, because of this, the situation at home was constantly heating up. SoOver time, the couple stopped communicating altogether, exchanging only notes.

In the end, he left home, and did it defiantly, going out into the street in a dressing gown and with a tray in his hands, on which there was an inkwell and a started article. He rented a furnished room under an assumed name, finally breaking off the family relationship. Until the end of his life, he communicated only with his beloved daughter.

Early creativity

The first book by Anatole France, which brought him popularity, was the novel "The Crime of Sylvester Bonnard", published in 1881. It was a satirical work in which kindness and frivolity defeated harsh virtue.

The tale of Anatole France "The Bee" belongs to the same period, which he himself urged not to read to any serious people. This is his only work for children, in which he tells the touching story of the young Count Georges and his named sister Bee, who run away from home to find themselves in the realm of undines and gnomes.

In his subsequent works, the writer recreates the spirit of various historical eras, using his erudition and subtle psychological flair. For example, in the story "Queen's Tavern" Houndstooth ", he makes the main character of the abbot Jerome Coignard, who constantly sins, finding excuses that breaking the commandments strengthens the spirit of humility in him.

In many of the author's stories, a vivid fantasy appears. For example, in a collection called "Mother-of-Pearl Casket" the theme comes to the foreChristian and pagan worldview. It is worth noting that in this he had a certain influence on the famous Russian writer and prose writer Dmitry Merezhkovsky.

Thais by Anatole France, published in 1890, tells the story of a famous ancient courtesan who turned into a saint. The book is written in the spirit of Christian mercy and at the same time Epicureanism.

Anatole France's 1894 novel The Red Lily is a pictorial description of Florence set against a classic French adultery drama in the vein of the then-popular novelist Paul Bourget.

Social Novels

A new stage in the work of Frans is dedicated to social novels. He publishes a whole series of sharply political works, which have the general sub title "Modern History". Their appearance coincides with his enthusiasm for socialist ideas.

In fact, this is a diverse historical chronicle in which the events taking place in the world are analyzed from a philosophical point of view. Frans in this case acts as a historian of modernity, who, with the impartiality of a researcher and the irony of a skeptic, evaluates the events taking place around.

Often in his novels of this period one can find a fictional plot that connects with social events that actually took place. He pays attention to the intrigues of provincial bureaucrats, the Dreyfus trial, street manifestations, which inAt that time spontaneously arise in different parts of Europe.

Here Frans describes armchair scientists' theories, scientific research, troubles that occur in his home life, for example, cheating on his wife. Before us appears the true psychology of a short-sighted thinker in everyday life and puzzled by what is happening.

As a rule, the center of the narrative in the novels of this series is the historian Bergeret, who embodies the writer's peculiar philosophical ideal. This is a skeptical and slightly condescending attitude towards the surrounding reality, an ironic equanimity towards the actions committed by others.

Novels written from 1897 to 1901 belong to this period: "Under the City Elms", "Willow Mannequin", "Amethyst Ring", "Mr. Bergeret in Paris".

Franse satire

The next stage in the work of Frans is satire. In 1908, he completed the historical work "The Life of Joan of Arc", which is published in two volumes. He writes it under the influence of the historian Ernest Renan, the book was frankly poorly received by the public, subjected to serious criticism. It seemed unreliable to historians, and the clerics were unhappy with the demystification of Joan.

But the novel "Penguin Island" by Anatole France became popular. It also came out in 1908. It tells about the visually impaired Abbot Mael, who mistakes the penguins he meets for people and decides to christen them. In this regard, there are serious complications on earth and heaven. ATIn his characteristic satirical manner, France describes the emergence among the penguins of the beginnings of the state and private property, the appearance of the first royal dynasty in their history. The Renaissance and the Middle Ages pass before the eyes of readers. There are allusions in the novel to events contemporary to the author. Mention is made of the Dreyfus affair, an attempt to organize a coup by General Boulanger, the morals of the French minister Waldeck-Rousseau.

In the finale, the author gives a gloomy forecast for the future, arguing that nuclear terrorism and the power of financial monopolies will finally destroy civilization. Only after this society will be able to revive again.

The gods are thirsty

Anatole France writes his next great and significant work in 1912. He dedicates it to the events of the Great French Revolution.

The Gods Thirst by Anatole France tells about the events of French history at the end of the 18th century. This is the period of the dictatorship of the petty-bourgeois Jacobin party, led by Robespierre.

Rise of the Angels

The 1914 novel "Rise of the Angels" is a social satire. Frans writes it with elements of game mysticism. In the book of the hero of our article, not God reigns in heaven, but an imperfect and evil Demiurge. Therefore, Satan has to raise an uprising against him, which becomes a kind of reflection of the socialist revolutions taking place at this time on Earth.

Toward the end of his life, Frans turns to autobiographical writings. He writes several books about his childhood and youth. These are the novels "Life in Bloom" and"Little Pierre".