SUMMARY: Anatole France (16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) French author
Anatole France Quotes
Anatole France Books
More aboutAnatole France

Anatole France was a French author born April 16, 1844, in Paris, France. Anatole was the son of a bookseller. Anatole’s given name is Francois Anatole Thibault but he wrote under the name of Anatole France. His father’s bookstore was called the Librairie France. Anatole spent most of his life around books. Anatole studied at the Colloege Stanislas, a boy’s school in Paris. He was not the best student and came away with a dislike for the church. Anatole continued to help his father at the bookstore after his graduation. He also studied at the Ecole des Chartes for a while. His love for literature developed at an early stage in life.

Although he held many different positions for about 20 years, he still had time for his own writings. In 1876 he became the assistant librarian at the French Senate. He held this position until 1890 and was able to continue his own writings.

Anatole France was married to Valarie Guerin de Sauville on April 28, 1877. The two had one daughter, Suzanne. The marriage ended in 1893. They were divorced after many years of his affair with Arman de Caillavet, who was the love of his life. Anatole was married again on October 11,1920 to Emma Laprevotte. They were married until Anatole’s death in 1924.

The ending of Anatole France’s life was not without trial. His daughter, Suzanne died in 1917. His mistress Arman de Caillavet became ill and died in 1910. He had begun to have affairs with other women and deceived his mistress and his housekeeper, Emma Laprevotte, who he married later. He also had an affair with an American woman who killed herself in 1911 because of his desertion.

Anatole is mostly known for his works as a novelist and a storyteller. However there is hardly a writing classification that he did not touch on. Anatole was considered a mainstream writer of French classicism.

Anatole first great success came after he had written many stories and novels in 1881. He wrote The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard. For this he was elected to and became a member of the Academie francaise in 1896. His novel received a prize from the Academie Francaise because the novel embodied France’s own personality.

In 1885 Anatole France published My Friend’s Book, which was a sort of autobiography novel. He continued with a few more follow up novels in the autobiography style, there was Pierre Noziere, 1899, Le Petit Pierre, 1918 and The Bloom of Life, 1922. From 1888 to 1892 Anatole France was the literary critic of Le Temps, A French newspaper.

Anatole France joined his fellow writer, Emile Zola, in the protest during the Alfred Dryfus affair. Anatole signed Zola’s manifesto, which publicly condemned the indictment of treason against Dryfus. In 1901, France wrote about the affair in his book Monsieur Bergeret. Anatole didn’t like the way Alfred Dryfus was being used as a scapegoat to protect corrupt officials in the army.

Anatole France’s later works include Penguin Island, 1908 and The Revolt of the Angels, 1914. The Revolt of Angels is considered France’s most profound novel.

Anatole France made great contributions in Literature and in 1921 he was given t the Nobel Prize. He died October 12,1924 in Tours, France. He was buried in the Neully-sur-Seine community cemetery near Paris. France had some of the top ranking French government officials at his funeral.

The Catholic Church in the Index of Forbidden Books kept Anatole France’s literary writing in the 1920s and would not release them. His works were released and published between 1925 and 1935. The works were published in 25 volumes.