The Revolt of the Angels

The Revolt of the Angels (Les revoltes des Anges) is a 1914 novel by Anatole France.[1]

Frontispiece of the first edition.

Plot

Revolt retells the classic Christian story of the war in heaven between angels led by the Archangel Michael against others led by Satan. The war ends with the defeat and casting to the earth of the latter.[2] The plot emphasises themes of protagonists fighting a ruling hierarchy, and attempting to escape it, as well as "hiddenness, delusion, revolution, and epiphany...a literary exploration of existential choices in an apocalyptic context".[3] It is written, says René Boylesve, with a "deft levity".[4] Mutual antagonism between God and his angels is emphasised, which leads to disgruntlement and ultimately rebellion by the latter.[5]

Political influences

France's political leanings—he was a socialist—heavily influenced Revolt, leading the theme that successful revolutions must always create greater tyrannies than those they overthrew.[6] The bitterness created by the revolt is reflected in the "biting and harsh" descriptions.[7] Joe Loewenberg has described it as an "imaginative narrative...the ripest expression of Anatole France's urbane genius, [being] a masterpiece of criticism at once ironic and irenic".[8]

Literary references

Essayist David Fuchs argues that much of Ernest Hemingway's early work suggests that he was probably aware of the book, even if he had not read it.[9] F. Scott Fitzgerald references Revolt of the Angels in his early story Dancing with a Ghost.[10] Fitzgerald also uses the book as a prop in his story "The Offshore Pirate"; the character Ardita is reading Revolt, herself looking, says Griffin, "conically angelic...reading a book about angels ". Fitzgerald draws attention to Revolt five times in the story; he argues that France's work is the more romantic of the two.[11] Revolt has been compared with the work of George Santayana in its suggestion that religion is set back by its successes.[12]

References
  1. Loewenberg, J. “De Angelis.” The Philosophical Review, vol. 40, no. 2, 1931, pp. 124–15, p.129.
  2. Gregg, J. Y. (1997). Devils, Women, and Jews: Reflections of the Other in Medieval Sermon Stories. State University of New York. p. 28. ISBN 0-7914-3417-6.
  3. Griffin, Jared. “‘Dancing with a Ghost’: Revolution and Whiteness in F. Scott Fitzgerald's ‘The Offshore Pirate.’” Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies (HJEAS), vol. 17, no. 2, 2011, pp. 323–338, p.332
  4. Schaffer, Aaron. “René Boylesve: An Unsung ‘Immortal.’” The North American Review, vol. 218, no. 814, 1923, pp. 399–409, p.406.
  5. Collins, J. “Anatole France.” The Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 1, no. 1, 1925, pp. 94–110, 107.
  6. Ross, Lloyd. “A Socialist on Democracy.” The Australian Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 3, 1947, pp. 69–82, p.70.
  7. Collins, J. “Anatole France.” The Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 1, no. 1, 1925, pp. 94–110, 107.
  8. Loewenberg, J. “De Angelis.” The Philosophical Review, vol. 40, no. 2, 1931, pp. 124–15, p.129.
  9. Fuchs, Daniel. “Ernest Hemingway, Literary Critic.” American Literature, vol. 36, no. 4, 1965, pp. 431–451, p.444.
  10. Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies (HJEAS), Fall, 2011, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Fall, 2011), pp. 453-456
  11. Griffin, Jared. “‘Dancing with a Ghost’: Revolution and Whiteness in F. Scott Fitzgerald's ‘The Offshore Pirate.’” Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies (HJEAS), vol. 17, no. 2, 2011, pp. 323–338, p.333
  12. Ratner, Joseph. “George Santayana's Theory of Religion.” The Journal of Religion, vol. 3, no. 5, 1923, pp. 458–475, p.472
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