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The Revolt of the Angels

by Anatole France, Frank C. Pape (Illustrator)

3.94 · rating details · 113 ratings · 12 reviews

The Revolt of the Angels (1914), often considered France's most profound novel, tells the story of Arcade, the guardian angel of Maurice d'Esparvieu, who falls in love and joins the revolutionary movement of angels.

Paperback, 396 pages

Published August 30th 2008 by Wildside Press (first published January 1st 1914)

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Jan 22, 2008

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE rated it

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Shelves: literature

It's becoming obvious that many of my bk 'reviews' are actually just excuses for anecdotes w/ just a little bk review thrown in here & there. That's the case here. I've been writing a math humor bk called "Paradigm Shift Knuckle Sandwich & other examples of PNT (Perverse Number Theory)" - in fact, it's more or less finished now: I'm just working on the Glossary & the Index. Part of this bk entails my navigating thru my notes about math bks that I read between, roughly, 2003 & 2005. ...moreIt's becoming obvious that many of my bk 'reviews' are actually just excuses for anecdotes w/ just a little bk review thrown in here & there. That's the case here. I've been writing a math humor bk called "Paradigm Shift Knuckle Sandwich & other examples of PNT (Perverse Number Theory)" - in fact, it's more or less finished now: I'm just working on the Glossary & the Index. Part of this bk entails my navigating thru my notes about math bks that I read between, roughly, 2003 & 2005. In one of them, I ran across mention of Anatole France's novel entitled (in English translation) "The Revolt of the Angels". I'd made a note to myself to find & read that. Then, in another note I found France quoted by one of the math bk authors. So that strengthened the resolve to read something by him. Now, I've known about A France for at least 32 yrs & I have his "Penguin Island" in my library - but I'd never read that or anything else by him. I was never that curious. In the back of my mind (in the visual cortex? Just Kidding), I think I always thought of him as a pop novelist & never had much interest. ANYWAY, the reason why I knew about him ±32 yrs ago is because of something that I eventually worked into this bk I just wrote. SO, read the relevant excerpt below & then I promise to move onto the actual review:

Beckmann goes on to diss Aristotle, who he describes as the "one whose teachings held up the progress of science for close to 2,000 years". Ha ha! "Aristotle, we are invariably told, was 'antiquity's most brilliant intellect,' and the explanation of this weird assertion, I believe, is best summarized in Anatole France's words: The books that everybody admires are the books that nobody reads." Coincidentally, I've been vacillating about whether to talk about what I call Bird-Brainism, wch I've so far decided against, but now that A. France is mentioned, the time for a segue has clearly come.
While reading these math bks, some non-math bk might be mentioned that seemed interesting, so I'd make note of it. In the Turing bio, Elmer Rice's play Judgment Day, about the Reichstag fire trial, was mentioned; Nobel Prize winning French author Anatole France's La Revolte des Anges (The Revolt of the Angels) was mentioned elsewhere. I've gotten both out of the library recently.
Anatole France has the fate, perhaps somewhat unfortunate, of being the guy whose posthumously determined small brain size (2.24 pounds as opposed to the average 3 pounds) is used to demonstrate that "big brain" doesn't automatically correlate w/ "intelligence".
When I was in my early 20s I took a Physical Anthropology class at a community college. That's probably where the subject of France's brain-size & its significance was mentioned. The 1st paper I wrote for that class is reproduced below:

The Significance of Efficient Brain-Use

Anthropologists have used cranial capacity as an indicator of the degree of mental ability. This makes Neanderthals "superior" to "twentieth-century" people. This practice is based on the belief that the brain's ability to manipulate functions is relative to its # of cells. However, a major mental ability increase is not necessarily accompanied by brain-size increase.
NAVIGATION: Bird-Brainism

Bird-Brains must remain small & light & still function complexly in order for flight to occur. This requires great brain efficiency rather than great size. Homonids could follow this example & make birthing less painful for the mother with a smaller head size.
If one accepts the idea that words & images are a major building block of thinking, one step toward greater brain efficiency might be to exploit the ambiguities of language to permit a multitude of simultaneously productive thoughts.
In a society of interdependent specialists, the ability to create & send & receive useful synopsises can simplify the need for each individual to go through processes redundant in terms of the societal whole. Telepathy can make a person part of a giant brain without the need for a one-body housing.
There is a religious myth of winged homonids as beings on a higher evolutionary plane than non-winged homonids. It should be obvious by now that these beings, commonly called angels, should more properly be called Bird-Brains.

SO, I finally got "The Revolt of the Angels" out of the library & just finished reading it at 2AM today. I was pleasantly surprised, it was, perhaps, more interesting than I expected. I wd've given it a 4 star rating but he makes stereotypical statements about Jews that I found so offensive that it lowered my estimation of his intelligence. In fact, he wrote it around the beginning of so-called World War I, in 1914, & he somewhat conflates Jews & Germans together as bad guys at one point. Now, that's an oversimplification - since I'm taking it out of context - but, still, it's interesting considering later German anti-semitic developments.

The plot of the bk is basically that there are angels on Earth who've chosen to be here b/c they prefer it to heaven for one reason or another. One of them is one of the main human characters' guardian angel & he decides to stop working in that function in order to organize a revolt of the angels against God - who's represented as not being the actual creator but merely a demiurge dictator. Satan is represented as intelligent & benign, by contrast. One of the things that interests me about this bk is that it cd clearly be called "Satanist" insofar as Satan is depicted favorably & many of the protaganists are allied w/ him. Nonetheless, A France won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1921. That's fine w/ me but it seems strange given the way this world usually works. A writer of a flagrantly "Satanist" bk getting the Nobel Prize? I wd've been tempted to deny it to him just on the basis of his Jewish stereotyping - but that's a different story. I will say that I think he's a good writer.

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Nov 09, 2008

John rated it

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Recommends it for: People questioning their faith, fascinated with religious fiction and philosophy. Gnostics as well.

Recommended to John by: A friend

“The Revolt of the Angels” is a wonderful tale spun around the dichotomy of existence. In this story, much like man, we’re told of the polar feelings of angels. Journey through this text, from the start of the 20th century and see its elements laden with Gnosticism. Truly a different way to look at the conflicts of faith and what is deemed good and evil. Written in an intellectual fashion, containing a through understanding of biblical proceedings, “The Revolt of the Angels” succeeds in summ...more

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Apr 02, 2010

Joe rated it

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Shelves: x2010-march, nobel-prize-laureates, 2010

A clever and mischievous take on the theology of modern society, The Revolt of the Angels follows the path of Arcade, a lowly guardian angel, as he happens upon the ugly truths of his divine master in the library of his human charge. Anatole France takes what could be a very dry polemic against the slavery of religion and makes it into a charming romp with his gifts for characterization and story-telling. As Maurice, the young man abandoned by Arcade, struggles to get his guardian back, we are...more

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Aug 02, 2011

Demetrelli rated it

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A very original book with a neat writing and a nice flow that keeps you turning every page. What I especially liked was the description and building of characters. Each one was unique and has a specific role to play in the plot, a certain meaning for story that the writer wanted to convey. There were believers and nonbelievers, humans and angels alike, each one with their own story, very often a comical yet realistic one.

I generally liked how France interwines the polarization of reli...more

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Apr 23, 2009

Dan rated it

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The edition illustrated by Frank C. Papé....

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Jun 10, 2010

Idleprimate rated it

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Shelves: black-comedy-absurdity-satire, mythology, philosophy-of-civilization, politics, psychology

this was an exciting and hilarious potboiler about a conspiratorial scheme by the angels to start a new war. like all good satire, it takes stabs at everything from revolutions to love, from society to conscience.

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Jan 13, 2009

Bendow rated it

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 28, 2008

Dan Herman rated it

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Haven't finished it yet but what fun this is! France won the Nobel way way way back.

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Feb 24, 2011

Hareton Linton rated it

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Goood, like angels and Demons!
Satire, ironies, caricature ...

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Jun 10, 2010

kissmyshades rated it

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Shelves: 2010, novel-novella, french

hilarious and brilliant. the librarian is an amazing character.

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May 19, 2010

Desollado added it · review of another edition

Me trae tantos recuerdos agridulces. :)

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Feb 19, 2010

Chuck rated it

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elegant, and very fun

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Shelves: in_greek

Nov 23, 2011

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Shelves: classics

Nov 15, 2011

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About Anatole France

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1921 "in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament."

Anatole France began his career as a poet and a journalist. In 1869, Le Parnasse Contemporain published one of his poems, La Part de Madeleine. In 1875, he sat o...moreAwarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1921 "in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament."

Anatole France began his career as a poet and a journalist. In 1869, Le Parnasse Contemporain published one of his poems, La Part de Madeleine. In 1875, he sat on the committee which was in charge of the third Parnasse Contemporain compilation. He moved Paul Verlaine and Mallarmé aside of this Parnasse. As a journalist, from 1867, he wrote a lot of articles and notices. He became famous with the novel Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard (1881). Its protagonist, skeptical old scholar Sylvester Bonnard, embodied France's own personality. The novel was praised for its elegant prose and won him a prize from the French Academy. In La Rotisserie de la Reine Pedauque (1893) Anatole France ridiculed belief in the occult; and in Les Opinions de Jerome Coignard (1893), France captured the atmosphere of the fin de siècle.
He was elected to the Académie française in 1896.
France took an important part in the Dreyfus Affair. He signed Emile Zola's manifesto supporting Dreyfus, a Jewish army officer who had been falsely convicted of espionage. France wrote about the affair in his 1901 novel Monsieur Bergeret.
France's later works include L'Île des Pingouins (1908) which satirizes human nature by depicting the transformation of penguins into humans - after the animals have been baptized in error by the nearsighted Abbot Mael. La Revolte des Anges (1914) is often considered France's most profound novel. It tells the story of Arcade, the guardian angel of Maurice d'Esparvieu. Arcade falls in love, joins the revolutionary movement of angels, and towards the end realizes that the overthrow of God is meaningless unless "in ourselves and in ourselves alone we attack and destroy Ialdabaoth."
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921. He died in 1924 and is buried in the Neuilly-sur-Seine community cemetery near Paris.
In 1922, France's entire works were put on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Prohibited Books Index) of the Roman Catholic Church.[2:] This Index was abolished in 1966.(less)

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