Review of At the Sign of the Reine Pedauque by Anatole France

Another strange and mesmerizing book by one of my favorite Nobel laureate authors.

As in Thais, the author layers a sometimes straightforward tale with religious and occult themes. Here we have a young main character who is tasked with aiding in a translation of Zosimus and other obscure authors for an alchemist’s researches. The discussion of these abstruse subjects are fascinating and it is clear that France was well-versed in occult texts. The atypical syllabus of our hero is contested and contrasted by the pious characters who raised him, who take every opportunity to expound on the tenants of Christianity. Yet the allure of untold wealth draw them deeper into the alchemist’s clutches. The intense philosophical and ethical discussions deepen a somewhat typical plot involving a ravishing young woman and her despotic uncle. The love story is melodramatic, but also relegated to the background, used as a springboard for the inclusion of sylphs and salamanders, which remind me of the extra-dimensional beings or Swedenborgian entities which appear elsewhere in his work. His fascinating subject matter has its roots in gnosticism, but the characters often narrate from a Christian viewpoint, allowing a conflict of beliefs to surface and propagate throughout the text, often drowning the actual storytelling in a deluge of speculative exploration a la Olaf Stapledon.

France will be a lifelong reading project for me, since I will likely re-read much of his work once I finish all of the novels, stories and poems. His style reminds me of Flaubert’s for its sensual description but is less precious. His excessive musings often reek of Balzac, and he fits snuggly into the canon of French Giants comprising Balzac, Zola, Dumas, Flaubert, Proust and some would argue Camus. Yet Anatole France is often overlooked. Penguin Island is the only novel of his you might find in a bookstore and it is not his strongest work. His shorter novels are full of explorations of quirky religious history, gnostic conjecture, and ecstatic ideas.

You can’t pin France down. Each one of his novels have surprised and delighted me in utterly unique ways.