Recently I found an intriguing old novel entitled: The Crime of
Sylvestre Bonnard. It’s an antique
hardcover book, published in 1918, with a substantial 310 pages.
When I picked up this book, I realized that, although I recognized the
name of this famous writer, I had never read his books. I decided that it was time to explore the
life and work of the celebrated author, Anatole France.
* * *
Anatole France was
born in Paris
in 1844. He grew up surrounded by books,
for his father owned a bookstore. Upon graduation from school, Anatole helped
his family run the business. This
immersion in the thoughts of great authors from an early age no doubt inspired
him to build a writing career of his own.
Photographs of Anatole in his middle age show him attired in a dark,
elegant suit, after the fashion of the late 19th century. The spark of energy in his eyes reveals that
he is thinking about something intriguing.
Even his dapper mustache has a personality of its own; in some
portraits, the waxed tips spring away from his face like pointing arrows.
Anatole became a prolific author.
He received the Nobel Prize in 1921, three years before his death at the
age of 80. He had a robust personal life
as well, including two marriages and a number of dramatic love affairs.
Anatole’s stories have survived the test of time. Many writers,
including George Orwell of 1984 fame, have praised his writing as classic and
suspenseful.
How fortunate that of all the books written by Anatole France, I happened
upon his very first novel, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard. This book marked Anatole’s transition from a
poet to an author of fiction.
This book was published in 1881, when Anatole was 37 years old. The
story is about a man named Sylvestre Bonnard, an elderly, kind-hearted historian
who lives with his cat in a home filled with books. (That sounds rather autobiographical, doesn’t
it, knowing that Anatole’s father owned a bookstore.)
The plot is about Sylvestre’s journey from Paris
to Sicily in
search of a rare medieval book called The Golden Legend. During his travels, Bonnard commits a crime
to help a young woman in distress.
What better way to read Anatole’s first novel than in a hardcover
edition printed a century ago? This
charming antique book practically transports us back in time, to the era of
horse-drawn carriages and steam-powered engines.
* * *
Anatole is fondly remembered for his many witty sayings about life and
love. Here are 10 of his most famous quotes:
Number
10: To accomplish great things, we must
not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
When I hear words like “plan” and “accomplish”, I think of the core
principles of project management. (For
example, setting measureable goals and tracking progress.) I believe that Anatole is reminding us of
Step One in project management: all accomplishments spring from an idea, a
wish…in his words, a dream. To bring
your dream to life, you must believe in yourself.
Number
9: Existence would be
intolerable if we were never to dream.
Ah, that word “dream”
again. Here Anatole explores the concept
that life should consist of more than one’s mundane day-to-day tasks. To live our lives fully, we must have hope,
and that hope manifests itself in our dreams.
Number 8: One thing above all gives
charm to men's thoughts, and this is unrest. A mind that is not uneasy
irritates and bores me.
This is a theme in numerous stories published between the 1880s and the
end of the 1920s. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s protagonists
often exclaim, in an amusing manner, that they’re bored. If you’ve read This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Bernice Bobs her
Hair, you know what I mean.
Fitzgerald’s people are desperate for someone interesting to walk in the
door and liven things up.
Jules Verne’s characters, as well, simply can’t sit still. They must do something big and bold, often on
a whim, like travel around the world in 80 days or explore the oceans in that new-fangled
contraption called a submarine.
Robert Louis Stevenson also crafted marvelous page-turning adventure
stories by answering the question, “And then what happened?”
Just like our great-great-great grandparents, we seek the company of
people – in real life and in fiction – who are gifted with lively minds that
entertain us.
Number 7: The greatest virtue of man is
perhaps curiosity.
This observation ties into Anatole’s previous comment about having an
“uneasy mind.” It is our curiosity that
leads us to develop scientific theories, discover medical breakthroughs, and
explore the stars.
Number 6:
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you
know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you
don't.
Anatole’s comment reminds me of the famous saying that a college degree
is a license to learn.
Number 5:
Nine tenths of education is encouragement.
How fortunate we are, as we travel through life, to meet many people
who help us to learn, build, grow, and achieve.
Number 4: It is human nature to think wisely and act in
an absurd fashion.
Anatole
shrugs off out-of-character behavior with his usual charm. I will leave it up to you to imagine what
bizarre things 19th century people could have done to earn the label
“absurd.”
Number 3:
If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
In the 1500s, people believed that lemmings fell from the sky during
storms. (Yes, lemmings. The same little creatures that are rumored to
jump off cliffs.) It doesn’t matter who
invented this absurd story. I can
visualize Anatole twiddling the edges of his sleek mustache, rolling his eyes,
and advising us to think for ourselves.
Number 2: Until one has loved an animal a part of one's
soul remains unawakened.
In The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard, the hero owns a cat. Or, as any cat owner will tell you…the cat
owns him.
Let’s conclude this list with this breathtakingly panoramic statement
from the immortal Anatole France:
Number 1: The truth is that life is delicious,
horrible, charming, frightful, sweet, bitter, and that is everything.
