Anatole France

“To Théon, the God of the Jews and Christians was an Asura. This Asura wanted to be unique; and so he became the most terrible despot imaginable. Anatole France said the same thing (I now know that Anatole France had never read Théon's story, but I can't imagine where he picked this up). It's in The Revolt of the Angels. He says that Satan is the true God and that Jehovah, the ‘only God’, is the monster. And when the angels wanted Satan to become the one and only God, Satan realized he was immediately taking on all Jehovah's failings! So he refused: “Oh, no – thank you very much!” It's a wonderful story, and in exactly the same spirit as what Théon used to say. The very first thing I asked Anatole France (I told you I met him once – mutual friends introduced us), the first thing I asked him was, “Have you ever read The Tradition?” He said no. I explained why I had asked, and he was interested. He said his source was his own imagination. He had caught that idea intuitively.”

“... These children don’t understand [Sri Aurobindo’s irony]. They read it prosaically (gesture indicating the surface). Strangely enough, it’s the same phenomenon when they read Anatole France. And Anatole France, read without understanding his irony, is abominably commonplace.
         They don’t grasp the irony.
         Sri Aurobindo had it. He understood the irony of Anatole France so well, he had this same thing – so subtle, so refined ...
         “Very good,” he would say while reading La Révolte des Anges “Yes, it is true, which of the two [Jehovah, or the rebellious Angel who wanted to take his place] should we believe?” (Mother laughs).”

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See also

• Literature