The death of Anatole France deprives contemporary French literature of its leading figure. Not since Victor Hugo has any writer exerted a more profound influence upon the thought and writing of his time. Unlike Hugo, however, Anatole France stands not in the role of magi, pointing the way that to others lies hidden. His delight was the unrestrained play of ideas. Not partisan, except in the larger service of Truth, he loved to stand aside and give every idea its inning, while with characteristic French humor he poked fun at them all. Stimulating and suggestive to individual thought, he was a true reflection of his age, and his age in turn, of him. As he himself expressed it; "The world is the reffection of your own spirit."

And as a stylist, great as was Hugo's influence, it is probable that of Anatole France will be greater. A Frenchman can best appraise him. In the Revue Bleue of February 23, 1901, Fernand Gregh said. "Never was the French language better written. . . . It is simply perfection. Renan himself wrote less well as far as pure technique is concerned. . . . He is a brother through the centuries of Marot, Montaigne, Racine, La Fontaine, La Bruyere, Fenelon, Diderot, and Voltaire. He is the Frenchman. A man who is to such an extent representative, to use one of Emerson's expressions, is a rare and important being."