Summary
Summary of The Revolt of the Angels
Key ideas
Key idea 1
An angel begins questioning heaven
In a wealthy Catholic household in Paris, a guardian angel named Arcade discovers a love of study. Reading leads him toward doubts about the power he has always served. His questions will carry him out of his familiar duties and into human life, love and rebellion.
Anatole France makes this unlikely journey a comic attack on organised religion and comfortable respectability. Behind the jokes lies a serious concern: whether a power that demands obedience deserves it, and what changing that power might cost.
Key idea 2
Reading unsettles an obedient guardian
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Key idea 3
Earth gives freedom a personal meaning
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Key idea 4
Other exiles offer different freedoms
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Key idea 5
Rebellion raises the question of succession
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Key idea 6
Freedom matters in ordinary human life
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Key idea 7
Quiet irony opens larger questions
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Key idea 8
The rebels want more than victory
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who love wit, ideas and a touch of irreverence, and anyone curious about how a French writer of 1914 viewed religion and power.
What this book is
The Revolt of the Angels is a satirical novel by Anatole France, published in 1914, just before the First World War. France was then an old man and one of the best known writers in France. He wrote it as a comic attack on organised religion, on the idea of a single all-powerful God, and on the comfortable people who treat both as furniture.
The story begins in a rich Catholic household in Paris, where a guardian angel named Arcade develops a love of study and starts reading in the family library. What he finds there changes him, and soon he is on earth, in love, and plotting against heaven. You get a witty tale of angels in Paris, a laughing argument about power and belief, and a surprising view of what a revolution really costs. Let us begin with the library and the angel who read too much.
In this summary
- 1A guardian angel reads himself out of faithFree
- 2Arcade falls to earth and falls in love
- 3Old exiles of heaven gather in Paris
- 4The plan for a second war in heaven
- 5What the book is really arguing about
- 6How France tells it: irony, learning and ease
Key point 1 of 6
A guardian angel reads himself out of faith
The story opens in the Paris home of the d'Esparvieu family. They are wealthy, respectable and devout, and their family history includes politicians who treat religion as a tool of government. The house holds a large library full of theology, church history and sermons. A fussy librarian named Monsieur Sariette looks after it with great love and great worry.
Sariette begins to notice that books are being moved. Volumes he has shelved with care are found open in odd places, and some seem to have been read at night. He suspects a thief, or a ghost, or a bad servant, and he cannot work out which. The reader soon learns that the culprit is none of these. It is an angel.
This is Arcade, the guardian angel of young Maurice d'Esparvieu, the son of the house. An angel has plenty of free time while his charge sleeps or lives his ordinary life. Arcade fills that time by reading the family's books, and he explores learned arguments for and against belief.
The joke is sharp. Arcade finds the God of the Bible less and less admirable, and he starts to doubt that this ruler of heaven deserves obedience. France lets the comedy of the quiet library carry a serious question: what happens when someone actually reads and weighs what is taught?
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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What leads Arcade to question his obedience to heaven?
Right. “Arcade finds the God of the Bible less and less admirable, and he starts to doubt that this ruler of heaven deserves obedience.”Not quite. “Arcade finds the God of the Bible less and less admirable, and he starts to doubt that this ruler of heaven deserves obedience.”
What danger shadows the angels' planned revolution?
Right. “The rebels hate the old order, but the book keeps asking whether they have the right to replace it, and whether they will turn into what they fight.”Not quite. “The rebels hate the old order, but the book keeps asking whether they have the right to replace it, and whether they will turn into what they fight.”
Where does the novel suggest happiness lies?
Right. “Through Arcade's love, Nectaire's memories and the pleasures of Paris, France suggests that happiness lies in the earth, in friendship, in curiosity and in kindness to others.”Not quite. “Through Arcade's love, Nectaire's memories and the pleasures of Paris, France suggests that happiness lies in the earth, in friendship, in curiosity and in kindness to others.”
Who’s who
- Arcade
- A guardian angel assigned to Maurice, he questions his beliefs while reading in the d'Esparvieu family library.
- Maurice d'Esparvieu
- A wealthy young Parisian and Arcade's unsuspecting charge, he enjoys a comfortable life and an affair with Gilberte.
- Gilberte des Aubels
- A fashionable married woman and Maurice's mistress, she is intrigued by the unfamiliar angel entering their circle.
- Prince Istar
- A rebel angel living in Paris, he encourages fellow exiles to prepare another challenge to heaven's ruler.
- Nectaire
- A gentle angel long exiled among humans, he offers Arcade and the other rebels a questioning perspective.
- Zita
- An angel living outside heaven, she belongs to the Parisian exiles who discuss rebellion with Arcade.
- Monsieur Sariette
- The devoted librarian of the d'Esparvieu household, he worries about mysterious disturbances among the books under his care.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 75,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 11 other languages
Questions about The Revolt of the Angels
What is The Revolt of the Angels about?
It is a satirical novel in which a guardian angel in Paris reads theology, loses his faith, leaves heaven and joins other exiled angels who plot a new war against the God of the Bible.
Who is Prince Istar in The Revolt of the Angels?
Prince Istar is a rebel angel living in modern Paris. He is a militant figure who helps organise the plan against heaven.
Who is Ialdabaoth in the novel?
Ialdabaoth is the name the rebel angels give to the God of the Bible. The idea comes from old Gnostic teaching, in which he is a proud, jealous ruler rather than the true creator.
When was The Revolt of the Angels written?
Anatole France published it in 1914, shortly before the First World War. It is fiction, but it draws on real religious history and on French debates about Church and state.
Is The Revolt of the Angels hard to read?
It is not hard. The prose is clear and witty, and the story moves easily. The characters explain what a reader needs.
