Thais [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONThe wisdom of Anatole France is the antithesis of that philosophy-of-life which we hold as the only true guide to the righteous Heaven of Democratic perfection.France deliberately states, "I know nothing," and he often comes within hailing distance of the Truth.We, on the other hand, say, "We know everything," and then with the best of intentions and actuated by the purest of motives, we run our little ships into one of the emotional marshes which stretch far and wide around the Isles of the Blessed, that the happy citizens may be protected from the sudden attacks of unwelcome sentimentalists.And because we would much rather smile foolishly than frown wisely, we have thus far treated M. France as if he were some sort of literary cut-up; a person not to be taken seriously and to be swallowed with many grains of condensed sarsaparilla; a sort of Gallic Bernard Shaw.9