Anatole France (16 April 1844 - 12 October 1924) was a best-selling French poet, journalist, and writer. He was regarded as the perfect Frenchman of letters in his day, notwithstanding his irony and skepticism. Who is correct? He was a member of the Académie Française and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1921 "in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, which are distinguished by a noble sense of style, profound human sympathy, grace, and an authentic Gallic character." In Marcel Proust's in Search of Lost Time, France is usually regarded as the inspiration for narrator Marcel's literary idol Bergotte. France, the son of a bookstore, spent most of his life surrounded by books. Many writers and professors attended his father's bookstore, which specialized in books and papers on the French Revolution. France attended the Collège Stanislas, a private Catholic institution, and after graduation, he worked at his father's bookstore. After a few years, he was hired as a cataloguer at Bacheline-Deflorenne and Lemerre. He was appointed librarian of the French Senate in 1876.
