Penguin Island (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Penguin Island
title_orig = "L'Île des Pingouins"
translator =


image_caption =
author = Anatole France
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = France
language = French
series =
genre = Satire
publisher = Modern Library
release_date = 1908
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages =
isbn = ISBN 9781587155482
preceded_by =
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"Penguin Island" (1908; French: "L'Île des Pingouins") is a satirical fictional history by Nobel Prize winning French author Anatole France.

"Penguin Island" is written in the style of a sprawling 18th and 19th century history book, concerned with grand metanarratives, mythologizing heroes, hagiography and romantic nationalism. It is about a fictitious island of penguins that exists on the northern coast of Europe. The history begins when a wayward Christian missionary monk accidentally lands on the island and sees the penguins as a sort of Greek pre-Christian pagan society. Partly blind, he mistakes the penguins for people and baptizes them. This mistake causes a problem for The Lord (God) who normally only allows people to be baptized, so he resolves it by converting the penguins to people and giving them a soul. Thus begins the penguin history and from there forward the history mirrors that of France (and largely Western Europe including Britain). From the Migration Period ("Dark Ages") when the Germanic tribes incessantly fought among one another for territory; to the heroic Early Middle Ages with the rise of Charlemagne ("Draco the Great") and conflicts with Viking raiders ("porpoises"); to the Renaissance (Erasmus); and up to the modern era with motor cars. The longest chapter and probably most well known is a satire of the Dreyfus affair. Scattered throughout are allusions to real historical people such as Columba and Saint Augustine, as well as fictitious characters who represent historical people.

"Penguin Island" is a critique of human nature from a socialist standpoint in which morals, customs and laws are satirized.

External links

* [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=title%3Apenguin%20island%20AND%20-contributor%3Agutenberg%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts "Penguin Island"] at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions color illustrated)
*gutenberg|no=1930|name=Penguin Island en icon (plain text and HTML)