PENGUIN ISLAND
ANATOLE FRANCE
Anatole France
PENGUIN ISLAND
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&
LibriVox
Penguin Island
by Anatole France (1844-1924)
translated by A.W. Evans
An acute satire, written in the style of a
sprawling 19th century history book, Penguin
Island is about a fictitious island of great auks
that exists off the northern coast of Europe. A
wayward Christian missionary monk
accidentally lands on the island and sees the
great auks as a sort of Greek pre-Christian
pagan society. Partly blind, he mistakes the
animals for people and baptizes them. This
mistake causes a problem for The Lord who normally only allows people to be
baptized, so he resolves it by converting the great auks to people and giving them a
soul. Thus begins the great auk history and from there forward the history mirrors
that of France. From the Dark Ages, when the Germanic tribes incessantly fought
among one another for territory; to the heroic rise of Charlemagne ("Draco the
Great") and conflicts with Viking raiders ("porpoises"); to the Renaissance, and up
to the modern era with motor cars, and even a future time in which a thriving high-
tech civilization is destroyed by a campaign of terrorist bombings -- and everything
starts again in an endless cycle. (Wikipedia)
Total running time: 9:04:31
Read by Michael Sirois
acoustical liberation of books
in the public domain Original photo of penguins by SeanMack
Cover design by Kathryn Delaney
AONVas FIOLVNY
GNV'1ISI NINDNAd
