The Gods Are Athirst (French: Les dieux ont soif, also translated as The Gods Are Thirsty or The Gods Will Have Blood) is a 1912 novel by Anatole France. It is a fictional story set during the French Revolution. The story of the infernal rise of Evariste Gamelin, a young Parisian painter, involved in the section for his neighborhood of Pont-Neuf, The Gods Are Athirst describes the dark years of the Reign of Terror in Paris, from Year II to Year III. Fiercely Jacobin, Marat and Robespierre's most faithful adherent, Evariste ...
Read More
The Gods Are Athirst (French: Les dieux ont soif, also translated as The Gods Are Thirsty or The Gods Will Have Blood) is a 1912 novel by Anatole France. It is a fictional story set during the French Revolution. The story of the infernal rise of Evariste Gamelin, a young Parisian painter, involved in the section for his neighborhood of Pont-Neuf, The Gods Are Athirst describes the dark years of the Reign of Terror in Paris, from Year II to Year III. Fiercely Jacobin, Marat and Robespierre's most faithful adherent, Evariste Gamelin soon becomes a juror on the Revolutionary Tribunal. The long, blind train of speedy trials drags this idealist into a madness that cuts off the heads of his nearest and dearest, and hastens his own fall as well as that of his mentor Robespierre in the aftermath of the Thermidorian Reaction. His love affair with the young watercolor-seller Elodie Blaise heightens the terrible contrast between the butcher-in-training and the man who shows himself to be quite ordinary in his daily life. Justifying this dance of the guillotine by the fight against the plot to wipe out the gains of the Revolution, in the midst of the revolutionary turmoil that traverses Paris, Gamelin is thirsty for justice, but also uses his power to satisfy his own vengeance and his hatred for those who do not think like him. He dies by that same instrument of justice that up until then has served to satisfy his own thirst for blood and terror. Gamelin's profession of painter also reflects on the book's theme. His best work is a depiction of Orestes and Electra, with Orestes resembling a self-portrait of the artist; Gamelin, like Orestes, is capable of killing his family. Elodie later comes to be identified with Electra - though, in her affair with Gamelin, where she loves him first for his mercy and then for his violence, and takes a less radical lover after he dies, she also represents France.[1] The character of Maurice Brotteaux is very interesting. Without being reactionary, this former noble is well aware of the problems the Revolution faces in this period and finds the charges unjustified. One might think that this character speaks for the author. The title, Les dieux ont soif, is taken from the last issue of Camille Desmoulins's Le Vieux Cordelier, which criticized the Jacobins; that line in turn was supposedly taken from an Aztec explanation of the necessity of human sacrifice."
Read Less
Add this copy of The Gods are Athirst to cart. $6.03, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2015 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Add this copy of The Gods Are Athirst to cart. $7.00, very good condition, Sold by Browse Awhile Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tipp City, OH, UNITED STATES, published 1942 by The Heritage Press.
Add this copy of The Gods Are Athirst to cart. $10.00, fair condition, Sold by Sequitur Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Boonsboro, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1927 by Johne Lane at Bodley Head.
Add this copy of Gods Are Athirst to cart. $12.50, very good condition, Sold by Glover's Bookery, ABAA rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lexington, KY, UNITED STATES, published 1942 by Nonesuch Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. 8vo 8"-9" tall 204 pp; slight fading else very good Translated by Alfred Allinson, intro by Andre Maurois; Always Delivery Confirmation. 35 Years Fast Excellent Service. We Know How To Pack Books.
Add this copy of The Gods are Athirst to cart. $12.51, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2021 by Alpha Edition.
Add this copy of The Gods Are Athirst [Tours Edition] to cart. $12.95, good condition, Sold by Great Expectations Rare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Staten Island, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1922 by Dodd, Mead & Company.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good+ in Poor jacket. Book. 8vo-over 7æ-9æ" tall. Hardcover, blue cloth lettered in gold on spine, in reconstructed worn dust-jacket, lacking several large chips. 285 pages. Translated by Mrs. Wilfrid Jackson. Decorative end-papers and title-page. Fore-edge pages untrimmed. First edition thus, Tours Edition (1922), originally published in 1913. No previous ownership marks. Book is clean, tight and sound with strong hinges and no marking to cloth or text. Dust-jacket tattered and now pieced together with clear tape on verso. Good+ copy in a poor dust-jacket.
Add this copy of The Gods Are Athirst to cart. $13.50, very good condition, Sold by Small World Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Rochester, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1930 by Wm. H. Wise & Co..
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Frontis Illustration. Very Good. Book. 8vo-over 7¾-9¾" tall. Ornate, unmarked, clean, bright, and tight hardcover copy with black and white illustrated end pages and inside covers.
Add this copy of The Gods Are Athirst to cart. $17.50, very good condition, Sold by Escape Routes Used Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1913 by Dodd, Mead.
Add this copy of The Gods are Athirst to cart. $18.00, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2022 by Legare Street Press.
Add this copy of The Gods Are Athirst to cart. $18.00, very good condition, Sold by Between the Covers-Rare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gloucester City, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1913 by Dodd Mead & Co.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. Reprint. Very good. Hardcover, rubbed at spine ends and corners and edges, gold stamping on front cover and spine, pages yellowed and lightly browned at edges, lightly soiled foredges, cover lightly worn. Please Note: This book has been transferred to Between the Covers from another database and might not be described to our usual standards. Please inquire for more detailed condition information.
