The Gods Are Athirst

Note on this Edition

The volume

This edition contains all twenty-nine chapters of the French novel with a new English translation. The English text has approximately 64,704 words, excluding the annotations and editorial matter. There are 431 notes to the novel. Those counts are generated from the edition files rather than inferred from page length.

Design and formats

The design follows the Diotimos Symposium reference: a compact 5½ by 8½ inch page, a restrained serif face, facing original and translation, small explanatory notes and Roman preliminary pagination. Palatino is used in the print files. The parallel text is divided into corresponding passages with shared paragraph locators. The source is not reproduced as facsimile images.

The PDF and Word files carry the facing-page edition. The Markdown file supplies the full paired text and linked note definitions. The bilingual EPUB and English-only EPUB use reflowable text, navigation and linked notes. Device settings can change their line and page divisions.

Source and review

The complete French transcription was compared with a second transcription. Its underlying impression is undated and bears a later Brodard & Taupin printer’s colophon, preserved separately in the source apparatus. The eight printed pages of Chapter I alone were visually collated with a separate verified 1912 printing. Embedded letters and songs were checked during extraction. Every narrative paragraph identifier is paired with an English paragraph, and every note marker is matched to a note. These checks establish coverage and consistency; they do not amount to a manuscript-based critical edition.

The English was translated directly from French in chapter groups under a shared style guide and reviewed for completeness and recurrent terminology. The earlier chapter I sample also received separate accuracy and literary reviews. Historical assertions in the notes have linked sources, while literary interpretations are presented as readings of the text.

Editorial responsibility

The English translation and editorial matter were generated and revised with AI for Diotimos Editions in 2026. No human translator’s name, invented ISBN or external scholarly endorsement has been supplied. The files are intended to support Diotimos’s editorial reading and decisions about publication.