The Gods Are Athirst

Key Words of the Novel

Virtue vertu

The word can name integrity, self-command, civic dedication or the conformity a political speaker demands. Its value depends on the action it authorises. The translation keeps virtue rather than introducing modern terms that would resolve the ambiguity in advance.

Patriot patriote

A partisan claim to devotion to the Revolution and the nation. A character who calls someone a patriot is making a judgement. The editor does not turn that judgement into a neutral description of the person’s conduct.

Citizen citoyen and citoyenne

A civic form of address that can carry equality, familiarity, official authority or pressure. Citizen is used for both French genders. Former social titles are retained when France uses them, so that changes of address remain audible.

Former ci-devant

The term marks an earlier status or name, often one displaced by the Revolution. Its force can be administrative, mocking or accusatory. Former and formerly are used according to the sentence, with a note where the political implication needs explanation.

Section section

One of the neighbourhood units of Parisian political life. Assemblies and committees give the section a presence in everyday administration, recruitment and surveillance. Section is retained as a specific institution rather than replaced by ward or constituency.

Convention Convention

The National Convention is the national representative assembly. It must be distinguished from the Paris Commune and from the meetings of a local section. The notes identify the institutional level whenever the distinction controls the sense.

Commune Commune

In this Parisian setting the name usually denotes the municipal government. It is not a synonym for the Convention or for every local neighbourhood body. Capitalisation in English helps keep the named authority distinct.

Committee comité

The novel names several committees with different responsibilities. The local Surveillance, Relief and Military Committees must be distinguished from the national Committee of Public Safety and Committee of General Security.

Public safety salut public

The established institutional translation is preserved. Salut includes preservation or deliverance as well as safety. The phrase is politically charged in the novel and should not be reduced to a modern administrative department’s remit.

Suspect suspect

Suspicion can be a personal feeling, a political classification or part of a legal process. The notes identify legislation and procedural changes when the text calls for them. The word alone is not a verdict of guilt.

Terror terreur

France moves between fear experienced by an individual, coercive policy and the historical period commonly called the Terror. Capitalisation follows context. It does not make a character’s defence of terror into an editorial endorsement.

Federalist fédéraliste

A partisan label in the conflicts of 1793. It should not be read as the name of a modern constitutional party. When Gamelin applies it to opponents, the translation retains the accusation and the notes explain the occasion.

Sans-culottes sans-culottes

Literally those without knee-breeches, the name links dress to popular revolutionary militancy. It does not mean people without trousers, and it does not describe a socially uniform group. The French term is retained.

Assignat assignat

A revolutionary paper monetary instrument. The notes distinguish it from metal money and explain relevant financial practices. Prices are not converted into a supposedly exact present-day equivalent, which would conceal changing values and purchasing conditions.

Livre and sou livre and sou

Monetary terms are retained where the French uses them. Their relation and practical meaning are explained in the relevant notes. A sum matters within a particular transaction; a single modern currency conversion would give a false precision.

Émigré émigré

The French term is retained for this politically charged category. Leaving the country, returning and possessing particular documents could become matters of suspicion and danger. Its legal and accusatory force is explained where the context requires it.

Nature nature

Brotteaux’s reading and the novel’s descriptions give the word several ranges: bodily constitution, the physical world, an explanation of human conduct and a possible limit to political programmes. A single philosophical doctrine should not be assigned to every occurrence.

Gods dieux

The title invites attention to the objects of reverence and sacrifice the characters create or inherit. The introduction treats the invitation as an interpretation, not as a statement that every religious believer in the novel has the same moral character.

Pleasure plaisir

Pleasure has bodily, social and aesthetic forms. The little wafers called plaisirs give the word a material and commercial presence. Repeated occurrences are kept where possible so that the reader can hear connections without explanatory additions to the narration.

All will be well ça ira

In Chapter I the assurance and the sung refrain receive the same English phrase. Elsewhere Ça ira may remain as the song’s French title. The musical reference is explained in the notes; no verses have been added beyond those France quotes.

Judgement jugement

The word can concern intelligence, artistic discrimination, an opinion or a judicial decision. The novel brings these capacities into contact. English judgement and judicial terms are selected by context, without allowing one institutional meaning to erase the others.