From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Lemma.
A carrick is a travelling overcoat with several shoulder capes; its collets are not separate shirt collars. Julie wears Fortuné’s bottle-green coat, which both conceals her figure and preserves a material connection with her absent lover. It accompanies her prison vigils, opens during the café assault and reappears when she confronts Gamelin. Her borrowed woman’s dress for petitioning Renaudin serves a different presentation of respectability. Clothing enables movement and disguise under pressure, but neither outfit constitutes a complete account of her identity.
Places to read
- Chapter XVIII, paragraph 4Frenchun carrick vert bouteille: a bottle-green carrick. The arriving figure is initially described as a young man.
- Chapter XVIII, paragraph 39Frenchce carrick, c’est un habit à lui: this carrick is his coat. Julie identifies the garment as Fortuné’s.
- Chapter XXI, paragraph 1Frenchson carrick vert bouteille: her bottle-green carrick. Julie wears it during the prison vigils.
- Chapter XXI, paragraph 15FrenchDe son carrick ouvert: from her open carrick. The coat opens during the assault in the café; the garment does not keep her body concealed throughout the scene.
- Chapter XXI, paragraph 18Frenchvêtue en femme et en patriote: dressed as a woman and a patriot. The borrowed dress contrasts with her earlier carrick. This is contextual clothing evidence, not another occurrence of carrick.
- Chapter XXII, paragraph 21Frenchun carrick vert bouteille: a bottle-green carrick. The recognisable garment appears before her revelation that she is Gamelin’s sister.