Death

Tomb

sépulcre

A tomb or burial chamber.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

Lemma.

A tomb or burial chamber. The prosecutor’s files are compared to its walls, making a sedentary office resemble enclosure with the dead. This is a narrator’s simile, not a claim that the room is literally a tomb or that Fouquier intends the comparison himself.

Places to read

  1. Chapter IX, paragraph 4Frenchcomme les murs d’un sépulcre: Like the walls of a tomb. The rising dossiers enclose Fouquier’s desk.