From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Lemma.
Alliance has two distinct local uses. The festival is called a new alliance, rendered “new covenant,” between heaven and earth. In Gamelin’s statement about Chassagne, liens d’alliance means kinship by marriage, not a political alliance or a mere bond of affection. His conditional wording recognises that the relationship would become formally familial if declared. The two senses should not be merged into a single theological meaning.
Places to read
- Chapter XXII, paragraph 6Frenchla fête de la nouvelle alliance: the festival of the new covenant. Narration gives the festival a religiously inflected designation.
- Chapter XXII, paragraph 14Frenchseraient des liens d’alliance: would be ties of kinship by marriage. Gamelin makes the legal-family relation conditional.