From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordMaximum is used substantivally for a legally fixed upper price, not for a maximum amount of food allowed to one buyer.
- In the novelThe chapter places the National Convention’s decree immediately before the disappearance of grain and flour.
- In this editionThe English retains maximum and explains its price sense in note c06n01.
- A place to readmaximum: Legally fixed maximum price.
Meaning
Lemma.
Maximum is used substantivally for a legally fixed upper price, not for a maximum amount of food allowed to one buyer. The printed word is italicised in the French source.
Use in the book
The chapter places the National Convention’s decree immediately before the disappearance of grain and flour. That compressed sequence makes the intervention’s practical failure part of the scene, while the narrative does not supply a comprehensive economic account of the disappearance.
The accompanying rationing procedures are distinct. A Commune notice limits butcher’s meat, and commissioners at the bakery check section membership and the number of mouths a household must feed. Keeping price control separate from allocation prevents several different kinds of regulation from disappearing into a single idea of “rationing”.
Places to read
- Chapter VI, paragraph 2Frenchmaximum: Legally fixed maximum price. The Convention has decreed it; grain and flour have immediately disappeared from sale.
- Chapter VI, paragraph 5Frenchrationnant la viande de boucherie: Rationing butcher’s meat. A separate Commune notice concerns allocation, not the meaning of maximum itself.
- Chapter VI, paragraph 56Frenchla part proportionnelle aux bouches qu’il avait à nourrir: The share proportionate to mouths to feed. Bread entitlement is supervised at the point of sale.
Translation in this edition
The English retains maximum and explains its price sense in note c06n01. That editorial gloss clarifies the noun; it is not a further statement spoken by a character. No modern monetary equivalent or quantitative purchase limit should be read into the word.