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Family

Misfortune as sacrament

sacrement

Sacrement is a sacrament, here used in Julie’s private thought to give shared suffering the binding force of marriage.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

Lemma.

Sacrement is a sacrament, here used in Julie’s private thought to give shared suffering the binding force of marriage. She calls Fortuné her husband before her mother, but the narrator expressly identifies him as her lover. The figurative sanctification of hardship cannot be treated as proof that a legal or church marriage took place in London.

Places to read

  1. Chapter XVIII, paragraph 19Frenchc’était un sacrement que le malheur: misfortune was a sacrament. Julie tells herself that poverty has married them; the narrator distinguishes her term from their actual status.