From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Phrase.
The red shirt appears in Gamelin’s account of victims sacrificed to discredit Robespierre, and later as the colour Julie honours in her tunic. The source calls it the shirt of parricides; the supplied edition’s note explicitly warns that this is not the historical penal distinction. The article should preserve the novel’s wording while identifying it as Gamelin’s moral-political language. Julie’s later red garment is commemorative, not evidence that she herself underwent the condemned prisoner’s preparation.
Places to read
- Chapter XXV, paragraph 8Frenchla chemise rouge des parricides: the red shirt of parricides. The phrase occurs within Gamelin’s interpretation of political persecution.
- Chapter XXIX, paragraph 13Frenchen l’honneur des chemises rouges de la Terreur: in honour of the red shirts of the Terror. Julie gives the colour a commemorative use in dress.