From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Lemma.
Régénérer is to make anew or restore to a renewed condition. Gamelin’s regenerated French must reject the art of servitude, and his imagined universal banquet welcomes regenerated humanity. Blaise counters that enthusiasm for remaking oneself cools while desire persists. Later Gamelin invokes Rousseau for love of human beings and ardour to regenerate them, beside a narrative of accelerated punishment. The benevolent object cannot be separated from his coercive practice, but the contrast does not prove that the Revolution changed nothing. In the prayer, les refers to human beings; the translation’s it refers to mankind.
Places to read
- Chapter III, paragraph 26FrenchLes Français régénérés: people imagined as morally remade. Gamelin makes artistic reform an obligation of political renewal.
- Chapter III, paragraph 43Frenchà se régénérer tiédit avec le temps: waning zeal for remaking oneself. Blaise speaks from the dealer’s view of durable demand.
- Chapter III, paragraph 56Frenchl’humanité régénérée: humanity imagined at a universal banquet. Gamelin’s dream contrasts with his immediate lack of bread.
- Chapter XXII, paragraph 8Frenchl’amour des hommes, l’ardeur de les régénérer: love of mankind and the ardour to regenerate it. Gamelin petitions the revered Rousseau in direct speech.