From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Phrase.
The pack is Gamelin’s effort to make political renaming profitable. II.12 proposes Spirits, Liberties and Equalities; III.38 offers Liberties, Equalities and Fraternities, with Laws as aces. Keep those textual variants instead of silently imposing one fixed design. Blaise replies that similar packs already exist, rough woodcuts suit users better, and ordinary players can rename their existing kings. The objects expose disagreement about novelty, artistic refinement, popular habit and the market. Gamelin’s later sales total remains a self-encouraging prediction.
Places to read
- Chapter II, paragraph 12Frenchun jeu de cartes patriotique: a proposed commercial-political invention. The narrator qualifies its novelty with “or so he believed.”
- Chapter III, paragraph 38Frenchle nouveau jeu de cartes révolutionnaire: a revised presentation of the design. Gamelin proposes intaglio engraving and a patent.
- Chapter III, paragraph 41FrenchVotre jeu de cartes révolutionnaire est le troisième: Blaise’s challenge to novelty. The dealer also questions the fit between refined engraving and players’ habits.