From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA bague is a finger-ring; figure can denote the image represented on it; effigie is a likeness, often of a person.
- In the novelAt the revolutionary fair Gamelin places on Élodie’s finger a silver ring bearing Marat’s head.
- In this editionThe English differentiates “ring,” “image,” and “effigy” according to the objects described.
- A place to readune bague en argent: a silver ring.
Meaning
Related words and phrases.
A bague is a finger-ring; figure can denote the image represented on it; effigie is a likeness, often of a person. In the final chapter the same political figure appears in public images destroyed with noise and in a worn intimate token removed with tears. The common referent does not make those acts emotionally equivalent.
Use in the book
At the revolutionary fair Gamelin places on Élodie’s finger a silver ring bearing Marat’s head. A public political icon becomes a private gift. At Gamelin’s final passage to execution, the woman’s hand throwing the carnation still carries a silver ring. This small visible detail retains the history of their bond at the very moment when physical contact is impossible.
After Thermidor, Marat’s bust is smashed in the theatre; an effigy is burned; another is hung at a lamp-post; a driver recounts a bust being daubed with blood and thrown into a sewer. Political repudiation becomes a chain of repeatable public performances. Élodie’s later treatment of the ring participates in the removal of Marat’s image but has a different pace and tone.
The face on the ring is already worn and flattened beyond recognition. Élodie looks until tears blur her sight, removes it gently, and throws it into the fire before embracing Desmahis. The act can mark release from an attachment, but the tears prohibit reducing it to simple indifference or wholehearted endorsement of the crowd’s abuse. The thing bears memories that its public iconography alone cannot explain. The final repetition of the lovers’ departure routine then places loss beside renewed desire.
Places to read
- Chapter VIII, paragraph 12Frenchune bague en argent: a silver ring. Gamelin chooses the ring bearing Marat’s head and gives it to Élodie.
- Chapter XXVIII, paragraph 16Frenchune bague d’argent: a silver ring. It is visible on the hand offering the farewell carnation.
- Chapter XXIX, paragraph 58Frenchune effigie burlesque de Marat: a burlesque effigy of Marat. Public ridicule appears on the lovers’ route home.
- Chapter XXIX, paragraph 70Frenchla figure de Marat, tout usée, écrasée: Marat’s image, worn and flattened. The image is already illegible before the ring is discarded.
- Chapter XXIX, paragraph 70Frenchl’ôta doucement et la jeta dans les flammes: gently removed it and threw it into the flames. A tearful private act follows the public attacks on images.
Translation in this edition
The English differentiates “ring,” “image,” and “effigy” according to the objects described. Tout usée and écrasée qualify the represented figure, not Élodie’s memories. The text says she throws the ring into flames; it does not describe its melting or prove what happened to the metal. Its placement on the fourth finger is narrated, but the object is not thereby identified as a marriage ring.