Superior general and military general

Meaning

Lemma.

Général can name a military commander, as in the trials of defeated officers, or the head of a religious order. Magitot submits his troubling desire to the général de l’ordre, who gives authoritative permission to pull the toy’s string. The edition’s “superior general” makes the institutional difference explicit. A reader should not import the army’s chain of command into this monastic anecdote.