DiotimosReading Desk

Character

The old Adam

le vieil homme

The religious idiom names the persisting unregenerate or habitual self, not merely an elderly man.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

Phrase.

The religious idiom names the persisting unregenerate or habitual self, not merely an elderly man. Longuemare has surrendered his defence and answers with renunciation, yet revives indignantly when called a Capuchin rather than a Barnabite. “The old Adam” makes that religious sense explicit in English. His objection shows an attachment to his order surviving resignation, without making the narrator declare all his faith hypocritical.

Places to read

  1. Chapter XXIV, paragraph 19Frenchle vieil homme en lui se ranima: the old Adam in him revived. An incorrect identification of his religious order revives his argumentative pride.