From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Lemma.
A thyrsus is the Bacchic staff associated with ecstatic followers of Dionysus. Élodie is imagined as an operatic bacchante stripped of this staff, lynx skin and ivy garlands, concealed within the modest exterior of a Chardin housewife. The missing attributes are part of a pictorial comparison; she is not literally performing a rite or carrying the staff in the shop. The concrete emblem helps the narrator keep sensual vitality and domestic appearance simultaneously visible.
Places to read
- Chapter III, paragraph 7Frenchde son thyrse: the bacchante’s absent ritual staff. The metaphor explicitly describes Élodie as stripped of these attributes.