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The Gods Will Have Blood (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) Paperback – March 27, 1980

by Anatole France (Author), Frederick Davies (Translator, Introduction)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 73 ratings
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A Penguin Classic

It is April 1793 and the final power struggle of the French Revolution is taking hold: the aristocrats are dead and the poor are fighting for bread in the streets. In a Paris swept by fear and hunger lives Gamelin, a revolutionary young artist appointed magistrate, and given the power of life and death over the citizens of France. But his intense idealism and unbridled single-mindedness drive him inexorably towards catastrophe. Published in 1912, The Gods Will Have Blood is a breathtaking story of the dangers of fanaticism, while its depiction of the violence and devastation of the Reign of Terror is strangely prophetic of the sweeping political changes in Russia and across Europe.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Classics
  4. Publication date
    March 27, 1980
  5. Dimensions
    5.14 x 0.5 x 7.74 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9780140443523
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0140443523
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

By the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

About the Author

Anatole France (1844–1924), whose full name was Jacques-Anatole-Francois Thibault, was born in Paris, the only son of a book dealer. Working throughout his life in the publishing industry, he also contributed to various reviews and from 1873 was beginning to focus on his own creative writing. In 1897 he was elected to the Academic Francaise. The decisive shift in his career came in his participation in the Dreyfus affair, on behalf of the convicted Jewish officer. It marked the first stage of his emergence as one of the ‘representative men’ of his epoch, and brought about his conversion to socialism. Subsequent works reflect this sharpened humane concern. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1921. 

 Frederick Davies is widely known as the translator of the plays of Carlo Goldini. He is a Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0140443525
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics; Reprint edition (March 27, 1980)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780140443523
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140443523
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.14 x 0.5 x 7.74 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 73 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
73 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Linda L. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars The Gods Will Have Blood Review
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2010
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The Gods Will Have Blood is an excellent novel, but I do not recommend it for those who do not have a fairly substantial understanding of the French Revolution. Though a reader would still find themselves enjoying the book regardless of historical knowledge, one will not achieve full understanding and enjoyment if such knowledge does not take its lodging in the reader's mind.
In the event that one does know a good bit about the revolution, he or she will get a lot out of this book. There are, of course, no photographs or videos we can look at from that era, so it is difficult for us to look at the event as anything more than a chapter in a textbook or an interesting lecture. The Gods Will Have Blood does an impressive job of putting the reader in the middle of the action, therefore making it a good book for students to read as a supplement to class, no matter the age. It brings to life what is otherwise simply a reason for a test.
Also, the novel is fictional, but the historical figures and events are real, and the things that happen to the main characters are based on what would actually happen to people of the sort had they lived at that time.
4 people found this helpful
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J. Scherrer
4.0 out of 5 stars A Contemporary View of the French Revolution
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2009
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While not the most riveting of pieces ever created, The Gods Will Have Blood does examine the events of the French Revolution from a contemporary standpoint with a certain intimacy of the subject that is difficult to find in secondary accounts. A good read for students of European history but not a NY Times Bestseller caliber choice.
2 people found this helpful
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Murph
5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging Account of Robespierre's Reign of Terror
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2015
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A very engrossing story about a mediocre artist who becomes enraptured by extremist ideology and winds up becoming a juror during Robespierre's infamous Reign of Terror. France's satiric approach is similar to Sinclair Lewis at his best, and the depictions of the "bilious" Marat and the sanctimonious Robespierre are especially priceless. It's amazing to think that this book was published in 1912, since it anticipates the destructive ideologies of the 20th century.
5 people found this helpful
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Karl Janssen
3.0 out of 5 stars Life under The Terror
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2015
The Gods Are Athirst, a novel by Nobel Prize winner Anatole France, was originally published in 1912 under the French title of Les dieux ont soif. The story takes place from 1793 to 1794, during the period of the French Revolution known as The Terror. Évariste Gamelin is a young painter actively involved in the local political activities of his neighborhood. His enthusiasm for the Republican cause is duly noted, and he is appointed to the office of juror on the Revolutionary Tribunal. The Jacobins are rounding up former aristocrats and anyone else who might sympathize with the former king. These offenders are corralled into the courtroom for cursory show trials, wherein Gamelin and his fellow jurors pass judgment upon them, the usual sentence being death by guillotine. Gamelin is fiercely devoted to the Republican doctrine and practically worships the Jacobin leaders Marat and Robespierre. As his judicial office slowly transforms him from an earnest, likeable young man to a cold, merciless executioner, his family and friends begin to fear him, wary they might be next on the chopping block.

I usually think of France as a satirist, but in this historical novel he’s deadly serious. He does, however, contrast Gamelin with the character of Maurice Brotteaux, a former aristocrat who looks askance at the Republican rhetoric with an irreverent viewpoint and humorous sense of the ironic that one might expect from the author. France wrote this book for an audience of his fellow Frenchman, so the reader is expected to come armed with a prior knowledge of the Revolution. For the American reader, it can be tough going at times. France defines his characters by listing off the surnames of the politicians, philosophers, and artists they subscribe to, which can result in passages that read like a Parisian phone book. It’s not quite as confusing as Victor Hugo’s novel of the Revolution, Ninety-Three, but it’s neither as exciting nor as inspiring either. France’s takes on the period is more realistic and less heroic than Hugo’s, yet The Gods Are Athirst still presents a romantic tale that somewhat resembles a tragic opera.

France does a good job of evoking the atmosphere of paranoia and persecution that must have pervaded Paris under the Terror. Beyond its conveyance of time and place, however, the story is less than satisfying. It’s hard to become emotionally involved in a novel when you don’t care for the hero, and from early on it becomes difficult to root for Gamelin. The supporting cast, with the possible exception of Brotteaux, are underdeveloped. They all sort of orbit around Gamelin, but none of them ever steps up to challenge him as the focus of attention. There are some compelling moments around the book’s mid-point, but the first half crawls, and the ending is a foregone conclusion.

While the dramatic potential of the French Revolution is undeniable, The Gods Are Athirst never takes full advantage of that potential. The result is more educational than moving. Ultimately this is one historical novel where the history outshines the novel.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Peter read
5.0 out of 5 stars I love it
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2013
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The book was just as I required and I am very pleased with the book and would buy more again
One person found this helpful
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sally tarbox
4.0 out of 5 stars "I am steeped in blood so that you may be happy"
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2013
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Chilling tale of one Evariste Gamelin, a poor artist in revolutionary Paris. On the one hand he shows humanity: caring for his old mother, willing to give up his bread allowance to a starving woman, and jealously devoted to the lovely Elodie.
But his blind following of the Republic soon becomes apparent:
'We must put our trust in Robespierre; he is incorruptible. Above all we must trust in Marat. He is the one who really loves the people...he's not only incorruptible; he is without fear. He alone is capable of saving the Republic in its peril.'
Against this dangerously naive youth, we meet his older neighbour, Brotteaux, a former aristocrat, now living in a garret and making puppets - but, despite his atheism, a good natured man, willing to risk his life for others.
As Evariste rises up the ladder he becomes a magistrate, with power over the lives of many, even people well known to him...

Although written a hundred years ago, and set 250 years back, this is very much a relevant work; Gamelin made me think of Nazis who were reportedly kind fathers; of radicalized Muslim youths who had once been loving sons. As he tells Elodie:
'Scoundrels who betray their fatherland are multiplying unceasingly...And when we have sacrificed them on the altar of the fatherland, more of them appear, and more and more...So you must see there is no other course for me but to renounce love, joy, all the sweetness of life, even life itself.'
The crazy world where months are re-named and dancing dolls declared anti-revolutionary (putting their seller's life at risk) is very similar to what we see in some extremist lands today.
And it massively informed me about the Revolution, which we tend to portray simply as starving peasants rightfully rising up against a corrupt royal family. The different factions and the changes of direction under the Terror, when even the leaders weren't safe is all brought out. (Although I would encourage the reader to familiarise themselves with basic facts about the Revolution before reading - I got rather confused at times.)
8 people found this helpful
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H. Tee
4.0 out of 5 stars It's not the Gods who get the blood but the streets of France.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2015
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The story is set in 1793 during the Reign of Terror of the French revolution. It was written in 1912. Aspiring Artist, 29 year old, Evarite Gamelin is persuaded to become a judge on the civilian court presiding over threats to the revolution (Marats/federalists). He has a girlfriend Elodie, who gradually loves him the more as he turns more ruthless. There are many side characters who come under his scrutiny like Brotteaux the doll maker and, Longuemare the priest. A ruthless, plot driven and disturbing story.

This is a really good domestic tale of those times; a sort of mix of Dumas and Zola.

Some quotes
“Five years of enthusiasm, five years of fraternal embraces, of massacres, of fine speeches, of Marseillaises, of tocsins, of ‘hang up the aristocrats,’ of heads promenaded on pikes, women mounted astride of cannon, of trees of Liberty crowned with the red cap, of white-robed maidens and old men drawn about the streets in flower-wreathed cars; of imprisonments and guillotinings, of proclamations, and shorts commons, of cockades and plumes, swords and carmagnoles – it grows tedious!”

“Ignorance is a necessary condition of human happiness, and it must be owned that in most cases we fulfil it well. We know almost nothing about ourselves; absolutely nothing about our neighbours. Ignorance constitutes our peace of mind; self-deception our felicity”

“Evariste fled from the house and ran to find at Elodie’s side forgetfulness, sleep, the delicious foretaste of extinction”
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 4, 2017
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about ten days late but everything else okay
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