User:Jmdeane1/sandbox/The Gods Are Thirsty

The Gods Are Thirsty is a 1996 historical novel by World Fantasy Award-winning author Tanith Lee set during the French Revolution. It follows the rise and fall of journalist Camille Desmoulins, also known as Windmill, who launches the Revolution and lives to be guillotined by his old comrades.

Synopsis

During a night out at the local bar, struggling writer Camille Desmoulins hears that the popular finance minister Necker has been dismissed from office. At Georges Danton’s behest, Camille stands on a table and gives a speech, telling the people of the Third Estate to rise against from the oppressive monarch of France, King Louis XVI. The people of the Third Estate successfully storm the Bastille, and the Revolution begins. Camille is in love with a noble 19-year-old girl named Lucile Duplessis whose father will not allow them to be together. Seeking his fortune, Camille agrees to write pro-revolutionary newspapers and pamphlets with the powerful Comte Mirabeau as his benefactor, but soon begins writing pamphlets criticizing Mirabeau, gaining admirers and death threats. Drunk on wine and his own popularity, Camille tries to convince Lucile’s father to let them wed, and after Camille is put on trial for his writings and saved by Robespierre, Lucile’s father agrees to the marriage.

Mirabeau gets sick and dies. Saddened, Camille writes an article questioning Mirabeau’s death and his methods. He and Danton lead the people to Champ de Mars fighting ensued with the National Guard. Later, Camille learns that Lucile is pregnant. Terrified, Camille runs off to live in the country. Danton sends him a letter, asking him to return and help rebuild Paris. Anarchy breaks out over a bread shortage; the people blame the King. The Prussians threaten to intervene to stop the riot if the King cannot end it. The people break into the King’s palace and capture him; learning of Louis’ capture, Prussia send troops into France. Hotel de Ville becomes a battleground and the people of France drive the Prussians out of the country. More riots erupt in the city as the people purge “traitors” and anti-revolutionists. Danton creates The Committee of General Defense to arrest and try anti-revolutionist, who are beheaded by the guillotine, a symbol for the Terror times.

Robespierre begins to denounce the acts of the revolution, calling it uncivil. He has the heads of the committee of general defense step down and then becomes the head of the now renamed Committee of Public Safety. Camille begins to distrusts Robespierre; his feeling is confirmed when Robespierre begins to take down those whom he deems a threat. Camille becomes increasingly paranoid; due to all the arrests and beheadings, he wants an end to the revolution. Robespierre tells Camille of his plans to become France’s new king, which Camille openly protests. Camille writes an article asking for moderation and an end to beheadings; he is promptly arrested along with Danton and other fellow Dantonists. All are tried by the Tribunal, found guilty, and sent to the guillotine; Lucile too, is guillotined. In the months following, Robespierre and his friends are also guillotined.

Characters

Camille Desmoulins: Also known as Windmill; the narrator and main character of the novel, he starts the revolution by standing on a table and giving a speech. A poor 29-year-old writer, he falls in love with 19-year-old Lucile early in the novel, marries her, joins the powerful Cordeliers Club, starts a newspaper that advances the revolution, and is present at many of the key moments of the revolution. Finally he is expelled from the Cordeliers Club for writing that Robespierre is a tyrant, is put on trial, and is eventually guillotined.

Camille's Father: Does not think highly of his son Camille and thinks he isn’t worth much. He is constantly getting letters from Camille because he is need of money, but at the very least he wants a bed.

Claude Duplessis: Lucile’s father and an officer of the French Treasury, does not allow his daughter to marry Camille due to uncertainty.

Robespierre: Also one of the main characters and is very rich and gives the money to help jumpstart the newspaper. He is a successful lawyer and gets elected to the third estate and can get his speeches printed since he is rich. Robespierre is a childhood friend of Camille and plays a key role alongside him in the Revolution. He is one of the main figures of the Revolution alongside Camille. Robespierre later on in the novel expels Camille from the Cordeliers Club because Camille wrote about Robespierre being a tyrant and this represented Camille in a bad way.

Danton: Considered to be a man’s man and is the opposite of what Camille is and is what Camille can’t be. Danton is bold, obnoxious, loud, and loves to party. He antagonizes Camille. He is a bully at times and is also a radical. Danton sleeps around frequently and is said to have amounted an STD account that cannot be measured. At first, he was a trustworthy leader of the Revolution. He along with Robespierre were noted and applauded for their effort to capture the aristocrats.

Background & writing process

Tanith Lee began writing The Gods Are Thirsty in 1982, and finished her first draft in the beginning of 1985. This was her only book that she wrote multiple drafts on. She got inspired to write this book because Lee watched a play on the television called Danton’s Death, which covered Georges Jacques Danton's trial and death. She also read about a newspaperman who was intimately associated with both Danton and Maximilien Robespierre. However, people said it would be a poor decision because it was too horrible so she held off on writing it for a while. When she actually got around to writing the novel in a diary style, she put much effort into researching the French Revolution. Tanith wanted to make the characters seem like actors. She focused more on Camille Desmoulins because he was the link between the two main figures of the French Revolution, Robespierre and Danton. Desmoulins had a love story to tie into it as well with Lucile Duplessis. Finally, Desmoulins is one of the unknown characters in the Revolution, so Tanith Lee wanted to bring awareness to the importance of his actions. One of Lee’s difficulties was that the characters were not fictional and the ending of her book had already been written by history, contrary to her usual strategy of knowing characters first and letting plots proceed from their interactions.

Critical reception

Critics agreed that the Gods Are Thirsty was beautifully written, a "stunning achievement”" despite Tanith Lee's inexperience with historical fiction. Tanith Lee is a science fiction writer, who doesn’t usually write about historical fiction, but The Gods Are Thirsty is a The book focuses on the time before and during the French Revolution through the eyes of Camille Desmoulins, giving this version of the French Revolution a "distinctive aura of personal tragedy" and "feeling and force".

However, critics were divided on other aspects of the book, citing its length and switches between first and third person narration that made it confusing to read and difficult to understand, the bloodiness of the narrative, and the density of the research. The Gods Are Thirsty was given a 3.3 out of 5 average customer review.