''Thaïs'' is a novel by French writer

Anatole France (; born ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters.Saint Thaïs of Egypt, a legendary convert to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

who is said to have lived in the 4th century. It was the inspiration for the 1894 opera of the same name by

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...

Summary

Paphnuce, an

ascetic Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their pra ...

hermit of the southern Egyptian desert, along the Nile, in the

Thebaid The Thebaid or Thebais (, ''Thēbaïs'') was a region in ancient Egypt, comprising the 13 southernmost nome (Egypt), nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos, Egypt, Abydos to Aswan. Pharaonic history The Thebaid acquired its name from its proximit ...

, journeys to Alexandria to find Thais, the

libertine A libertine is a person questioning and challenging most moral principles, such as responsibility or Human sexual activity, sexual restraints, and will often declare these traits as unnecessary, undesirable or evil. A libertine is especially som ...

beauty whom he knew as a youth. Masquerading as a dandy, he is able to speak with her about eternity; surprisingly he succeeds in converting her to Christianity. Yet on their return to the desert he becomes fascinated with her former life. She enters a convent to repent of her sins. He cannot forget the pull of her famous beauty, and becomes confused about the values of life. Later, as she is dying and can only see heaven opening before her, he comes to her side and tells her that her faith is an illusion, and that he loves her.

English translations

*Ernest Tristan (stated 1902 in frontispiece, but likely later, Boni and Liveright. Introduction, with illustrations, by Hendrik Van Loon, likely setting publication after ca 1910) *Robert Bruce Douglas (1926)

Adaptations

The novel was adapted in 1917 for an American silent film, ''

Thais Thais can be the plural of ''Thai'' and refer to: * The Thai people, the main ethnic group of Thailand * The Thai peoples or Tai peoples, the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia In the singular, Thais may refer to: People Ancien ...

''. In 1984 new adaptation took place for a Polish film ''

'' directed by Ryszard Ber. David Frischmann adapted the novel into a short story in Hebrew, called "Ir Hamiklat" ("City of Shelter). He also translated the novel into Hebrew. The Indian writer

Munshi Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known as Munshi Premchand based on his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu s ...

adapted ''Thaïs'' as ''Ahankar'' in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

. The comic poet

Newman Levy Newman Levy (November 30, 1888 – March 22, 1966) was an American lawyer, poet, playwright and essayist. Levy followed his father, well-known criminal attorney Abraham Levy, into law, but also pursued his own dreams of being a writer. Born in Ma ...

reviewed and summarized the story in his poem "Wicked Alexandria" in response to seeing the Massenet opera. The poem was subsequently popularized as a comic song.

References

External links

''Thaïs''
available at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

''Thais'' By Anatole France, Urdu Translation
* 1890 French novels Novels by Anatole France French novels adapted into films French novels adapted into operas Novels set in Egypt Novels set in the 4th century Cultural depictions of Thaïs (saint) {{1890s-hist-novel-stub