'Thais ' Summary

Thaïs is a novel by French writer Anatole France, published in 1890. It is based on events in the life of Saint Thaïs of Egypt, a legendary convert to Christianity 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.

The novel was adapted in 1917 for an American silent film, Thais. In 1984 new adaptation took place for a Polish film Thais 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 adapted Thaïs as Ahankar in Hindi. Bhagwati Charan Verma's Chitralekha (1934) was also modelled on France's novel and was adapted to film in 1941 and 1964.

The comic poet Newman Levy 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.