André Gide
Biography
André Gide was born in 1869 in Paris. His father was a professor of law at the University of Paris, who died when Gide was eleven years old. He was a sickly child. After his father’s death, which profoundly affected him, the major event of his childhood was finding his cousin, Madeleine, in tears, as she had found out that her mother was unfaithful to her father. This event will be described in La porte étroite (Strait is the Gate). He was associating with literary types and started writing early, publishing his first work – Les cahiers d’André Walter (The Notebooks of André Walter) – at his own expense. He gave the first copy to Madeleine and proposed to her but was rejected. Two years later he travelled to North Africa, where he met Oscar Wilde and where he became fully aware of his own homosexual inclinations. After his return, and shortly after the death of his mother, he finally married Madeleine.
He was now publishing regularly and co-founded the Nouvelle Revue Française, which became one of the most influential literary reviews. He also gave up Catholicism. This can be seen in his Les caves du Vatican (US: The Vatican Swindle; Lafcadio’s Adventures; UK: The Vatican Cellars). In 1916 he became the lover of the sixteen year old Marc Allégret. He continued to have literary success but was severely criticized for his defence of homosexuality in Corydon (Corydon). At this time he also conceived an illegitimate daughter by a woman called Maria Van Rysselberghe. In the 1920s, he took up the crusade against colonialism, after visiting the Congo. He attended a peace conference and became a communist, though he abandoned communism in 1936, after visiting the Soviet Union. His wife died in 1938 and, during World War II, he lived in Africa. In 1947 he was awarded the Nobel Prize. He died in 1951.
Books about André Gide
Jonathan Fryer: André and Oscar: The Literary Friendship of Andre Gide and Oscar Wilde
George Painter: André Gide: A Critical Biography
Alan Sheridan: André Gide: A Life in the Present
Other links
André Gide
André Gide
Various photos of André Gide
André Gide (in French)
André Gide (in French)
André Gide (in French)
Biographie d’André Gide (in French)
Sur les pas des écrivains André Gide (in French)
Sur les pas des écrivains André Gide en 1890-1891 (in French)
Sur les pas des écrivains André Gide à La Roque-Baignard (in French)
Fondation Catherine Gide (in French)
Bibliography
1891 Les cahiers d’André Walter (The Notebooks of André Walter)
1891 Le traité du Narcisse (The Treatise of Narcissus)
1892 Les poésies d’André Walter (The Poems of André Walter)
1893 Le voyage d’Urien (Urien’s Travels; Urien’s Voyage)
1893 La tentative amoureuse (The Attempt at Love)
1895 Paludes (Morasses; Marshlands)
1897 Réflexions sur quelques points de littérature
1897 Les nourritures terrestres (The Fruits of the Earth)
1897 Feuilles de route 1895-1896
1899 Le Prométhée mal enchaîné (Prometheus Ill-Bound; Prometheus Misbound )
1899 Philoctèthe (Philoctetes); El Hadj (El Hadj)
1900 Lettres à Angèle
1900 De l’influence en littérature
1901 Le roi Candaule (King Candaules)
1901 Les limites de l’art
1902 L’immoraliste (The Immoralist)
1903 Saül (Saul)
1903 De l’importance du public
1903 Prétexts (Pretexts)
1906 Amyntas (Amyntas)
1907 Le retour de l’enfant prodigue (US: The Prodigal’s Return; UK: The Return of the Prodigal)
1908 Dostoïevsky d’après sa correspondance
1909 La porte étroite (Strait is the Gate)
1910 Oscar Wilde
1911 Nouveaux prétexts (Further Pretexts)
1911 Charles-Louis-Philippe
1911 C. R. D. N.
1911 Isabelle (Isabelle)
1912 Bethsabé (Bathsheba)
1914 Souvenirs de la Cour d’Assises (Recollections of the Assize Court)
1914 Les caves du Vatican (US: The Vatican Swindle; Lafcadio’s Adventures; UK: The Vatican Cellars)
1919 La symphonie pastorale (The Pastoral Symphony)
1920 Corydon (Corydon)
1922 Numquid et tu . . .? (Numquid et tu …?)
1923 Dostoïevsky (Dostoievsky)
1924 Incidences (Angles of Incidence)
1925 Caractères
1925 Les faux-monnayeurs (US: The Counterfeiters; UK: The Coiners)
1926 Si le grain ne meurt (If It Die …)
1926 Le journal des faux-monnayeurs (Logbook of The Coiners)
1927 Dindiki (Dindiki)
1927 Voyage au Congo (Travels in the Congo)
1928 Le retour de Tchad (Return to Chad)
1929 L’école des femmes (The School for Wives)
1929 Essai sur Montaigne (Montaigne)
1929 Un esprit non prévenu (An Unprejudiced Mind)
1930 Robert (Robert)
1930 La séquestrée de Poitiers (The Poiters Incarceration Case)
1930 L’affaire Redureau (The Redureau Case)
1931 Oedipe (Oedipus)
1934 Perséphone (Persephone)
1935 Les nouvelles nourritures (New Fruits of the Earth)
1936 Geneviève (Genevieve)
1936 Retour de l’U. R. S. S. (US: Return From the U.S.S.R.; Back from the U. S. S. R.)
1937 Retouches à mon retour de l’U. R. S. S. (US: Afterthoughts on the U.S.S.R.; UK: Afterthoughts : A Sequel to Back from the U.S.S.R.)
1938 Notes sur Chopin (Notes on Chopin)
1939 Journal 1889-1939 (The Journals of André Gide 1889-1949)
1941 Découvrons Henri Michaux
1943 Interviews imaginaries (Imaginary Interviews)
1946 Thésée (Theseus)
1946 Le retour
1946 Souvenirs littéraires et problèmes actuels
1947 Paul Valéry
1947 Le procès
1947 L’arbitraire
1947 Et nunc manet in te suivi de Journal intime (UK: Et nunc manet in te and Intimate Journal; US: Madeleine; The Secret Drama of My Life…. et nunc … manet in te)
1948 Eloges
1949 Feuillets d’automne (Autumn Leaves)
1950 Littérature engagée
1950 Journal 1942-1949
1950 Ainsi soit-il ou Les jeux sont faits (So Be It or The Chips Are Down)
1972 Le centenaire
1972 Le Récit de Michel
1993 À Naples
1993 Le Grincheux
2001 Souvenirs et Voyages
2002 Le Ramier