NOTES SUR ANDRE GIDE: 1913-1951)

by Roger Martin du Gard

in12. 1951. Broché.

Genres: Biography

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1937 "for the artistic power and truth with which he has depicted human conflict as well as some fundamental aspects of contemporary life in his novel cycle Les Thibault."

Roger Martin du Gard (23 March 1881 - 22 August 1958) was a French author and winner of the 1937 Nobel Prize for Literature. Trained as a paleographer and archivist, Martin du Gard brought to his works a spirit of objectivity and a scrupulous regard for details. For his concern with documentation and with the relationship of social reality to individual development, he has been linked with the realist and naturalist traditions of the 19th century. His major work was Les Thibault, a roman fleuve about the Thibault family, originally published as a series of eight novels. The story follows the fortunes of the two Thibault brothers, Antoine and Jacques, from their prosperous bourgeois upbringing, through the First World War, to their deaths. He also wrote a novel, Jean Barois, set in the historical context of the Dreyfus Affair.

During the Second World war he resided in Nice, where he prepared a novel, which remained unfinished (Souvenirs du lieutenant-colonel de Maumort); an English-language translation of this unfinished novel was published in 2000.

Roger Martin du Gard died in 1958 and was buried in the Cimiez Monastery Cemetery in Cimiez, a suburb of the city of Nice, France.

Reviews

[Gerbrand · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Mag ik zo vrij zijn u te zeggen dat u net als de maan bent. Je ziet er altijd maar een deel van."

Iedere fan van RMG kan ik Kijken door een sleutelgat: dagboeken en herinneringen. van harte aanbevelen. Deze aantekeningen had ik beter links kunnen laten liggen. Ze voegen heel weinig toe.

[Gijs Zandbergen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik ben een groot liefhebber van het werk van Martin du Gard. Vandaar dat ik dit boekje (1951) met verzamelde dagboekaantekeningen heb gelezen. André Gide las ik zo lang geleden dat ik vergeten ben wat ik van hem vond. Getrokken les uit dit boekje: vriendschap hoeft niet kritiekloos te zijn, want MdG is dat beslist niet, ondanks al zijn bewondering. Vooral tegen het einde van zijn leven wordt Gide een steeds raardere, egocentrische snuiter, zo iemand die op grond van zijn verleden te beroemd is geworden en daardoor te weinig tegengas krijgt.

[Magda · Rating 2 out of 5]

'André lacks a gift that is essential to the true novelist; he doesn't know how to stand boredom. The moment anyone ceases to stimulate him, he loses all interest. It's the same with the characters in his books: he usually begins to lose interest in them towards the hundred-and-fiftieth page; and so he rounds the story off anyhow, the quicker the better, like a schoolboy with an imposition.'

'The great question in life is the pain that one causes, and not even the most ingenious metaphysics can justify the man who has broken the heart that loved him.'

'To love intelligent women is a pederast's pleasure.' BAUDELAIRE: Journaux Intimes.

[Iris · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We eavesdrop on the conversations of two remarkable men, both Nobel prize winners, as they talk about their lives, work, other writers, illness, death, and much more. While not a biography, this small but perfect gem of a book, written with masterful artistry, illuminates our understanding of a great man of genius and the very nature of life"