Notes on Andre Gide

by Roger Martin du Gard

André Gide is a revered figure in the pantheon of French literature and winner of the Nobel Prize in 1947. But the fascinating, quirky, and intimate portrait drawn in this volume can be relished by someone who has never read or perhaps never even heard of him. He continually surprises us by the extent of his humanity. The book brings up his conflicted sexuality and his fight for the acceptance of homosexuality in an era of stigma and condemnation.

His close friendship with Roger Martin du Gard, who was at his bedside when he died, lasted over 38 years. Gide writes of his friend in his journal in 1931: "With (him) I can let myself go and be perfectly natural. There is nobody whose presence now brings me greater comfort." For his part, Roger Martin du Gard was a substantial writer, best known for a nine-volume family saga, Les Thibault. The notes on Gide are taken from his journal.

We eavesdrop on these two remarkable men, both Nobel Prize winners, as they trudge across the countryside on long walks or sit by the fire with a glass of wine after dinner, always probing everything under the their lives and their work, mythology, death. It is honest and revealing. We listen and we learn, and our perceptions shift and deepen. 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.

John Russell, former New York Times art critic, translated this book and wrote a new introduction for this volume. He notes du Gard's "'golden good humor': his effortless combination of honesty and generosity. This is a portrait of an artist by an artist-and of a great man by a great man."

Genres: Biography

Hardcover

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"