André Gide was one of France’s most famous writers, considered by some as that country’s greatest author of the first half of the twentieth century (and awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature). I remember, faintly, reading something of his in my last year of high school, so it was a surprise to me to stumble upon this 1929 title in my collection. How it came to my home, I have no idea, but somehow I must have purchased it many years ago and then it lay hidden in the back bookshelves, happy in its obscurity. In real life, the book was one of his least popular books, its subject matter not quite existing easily with his normal political entries.
It’s not a very long book and its concept is very simple; the life of a marriage, seemingly broken into three acts. It begins with the future wife, who worships her future husband. He can do no wrong in her eyes, despite obvious hesitations from her father, who can see the beau a bit better. But the fiancée wins over her parents, although the reader can see one reason for this is due to the fact that her parents have some money. Does he really love her? Or is he marrying to ensure his future comfort? It matters little to her. In her eyes, he is a living god, and that is that. Based on the timeline, this is taking place around the turn of the twentieth century, when women were still very reliant on marriage and husbands.
As the middle of the book arrives, and the coming of WWI, life is no longer so cosy. The initial fireworks from the beginning of the marriage have worn off for the young wife. She has started having doubts about her “god” and solicits the advice of the local priest, as she is pinned to the Roman Catholic religion and way of life. But in that era, women were still defined by marriage and husbands, so the advice she receives begins to give doubts about submitting one’s soul to religion (one of Gide’s philosophies throughout his general writings).
By the third act, the wife has clearly seen her husband for what he is, but most importantly, so has her grown daughter. It’s the 1920s now, when young women were breaking the former boundaries of servitude, and both women realize their husband/father is nothing special. He tried to worm his way out of the catastrophic war while still trying to shine as a hero and he relies on her family’s money for his business ventures. It’s in this last section that Gide presents the reader with a quandary: Should the women remain loyal to the man, or should they move forward on their own?
People as a rule only understand the value of a good reputation after they have lost it.
I’ll admit that it was at first difficult to get through the first third of the book, because it’s written as musings from a young woman’s diary. That’s always hard for me as a reader, but luckily I persevered and began to get involved with the book’s theme and with the characters themselves. The way Gide presents the three main characters requires the patience of the reader, but it ended up with my wanting to learn what really happens by the book’s finale. It’s clear that André Gide was promoting greater independence for women yet with the view that the current times did not allow much freedom.
My copy of the book is an actual first edition from Alfred A. Knopf, in 1929 (with the original paper dust jacket). Again, with no recollection of how it squirmed its way into my book collection, I enjoyed turning the pages of a book still in good shape and with real cut paper. Sometimes a book just feels good to read. Plus, I think it gave me a bit of cachet. When a co-worker asked me what I was reading, I turned up my nose and threw off, “André Gide”, as though that mattered. Perhaps Gide was spot-on about the human condition, after all.
Book Season = Year Round (hidden purposes)