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Marshlands and Prometheus Misbound: Two Satires
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192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1895
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About the author
André Gide
923 books1,736 followersDiaries and novels, such as
The Immoralist
(1902) and
Lafcadio's Adventures
(1914), of noted French writer André Gide examine alienation and the drive for individuality in an often disapproving society; he won the Nobel Prize of 1947 for literature.
André Paul Guillaume Gide authored books. From beginnings in the symbolist movement, career of Gide ranged to anticolonialism between the two World Wars.
Known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works, Gide exposes the conflict and eventual reconciliation to public view between the two sides of his personality; a straight-laced education and a narrow social moralism split apart these sides. One can see work of Gide as an investigation of freedom and empowerment in the face of moralistic and puritan constraints, and it gravitates around his continuous effort to achieve intellectual honesty. His self-exploratory texts reflect his search of full self, even to the point of owning sexual nature without betraying values at the same time. After his voyage of 1936 to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the same ethos informs his political activity, as his repudiation of Communism suggests.
Chinese 安德烈·纪德
André Paul Guillaume Gide authored books. From beginnings in the symbolist movement, career of Gide ranged to anticolonialism between the two World Wars.
Known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works, Gide exposes the conflict and eventual reconciliation to public view between the two sides of his personality; a straight-laced education and a narrow social moralism split apart these sides. One can see work of Gide as an investigation of freedom and empowerment in the face of moralistic and puritan constraints, and it gravitates around his continuous effort to achieve intellectual honesty. His self-exploratory texts reflect his search of full self, even to the point of owning sexual nature without betraying values at the same time. After his voyage of 1936 to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the same ethos informs his political activity, as his repudiation of Communism suggests.
Chinese 安德烈·纪德
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 6, 2010
This is fantastic. Wouldn't expect anything like it from reading the Immoralist.
Marshlands is a hilarious portrait of some young author who finds life unbearably monotonous, and is writing a book to reveal to everyone how their lives are all horrible. The book, called ‘Marshlands’, is about a character called Tityrus (~from Vergil~, representing everyone) who is quite content to spend his whole life fishing without ever catching anything and though he does shoot some birds, he’s told not to eat them by both a priest and a doctor, and so ends up eating ‘mudworms’, and even starts liking their taste and thinks himself happy. I liked how it was obviously mocking this type of person, but it didn't diminish him somehow? It was sympathetic. If I wasn't so opposed to the idea of myself as a writer, I probably would be very much like Tityrus a few years ago.
Prometheus Misbound - how can you go wrong with a story where Damocles, Cocles and Prometheus meet at a cafe? And Zeus/God is a millionaire with strange ideas about philanthropy?
Marshlands is a hilarious portrait of some young author who finds life unbearably monotonous, and is writing a book to reveal to everyone how their lives are all horrible. The book, called ‘Marshlands’, is about a character called Tityrus (~from Vergil~, representing everyone) who is quite content to spend his whole life fishing without ever catching anything and though he does shoot some birds, he’s told not to eat them by both a priest and a doctor, and so ends up eating ‘mudworms’, and even starts liking their taste and thinks himself happy. I liked how it was obviously mocking this type of person, but it didn't diminish him somehow? It was sympathetic. If I wasn't so opposed to the idea of myself as a writer, I probably would be very much like Tityrus a few years ago.
Prometheus Misbound - how can you go wrong with a story where Damocles, Cocles and Prometheus meet at a cafe? And Zeus/God is a millionaire with strange ideas about philanthropy?
January 7, 2017
I first read this book 50 years ago. It moved me then enough so that I carried it around in the saddlebags of my MC and ever since then (one of very few books I still have from then). It was a sort of talisman I guess but I never reread it until this week (I am snowed in--literally). I will not read it again, nor will I recommend it. If I understood it then I don't now.
The best I got out of it is to make a list of times to get up and things to do; then whenever you wake up and whatever you do, erase the plan and write in what you did, as if you had intended it all along,i.e. Mission accomplished!
If YOU can explain the hidden meanings here, Please let me know.
The best I got out of it is to make a list of times to get up and things to do; then whenever you wake up and whatever you do, erase the plan and write in what you did, as if you had intended it all along,i.e. Mission accomplished!
If YOU can explain the hidden meanings here, Please let me know.
July 13, 2015
Paludes (din latinescul "mlastina") amesteca frinturi din viata reala a naratorului (pe care acesta o considera plicticoasa) cu un proiecte de roman al carui erou principal, Titir (nume luat din Vergiliu) traieste in mlastini.
"Prometeu rau-inlantuit" este o interpretare moderna, desacralizanta, a mitului grecesc. Zeus este un fals binefacator care inzestreaza la intimplare cu o suma fixa (500 franci) pusi intr-un plic si trimisi la o adresa scrisa de un trecator care primeste o palma pentru efort. Eroii Cocles si Damocles se intilnesc cu Prometeu care are de rezolvat problema vulturului: intii il hraneste si-l face frumos, apoi il ucide. Pentru fiecare din cele doua fapte tine cite o conferinta: despre necesitatea de a avea un vultur; despre inutilitatea de a avea un vultur (vultur = constiinta)
"Prometeu rau-inlantuit" este o interpretare moderna, desacralizanta, a mitului grecesc. Zeus este un fals binefacator care inzestreaza la intimplare cu o suma fixa (500 franci) pusi intr-un plic si trimisi la o adresa scrisa de un trecator care primeste o palma pentru efort. Eroii Cocles si Damocles se intilnesc cu Prometeu care are de rezolvat problema vulturului: intii il hraneste si-l face frumos, apoi il ucide. Pentru fiecare din cele doua fapte tine cite o conferinta: despre necesitatea de a avea un vultur; despre inutilitatea de a avea un vultur (vultur = constiinta)
November 15, 2023
I wouldn’t know how to describe this book, but its satirical and it made me laugh. If you want to read something with a heavy plot and an ending that feels like you’ve eaten a full meal, this isn’t for you. But if you want something light and short, this book made me laugh frequently and the absurdity felt relatable at times.
September 5, 2019
Un deliciu!
April 2, 2022
Povestea e atat de absurda incat m-a facut sa rad.
January 17, 2024
Significantly entertaining, a light read with a deeper meaning on the purpose of living and the case for mediocrity. Genuinely enjoyable and highly recommend.
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July 15, 2024Absurdist explorations of the pretensions of artists. I found the first of these charming and the second kind of impenetrable.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews