The Notebooks of André Walter

by André Gide

The first complete text of the Andre Gide’s semi-autobiographical journal, comprising The White Notebook and The Black Notebook. Both reveal Gide’s earliest experiments in self-analysis and self-realization through artistic creativity.

Genres: France, 19th Century, Novels, Classics, Fiction

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1891

About the author

Diaries 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

Reviews

[Giuseppe Sirugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bajo un contexto religioso, como sujeto ateo, si tuviera que evaluar el libro, no le atribuiría una estrella. Sin embargo, el contexto del mismo cuaderno es un libro rico en interrupciones anotadas: en el sentido de que leyéndolo con precaución nos damos cuenta de cuántas cosas más pudo haber agregado André Gide a lo que habría sido un simple cuaderno. De forma ordenada. Lo que es algo fascinante para la temprana edad de un escritor francés de veinte años. A veces son cosas fragmentadas, pero luego en un contexto de segunda instancia he entendido su síntesis: porque de forma intencional o involuntaria inducen al lector a comentar el libro y al autor. Aunque la mención sea negativa, porque el libro no es contemporáneo.

La redacción continúa siendo una lección muy sencilla. Fluida. Libre de su propuesta, aunque su origen puede ser una acentuada frustración sentimental: filosóficamente, a lo largo del texto en algún momento tiene una forma de delirio, causado por el cariño que al autor de joven le había sido negado.
Los dolores que el autor está exaltando son dos: al principio está la muerte de la madre, a quien el mismo autor contempla como la única esencia de su vida. Después de esto viene el amor del primero, se trata de una mujer, porque la madre de Gide antes de morir siempre lo negó, o fue una cosa que siempre se negó a ello.

En general, Los cuadernos de André Walter es un libro interesante, tanto para leer como para olvidarlo, o para cualquier estudio posterior del contexto. En su sencillez, o a veces en su complejidad, el libro permite comprender la cultura literaria de un autor religioso, educado y sensato que fue.

[Gilda Bonelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Da persona atea, se avrei dovuto valutare il libro sotto un contesto religioso non avrei attribuito una stella! Tuttavia, lo stesso quaderno, nel suo contesto è un libro ricco di disgregazioni annotate: leggendolo con attenzione ci si rende conto che André Gide in quello che sarebbe stato un quaderno aggregò quante cose più avrebbe potuto. In maniera ordina, cosa che è alquanto affascinante per la giovane età di scrittore ventenne. Frammentandole per poi farne capire la sintesi: cosa che induce, volutamente o involontariamente, a commentare l’autore. Anche se l’eventuale menzione è negativa perché il libro non è contemporaneo, o da leggere non è piaciuto.
La stesura rimane una lettura molto semplice, scorrevole, se si vuole, libera nel suo proposito, nonostante la propria origine è un’accentuata frustrazione sentimentale; in verità i dolori che l’autore 'sta esaltando sono due: in principio c’è la morte della mamma, che lo stesso autore contempla scrivendo come unica essenza della propria vita. Dopodiché, c’è l’amore della cugina, che suo malgrado la mamma di Gide quando era in vita gli ha sempre negato. Fino a che, filosoficamente, a un certo punto subentra una forma di delirio, cagionato da quello stesso affetto che gli fu negato.
Tutto sommato il: Quaderni di André Walter, è un libro interessante, sia da leggere e dimenticare sia per eventuali approfondimenti del contesto. Perché della propria semplicità, o alcune volte nella sua complessità il libro lascia intuire la cultura letterale, come quanto religioso, educato e sensibile fosse stato l’autore francese.

[Malthus Blake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Semi-autobiographical stream of consciousness based on the notebooks of Gide's adolescence. Documents Gide's unfulfilled love for his young cousin Madeleine ("Emmanuèle" in the novel) and the spiritual interconnections/interactions of this unconscionable attraction.

Main themes: the soul as distinct from the body, art and spiritual reflection as means of escaping lust and self-disgust, the psychic interactions of unfulfilled love. The white notebook covers time proximate to Emmanuèle whereas the black covers the time of her inaccessibility and Walter's increasingly insane retreat into art and the soul.

It's worth noting the book is backgrounded by Gide's own life history - the fact he ultimately married Madeleine (but never consummated the marriage), before later eloping to Africa with his adolescent male lover.

Too romantic for me and too worshipful of a higher soul that dispenses with the body. I just can't see how he can conscript dudes like Baudelaire to the cause of his 'soul' given the Baudelairean spirit is so indulgent of spiritual corruption. Expressive however of the rich inner-life of its author and the ways it seems negativity would always plague him in spite of all his efforts. Best read perhaps as a part of Gide's wider moral history - of a man who though realising the things he wanted, would continually ruin his self-ascribed higher faculties with the pleasures of a more unacceptable character.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is no Goodreads review for this book, which is unfortunate but also expected. So I am taking the time to write a quick one.

The brief description says this book is semi-autobiographical. I haven't read any of Gide's books and I bought the ebook simply because it was on sale and has a minimalist-but-creative cover. Whether one is familiar with Gide is irrelevant. "The Notebooks" consists of two notebooks, The Black and The White. They correspond to two different views about life, the dark and the light. The reader gets a glimpse of the inner conflicts of a man tortured by forbidden love, human desire, philosophy, and passion for writing. The quotations from various established books and authors are also note-worthy. Whether it is the character speaking or the author himself, is irrelevant.

[Andy Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really a review of the second half (the Black Notebook) as I have previously reviewed the White Notebook pretty negatively. Reading the notebooks is useful as a warning not to read too much and to get out and enjoy the moment. He can be insufferably wet and youthfully precocious, intellectualising his lack of ability to seize opportunities as all part of some sort of glorious frisson he gets from anticipation and chastity. Early on he deliberately avoids going to see La Chartreuse while in the Auvergne. His narrator seems to be parted from Madeleine's character (Emmanuelle) too and she married to someone else but I am not sure how this maps onto his real life at the time as I think they were still "together" in their unconsumated marriage. To be honest he is referencing a book he is writing in the narrative and it is possible some of this is about the character based on him and some about him. I wasn't really engaged enough with it to work it out. Gide and his wife didn't formally separate until 1915 when he ran off with a 15 year old boy. I expect she wished she had married someone else and she certainly binned a lot of the Nobel laureates love letters. He seems to be battling lustful passions at times in this though it seems a little hard to believe. He wishes he was swimming with the uneducated naked youths he sees one day. That is perhaps less hard to believe. His intellectualism seems to have even put his ability to swim in a river beyond him though. There is even less incident here than in the White Notebook. He reads and plays the piano.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non sono l’opera più riuscita del grande scrittore francese, questi “Quaderni”: sarà lo stesso Gide a rimarcarlo, nella prefazione scritta per l’edizione del 1930 (“Non posso proprio riaprire i miei ‘Quaderni di André Walter’ senza soffrirne ed esserne persino mortificato”), ma non si può negare che essi contengano, in nuce, tutti i temi più cari all’autore, dall’infelice affetto per la cugina Madeleine, al conflitto con la fede che lo accompagnerà per buona parte della vita. Le riflessioni dello sfortunato protagonista si sostanziano in brevi frammenti tortuosi e discontinui più che in una narrazione compiuta e fluida: riempiono le pagine una serie di citazioni, da Shakespeare ai classici greci, dalla Bibbia ai versi di Baudelaire. Il nodo centrale del breve romanzo è la dicotomia anima-corpo (“Che lo spirito domini sempre; che non perda terreno un solo istante; finché esso è appassionato, la carne è sottomessa…”), che mortifica la ricerca di una felicità terrena favorendo una spiritualità sofferta, una lotta continua tra l’umano appagamento di un bisogno e la rinuncia divina, l’ambizione all’ascetismo. Pur nel compiacimento giovanile di una prosa vagamente barocca e di un linguaggio ancora non pienamente padroneggiato, cercando tra le righe si scovano frasi di una raffinatezza acuta, riflessioni intense, spunti indimenticabili, essenziali alla comprensione piena di un personaggio che ha contribuito a fare la storia del Novecento letterario europeo.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tedious, dramatic, self-righteous.
Maybe I was just in a mood.

[Pepe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alla fine anche Andre Walter è morto, con 114 pagine di ritardo, purtroppo

[Diego · Rating 3 out of 5]

Más poesía ligera