Journals, Vol. 4: 1939-1949 [Paperback]

Andre Gide (Author), Justin O'Brien (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 2000

Beginning with a single entry for the year 1889, when he was twenty, and continuing intermittently but indefatigably through his life, the Journals of Andr Gide constitute an enlightening, moving, and endlessly fascinating chronicle of creative energy and conviction. Astutely and thoroughly annotated by Justin O'Brien in consultation with Gide himself, this translation is the definitive edition of Gide's complete journals.The complete journals, representing sixty years of a varied life, testify to a disciplined intelligence in a constantly maturing thought. These pages contain aesthetic appreciations, philosophic reflections, sustained literary criticism, notes for the composition of his works, details of his personal life and spiritual conflicts, accounts of his extensive travels, and comments on the political and social events of the day, from the Dreyfus case to the German occupation.Gide records his progress as a writer and a reader as well as his contacts and conversations with the bright lights of contemporary Europe, from Paul Valry, Paul Claudel, Lon Blum, and Auguste Rodin to Marcel Proust, Stephen Mallarm, Oscar Wilde, and Nadia Boulanger.Devoid of affectation, alternately overtaken by depression and animated by a sense of urgency and hunger for literature and beauty, Gide read voraciously, corresponded voluminously, and thought profoundly, always questioning and doubting in search of the unadulterated truth. 'The only drama that really interests me and that I should always be willing to depict anew', he wrote, 'is the debate of the individual with whatever keeps him from being authentic, with whatever is opposed to his integrity, to his integration. Most often the obstacle is within him. And all the rest is merely accidental'. Volume 4 reveals a creative mind that remains vigorous and unique as Gide enters his seventies. He records the fall of France and the German occupation during World War II, the landing of the Americans and the fall of Tunis, as well as a memorable meeting with General de Gaulle. His literary commentary touches on such writers as Virgil, Goethe, Racine, Dashiell Hammett, and John Steinbeck.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press; annotated edition edition (October 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252069323
• ISBN-13: 978-0252069321
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,129,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NON FICTION BEATS FICTION, October 6, 2009

By 

Olivier Comte (Neuilly FRANCE) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Journals, Vol. 4: 1939-1949 (Paperback)

ANDRE GIDE's fiction has not aged well, contrary to the journals
He kept a journal , from 1887 to 1950, with the obvious intent of publishing it.
The 1889-1939 part was published in 1939, followed in 1950 by the 1942-1950 journals (1939-1942 had ben published in the US

I think that this 4th volume is the more interesting one It has not the artifice of the fiction, which Gide acknowledged
As ensign Pulver would say of God s Little Acre it is well written Writers were used to elegant style, in conversation and letters
They did not have to use flowery or subflowery style to impress the peasants
Gide s strength is his simplicity , even his naivete He really had no clue about the political events and he doesn t do
an artist number

He had left Paris for the south of France then for Tunis, not only for his vice
After 1945 the NRF lost its towering influence over french literature Gide had left the review, along with Francois Mauriac when the collaborationist, and very poor writer, Drieu La Rochelle became editor Gide had no stomach for the political atmosphere of post war Paris
So he kept to himself and he kept his journal for us to enjoy