Customer Reviews

Journals, Vol. 4: 1939-1949

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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