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"Go Set a Watchman" by Harper Lee Originally written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman was the novel Harper Lee first submitted to her publishers before To Kill a Mockingbird. Assumed to have been lost, the manuscript was discovered in late 2014. Learn more | See related books
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Many criticize this book for not have a character that they can invest in, as though it were supposed to be one of those new age adventures into cosmic oneness. But this is precisely the point. It can never transcend itself, given the main character's inability to understand and explain his being as a character in a story.
The publishers of this book chose the title L'Immoraliste for melodramatic reasons, though Michel is not immoral in the strict sense of the term. He does not behave immorally and does not urge others to do so. Sure, he leaves his wife and goes off on his own, but other than being amazed by being in the world, he does not dramatize any of his exploits and always returns to care for his wife. His homosexuality is not described and is only implied.
It is a gross exaggeration of the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, prevalent at the turn of the century, that "Neo-Kantians tried to remain as detached as possible from the troubles of real life and had as much interest in it as the algebraist has for the object of his calculations." I excuse Gide of such a gross ignorance of Kant and modern philosophy, for it is spoken by Michel his alter ego, a fictional character.
Michel is not an Übermensch out to cast aside moral conventions and aspire to the belief that God is dead. Nietzsche above all philosophers would see through this argument as another form of belief system that is not true philosophy. Nietzsche believed that the God of metaphysics is dead, not necessarily the God of the universe of whom we can have no knowledge.
After a long illness that brings him to the brink of death, Michel has an epiphany of being that cannot be explained; it can only be lived. Even his colleagues "...Read more ›
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Some of us were a little apprehensive before reading this book. However, everyone in our group agreed that it was worthwhile. One said that it all ‘came together in the last thirty pages.’ We all agreed that is was well-written. His description of places is good – you know that he’s been there. I particularly liked the descriptions of Carthage and El Djem (with their magnificent amphitheatres) and note that, one hundred years later, the only train from Sousse still arrives 1.00 a.m. so you risk not finding an hotel for the night. The return train is more convenient though ours had stones thrown at it and none of the doors closed. You are better off using a louage (shared taxi).
Both he and his father had tuberculosis which is why description of coughing up blood is so vivid. His war on tuberculosis begins with the awakening of his senses to a total receptivity to life-giving elements. The taste of good food, the tingling sensation of cold water on hot skin, the feel and touch of a palm tree, the sun on his naked body by day, and the invigorating desert air by night become the new objects of his worship. His rejection of all other claims on his life--except those which make for the indulgence of his newly-discovered self--excludes Marceline whose presence he begins to find oppressive.
The Immoralist is based on Gide's personal experience of discovering his homosexuality while travelling as a young man in North Africa.
It was conventional to get married back then but noteworthy that he first sex with his wife two months after their wedding. That something wasn’t quite right didn’t stop him having an extra-marital affair with another woman.
The character of Menalque in The Immoralist is based on Oscar Wilde.Read more ›
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This is a book that has influenced many authors I have read and people I have know...so it was an important read for me. I am sure it was a real shocker for its time...the idea that a person could do whatever they wanted regardless of any perception of acceptable behavior, and act out those narcissitic impulses at any time they felt like it. Many have taken the search for true self and the journey of the narrator as an example, as though actions have no consequences. But there are indeed consequences, and in the end a path toward a hedonistic existance bares fruit for no one. Beautifully written and a view into the world that this story had an impact on. It reminded me of that time in the mid to late 1960s, where people felt that they no longer had to be hypocritcal, and that they should impose whatever the felt at any time on all of those around them, regardless if it destroyed relationships or workplace atmospheres. They felt equally that they were being true to themselves; that their rudeness was some how liberating. The author played with this theme well...many felt that it was a credo...it is after all a novel which asks us to consider things we normally wouldn't consider...and in the end asks us to judge.
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...it has to be made to measure. Gide's 1902 novel makes a strong statement on individualism. A `simple' story, told in simple straight language. Rich young nerd (Michel) without interest in women (or in men, so far) marries to please his dying father. Goes on honeymoon trip to North Africa, falls ill with tuberculosis, barely survives, and then, during reconvalescence, learns to live, to appreciate life, finds a new self, which leads him away from old habits and old convictions. This is a strong part, but it must be said that there is a distinct, if not explicit pedophile strain in Michel's revival. On the way home via Italy he comes closer to his wife, who has been nursing him loyally during his illness, without much attention by the patient. She even becomes pregnant, so that they look forward to a `normal' life. They spend time on their farm in Normandy, then in their Paris apartment, but Michel drops out: he has lost the ability to function in his old role. He quits his lecturing job; he sells his farm after bouts with low lives. The wife falls ill, has a miscarriage, they travel again; finally back to Tunisia... happiness is not to be found. Michel's tendency to drift off to darker worlds becomes stronger. After his wife dies, Michel reaches the end of his tether. Knowing how to free oneself is nothing; the difficult thing is knowing how to live with that freedom.
Structurally, the narration is first person by Michel, but wrapped in a fiction that he tells his story and his predicament to some friends of his, who come to see him in Tunisia. I was motivated to try Gide again (after over 40 years, hadn't read him since high school, and did not keep such great recollections) by his friendship with Conrad.Read more ›
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