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4.0 

The Notebooks of André Walter

By André Gide & Wade Baskin
The Notebooks of André Walter by André Gide & Wade Baskin digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

This debut work lays bare the early brilliance and philosophical conflicts of André Gide, a towering figure in French literature
 
André Gide, one of the masters of French literature, captures the essence of the philosophical Romantic in this profoundly personal first novel, completed when he was just twenty years old. Drawing heavily on his religious upbringing and private journals, The Notebooks of André Walter—with its “white” and “black” halves—tells the story of a young man pining for his forbidden love, cousin Emmanuelle. But his evocative memories and devoted yearnings, carefully crafted through quotations and diary excerpts, lead only to madness and death.
 
Annotated with footnotes from translator and scholar Wade Baskin, this story within a story offers a unique portrait of the artist as a young man, as it reveals the key themes of self-analysis and moral conscience that Gide explores in his mature works.

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2 Reviews

4.0
“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.”

About André Gide

André Gide (1869–1951), winner of the 1947 Nobel Prize for Literature, was a celebrated novelist, dramatist, and essayist whose narrative works dealt frankly with homosexuality and the struggle between artistic discipline, moralism, and sensual indulgence. Born in Paris, Gide became an influential intellectual figure in nineteenth- and twentieth-century French literature and culture. His essay collections Autumn Leaves and Oscar Wilde, among others, contributed to the public’s understanding of key figures of the day. He traveled widely and advocated for the rights of prisoners, denounced the conditions in the African colonies, and became a voice for, and then against, communism. Other notable works include The Notebooks of André Walter (1891), Corydon (1924), If It Die (1924), The Counterfeiters, and his journals, Journal 1889–1939Journal 1939–1942, and Journal 1942–1949.

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