Pretexts: Reflections on Literature and Morality [1 ed.] 1412811112, 9781412811118

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Literary Criticism European History Cultural Studies

Pretexts

Reflections on Literature and Morality

André Gide Edited with an introduction by Justin O’Brien

Most of André Gide’s richly-varied literary output has long been available to American readers. Only one aspect of his protean career has been lacking in translation: the essays, the publication of which will go far to explain why Gide holds in France such high rank as a critic. Many of the essays in Pretexts: Reflections on Literature and Morality were provoked by events in the cultural and political world of twentieth-century France, a turbulent setting that produced a lasting literature. These essays are vintage Gide, informed by his characteristic spirit—his hard brilliance, pointed honesty, and the enduring relevance of his concerns. Readers of his Journals will be prepared for the style, intelligence, and marksmanship that Gide brings to bear in these forty-two articles on life as well as on letters. His range, as always, is broad: a long and moving memoir of his encounters with Oscar Wilde; a series of combats against reactionary nationalists and self-appointed purifiers of morals; estimates of Mallarmé, Baudelaire, Proust, Gautier, and Valéry, among others; letters to Jacques Rivière, Jean Cocteau, and Francis Jammes; and general essays on art, literature, the theater, and politics. Justin O’Brien, famous for his studies in modern French literature, has written that Gide is “related to La Fontaine and Racine by his essential conciseness and crystalline style, to Montaigne and Goethe by his inquiring mind which reconciled unrest and serenity, to Baudelaire by his lucid, prophetic criticism.” O’Brien, who has done so much to bring contemporary French literature to America, supervised the translations in Pretexts: Reflections on Literature and Morality, prepared several of them himself, and contributes an informative general introduction and additional commentary to preface the various sections of this major book. About the Author and Editor André Gide (1869-1951) was a French author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947. He began his writings at the start of the symbolist movement and was most widely known for his fictional and autobiographical works. Among his best-known works are The Counterfeiters, The Immoralist, Lafcadio’s Adventures, Strait Is the Gate, and the Journals. Justin O’Brien (1906-1969) was an author famous for his studies in modern French literature. Some of his works include Portrait of André Gide, The French Literary Horizon, and Literature to Us.

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Pretexts

Pretexts Reflections on Literature and Morality

A ndre G ide E d ited w ith an introduction by Justin O ’Brien

13 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group LONDON AND NEW YORK

Originally published in 1959 by Meridian Books, Inc. Published 2011 by Transaction Publishers Published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint o f the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright © 2011 by Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2010024176 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gide, Andre, 1869-1951. [Selections. English.] Pretexts : reflections on literature and morality / Andre Gide. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4128-1111-8 (alk. paper) 1. Gide, Andre, 1869-1951--Translations into English. 2. French literature--History and criticism. I. Title. PQ 2613.I2A 2713 2010 8 4 3 ’.912--dc22 2010024176 ISBN 13: 978-1-4128-1111-8 (pbk)

Pretexts

Introduction by Justin O 'Brien

9

Four Lectures 21 Concerning Influence in Literature T h e Limits of A rt 40 T h e Importance of the Public 48 T h e Evolution of the Theater 59

22

T h e Barres Problem 74 Apropos of “ Les Deracin£s” 75 T h e Poplar T ree Quarrel 81 Normandy and Bas-Languedoc 87 Imaginary Interviews from “ L ' Ermitage” Letter to M. Edouard Ducot£ 92 Second Interview 100 [Third Interview] 104

91

Nationalism and Literature 108 Concerning an Inquiry of “ La Phalange” Second Article 113

108

License, Moral Depravityy and Senator Berenger’s Declarations 122 In Memoriam 127 St£phane Mallarme Oscar W ilde 134 Baudelaire and M . Faguet

128 156

Political Essays 173 Reflections on Germany 173 T h e Future of Europe 183 Notes to Angele 194 Reply to an Inquiry of “ La Renaissance” on Classicism 195 Classicism 196

Classicism 200 Marcel Proust 202 “ La Nouvelle Revue Franchise” 208 “ La Nouvelle Revue Fran^aise” 211 Maurice Barres 212 Open Letters 218 T o Jacques Riviere 219 T o Jean Cocteau 222 T o Francis Jammes 225 Thoughts on Greek Mythology

227

Conversation with a German Several Years Before the War 234 T h e Ten French Novels . . . Theophile Gautier

243

251

Prefaces 255 T o the “ Fleurs du M ai” 256 T o “ Arm ance” 260 T o “ T h e Queen of Spades” 275 Upon Rereading