Algunas definiciones y comprensiones

The fact that Gide should use the style of a work long since finished seems to suggest that* just as he carefully files his letters* so he does his stylistic procedures. The artist in Gide seems

consciously or unconsciously to have rendered him Incapable of depicting certain emotions or soenes in any style other than literary, Gide

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explains this himself in a letter to Albert Demarest, where he admits

that he is affeoted by paralysing shyness when writing to either Demarest or Madeleine Rondeaux , He feels that his every word is judged and fears that he must appear insinoere* "litterateur et frold”. This vezy fear* Gide writes* freeses any spontaneity he may originally have had. In

addition* the importance of both Demarest*a and Madeleine's opinion of him* the desire to please and his fears of incapacity are the cause of "la part de comedie" which does* in fact* irritate his cousins,

Gide lays the blame on literature itself i

Ce n'est pas ma faute apres tout si un homrne tout ronge de litterature n'aime pas a la fecon des charbonniersj oette litterature est comme les

maladies constitutionelles - cela penetre tout* * c mais ca n’empeche pas d'aimer bien fort quand meme,,, . This quotation shows that much as Clde desires to achieve a more

spontaneous and apparently more sincere style* literature will not always be excluded from his private life and correspondence,^

It seems to me* therefore* that Gide does not envisage the

1, Unpublished letters of the 21st January & the 12th March 1912, Copeau was* in fact* Gide's most oonstant confidant during the writing of this work,

2, Unpublished letter of the 24th September 1912 which Includes a description of a grotto,

3, See t G./J. Corr,* November 1901* p.179 & May 1902* p,189, Gide still writes in terms of "demons" long after the need to "be" Saul is finished, 4« J.A.G. 2* p, 146,

5. Ibid* p.146.

6, Jean Tipy feels that Gide's correspondence with Gheon is an exception to this rule, G./Gheon Corr, 1* p.10.

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publication of his own letters because they are deliberate artistic pendants, despite his admiration for others* correspondence. The fact that many of his letters are undeniably literary in style depends on the three reasons I have given s firstly, the desire to please a particular correspondent by adopting the style best suited to himf secondly, Gide's immersion in an artistic work which causes him in real life to "become” the character he has created! thirdly, the professional incapacity of the writer to express himself mundanely or to forget his artistic work completely.

Of all Gide's correspondence, probably one only was consciously intended as an artistic work, - namely, that with his wife. Everyone who has read Et nunc manet in te knows the story of Madeleine Gide's

burning her husband's letters. This action evoked Gide's cry i "C'est le meilleur de moi qui disparait) et qui ne oontre-balanoera plus le pire." * At Louxor, Gide wrote :

'Peut-itre n'y eut-il Jamais plus belle correspondance.• Bisons plus simplement que Jen'avals Jamais ecrit et que depuis Je n'ecrlvis pareillement a personne...Je souffraia de savoir reduit a neant par elle oe qui de moi me paraissait meriter le plus la survie. 2

It is quite obvious from Gide's comments that both artistioally and morally these letters were to be offered to posterity as the best part of himself. Indeed, Gide himself told Francois Mauriac that Madame Gide probably destroyed his letters because she sensed they were addressed more to posterity than to herself.

11. Correspondence > A Moral Dialogue

Having discussed the possibility of artistic motivation, I now turn to an important reason for Gide's wishing to publish his correspondence. It is noticeable that, of the four volumes of correspondence published

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before Gide's death* three should be with Catholic correspondents. 1. J.2, Journal intime, 21st November 1918, p.H45»

2. Ibid, St nunc manet in te. Note 1, p.1147. The 1st and the 3rd under­ linings are my own •

5* G./M. Corr., p.47«

4. Those with Jammes, Claudel, Du Bos and Proust published in 1948, 1949 1950 and 1949 respectively.

Ab regards Gide’8 intentions in publishing these correspondences, recourse may be made to a letter to Martin du Gard where Gide wrote: "...ma pensee va vers vous tout particulierernent, sur le seuil de cette 81e annee de mon 'emploi' sur cette terre..."^ In the margin of this letter, the following note has been made by Martin du Card:

L’expression ’emploi’ sur cette terra n’est pas venue par hasard sous la plume de Gide: elle exprime ce sentiment qui lui a fait publier Corydon et Si le Grain et la correspondance avec Claudel, -

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conformists, pour soustraire les homosexuels a l'inique condemnation qui pfcse sur eux.?

This is a most plausible reason for Gide’s primary choioe of his three Catholic correspondences for publication and for his compiling a dossier

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of letters on homosexuality. correspondences are related to Gide's personal struggle with the Catholic religion which he sees as being of general import since it involves such questions as moral "comfort" and blind intolerance and prejudice.

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In a letter to Martin du Gard, Gide defends his publication of the exchange of letters of 1914 between Claudel and himself, not only on the grounds that he has thought carefully about this decision and been encour­ aged by several friends but also because he feels the consequences of his act have been entirely satisfactory. In other words, as Gide tells Martin du Gard, the majority of readers are for Gide and against Claudel and what he represents. The phrase, "Claudel (et ce qu’il represente)", shows that Gide does not intend the correspondence to be taken on an Individual level but as one example of a debate that concerns everyone. The correspondence is playing, in this instance, the important role of

showing the narrow prejudice of established morality and of opening

1. G./M.G. Corr. 2, 21st November 1949» p. 468. 2. Ibid, p. 469.

5. Ibid, 10th November 1949* PP* 466-467. 4. In the Figaro litteraire.

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people’s minds to greater comprehension and acceptance.

It is noticeable that even before any decision to publish, Gide wrote to Claudel asking him not to use his letter of confession as to his homosexuality against him.1 2 * 4 One sees that Gide is not only

judging Claudel after his own lack of respect for the privacy of letters but also that this letter is already envisaged as a weapon which may be used in an eventually public battle.

In light of Gide's comments on Jammes and Du Bos in his Journal and of his careful filing and copying of letters both received and written, he is undoubtedly animated by the same consciousness of the role he has to play when he allows the publication of their correspondences.

Similarly, when Gide expresses his admiration for Martin du Gard's 2

"art gpistolalre" or hints in letters to him that the thought of pub­ lication is in his mind, he is no doubt ruled by the consideration that Martin du Gard's letters are not only well-written but also that they contain subject-matter that will provoke reflection. This is borne out by the faat that when Gide urges Martin du Gard to publish his letter of

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the 1st November 1955* the contents are of moral and historical import. The fact that Gide wishes his published correspondence to provoke thought on matters of general importance is also made clear by his refusal to permit the publication of his correspondence with Rouveyre because: "Elle ne presente qu'un interet trop personnel et ce serait paraitre

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chercher a occuper a l'exces 1'attention”.

The very correspondences published during Gide's life-time were those, therefore, which offered more than personal interest, more than material

1. G./C. Corr., 8th March 1914» p. 219.

2. G./M.G. Corr.l, 26th January 1951» p. 435 & 11th March 1931» P* 547* 5. Ibid, pp. 586-587.

for a biography of Andre Gide, These correspondences were offered by Gide to the public whose role it is to form the conclusion of a debate

in which ideas count more than style.

The dialogue form of correspondence is, therefore, important to Gide not only because it helps him to broaden or assess his own position but also because it is a means of presentation which provokes thought in his readers.

12. Artistic Dialogue.

Gide's concern with the publication of his correspondences with Catholic friends and with the preservation of his file of letters on homosexuality seem to prove that the role of correspondence lies in its laying the foundations for moral reflection in Gide's readers. While one cannot deny that Gide was a moralist, one must not dismiss his claims to being an artist above all nor disregard the fact that Gide also kept a file of letters concerning his work. These two points lead us to the last and, to my mind, the most important role of correspondence.

As the following chapters deal in depth with this question, I shall merely lay the grounds of my ohoice at this point. Evidence of the role Gide expected published correspondence to play is to be found in an imaginary interview in Attendu que. Speaking of Stendhal, the inter­ viewee admits that, if he had to choose amongst Stendhal's works, he would discard his novels for his Souvenirs d'Egotisme, Henry Brulard and his Correspondance, since: "Ce qu'il raconte dans la Chartreuse ou dans Le Rouge et le Noir m'interesse moins que sa fa^on de la raconter, que lui-m&ne. Plus il se livre, plus il me pi ait ".1 Questioned by the interviewer as to whether he would show similar preference for Racine's letters to Boileau, the interviewee, although he qualifies his remark immediately after, replies that he would, "si ses lettres etaient plus 1. Attendu que, Chariot, 1945» P* 81. My underlinings

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nombreuses, moins r6servbeaj a'll y parlait, a la maniere de flaubert, de son oeuvre et dea soucla de eon metier..."

These two quotations show that, for Gide, correspondence is a source of infomation not only about the artist's techniques and his intentions in writing his work but also about the progress and the processes of his thought which lie behind the end-result of his work. It is in this spirit that Gide explains his decision to publish several letters of

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