Quick Facts
French Nobel laureate who challenged every convention, championed sincerity and self-discovery, founded the NRF, and spent a lifetime questioning morality, faith, and desire in elegant prose.
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Life Journey
Born André Paul Guillaume Gide on November 22, 1869, in Paris. His father was a law professor; his mother devoutly Protestant. The strict religious upbringing would become material for a lifetime of questioning.
His father died when André was eleven. Raised by his austere mother, the boy grew introspective, anxious, and intensely religious. The seeds of rebellion were already planted.
Published his first works and entered Symbolist literary circles. Met Pierre Louÿs and other writers who would become lifelong friends and rivals. His literary career had begun.
Traveled to Algeria. The North African experience would prove transformative, awakening desires he had suppressed. He began to question everything he had been taught.
Met Oscar Wilde in Algeria just before Wilde's trial. The encounter confirmed his own nature. Gide began the long process of self-acceptance that would define his life.
Married his cousin Madeleine Rondeaux. The marriage was never consummated. She was his spiritual companion, but the relationship would be marked by his hidden life and eventual betrayal.
Published 'L'Immoraliste' (The Immoralist), his breakthrough novel about a man who discovers his true nature at the cost of his wife's life. The autobiographical elements were barely disguised.
Co-founded La Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF), which became the most influential literary magazine in France. The NRF would shape French literature for decades.
Published 'Les Caves du Vatican' (Lafcadio's Adventures), introducing the concept of the 'acte gratuit' - the motiveless act. The novel influenced existentialism before the term existed.
When Madeleine discovered his affair with Marc Allégret, she burned all his letters to her - decades of correspondence. Gide considered it the greatest loss of his life.
Published 'Corydon,' his Socratic defense of homosexuality. The book was scandalous but marked his public commitment to honesty about his nature.
Published 'Les Faux-Monnayeurs' (The Counterfeiters), his only work he called a novel. The complex, self-reflexive narrative influenced a generation of writers.
Published 'Return from the USSR,' criticizing the Soviet system he had initially supported. The honest critique angered both left and right. Gide remained faithful only to truth.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his comprehensive and artistically significant writings. At seventy-seven, the lifelong questioner was finally honored.
André Gide died on February 19, 1951, in Paris. His journals, spanning decades, remained his most intimate work. The questioner had finally found silence.