A PORTRAIT OF ANDRE GIDE

By the translator of Gide's monumental and self-revealing Journals who was also an intimate friend, this is an extensive view of the man and the writer in what is both a biographical and critical interpretation. Friendly in tone, O'Brien presents Gide's protean nature in all its complexities and contradictions, weakness and strength. He takes up his works, one by one, synchronizing them with his life and showing how often Gide used figures of myth as symbols through which he expresses himself. All this is presented in a somewhat intellectualized manner, and it will be for the reader to decide whether Gide is more than a somewhat baffling talent and one of the great figures- and forerunners- of his time. A thoughtful study, not for a general market but for a defined audience of those already dedicated.