Strait is the Gate (Penguin Modern Classics) - Softcover

Andre Gide

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141185244 ISBN 13: 9780141185248

Publisher: Penguin Books, Limited (UK), 2001

Synopsis

A delicate boy growing up in Paris, Jerome Palissier spends many summers at his uncle's house in the Normandy countryside, where the whole world seems 'steeped in azure'. There he falls deeply in love with his cousin Alissa and she with him. But gradually Alissa becomes convinced that Jerome's love for her is endangering his soul. In the interests of his salvation, she decides to suppress everything that is beautiful in herself - in both mind and body. A devastating exploration of aestheticism taken to extremes, "Strait is the Gate" is a novel of haunting beauty that stimulates the mind and the emotions.

About this title

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

Review

Tale by Andre Gide, published in 1909 as La Porte etroite. It is one of the first of his works to treat the problems of human relationships. The work contrasts the yearning toward asceticism and self-sacrifice with the need for sensual exploration as a young woman struggles with conflicting feelings about the man who wants to marry her. Gide designated Strait Is the Gate as a recit, which he defined as a consciously stark but basically ironic tale narrated by, and told from the viewpoint of, a single character. --The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books, Limited (UK)
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0141185244
• ISBN 13: 9780141185248
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128