André Gide

André Paul Guillaume Gide (November 22, 1869 – February 19, 1951) was a French author and, at times, a spokesman for gay rights {{dubious}}. A renown literary experimenter and socially involved man, Gide's career spanned from the symbolist movement to the advent of anticolonialism in-between the two World Wars. In 1947, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

An established writer

In 1908 Gide helped found the literary magazine Nouvelle Revue française (The New French Review). In 1916 Marc Allégret, 16, becomes his lover. In 1918 he met Dorothy Bussy, who was his friend for over thirty years and who would translate all his works into English.

Related Topics:
1908 - 1916 - Marc Allégret - 1918 - Dorothy Bussy

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In the 1920s Gide became an inspiration for writers like Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. In 1923 he published a book on Fyodor Dostoyevsky; however, when he defended homosexuality in the public edition of Corydon (1924) he received widespread condemnation. He later considered this his most important work.

Related Topics:
1920s - Albert Camus - Jean-Paul Sartre - 1923 - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Corydon - 1924

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In 1923 he conceived a daughter named Catherine with another woman, Maria Van Rysselberghe. His wife Madeleine died in 1938. Later he used the background of his unconsummated marriage in his novel Et Nunc Manet in Te (1951).

Related Topics:
1938 - 1951

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After 1925 he began to demand more humane conditions for criminals. In 1926 he published an autobiography, If it die (French: Si le grain ne meurt).

Related Topics:
1925 - 1926

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