Abstract
Gide’s writings on the French justice system attracted little attention from critics either at the time of their publication or in the years following his death. This is unfortunate for four reasons: 1) Gide’s publications on the justice system, particularly his Souvenirs de la cour d’assises, are a rare example of commentary on the French system for the general public written by a layman; 2) his reports on infamous crimes, L’Affaire Redureau and La Séquestrée de Poitiers, offer insight both into the judicial process and public perception of crime; 3) these texts, taken together with his “Faits divers,” allow him to develop a subtle critique of rationalism and the distorted view rationalism gives of human motivations; and 4) these texts provide a better understanding of the psychological motivations of some of Gide’s key fictional characters and shed light on recurrent themes, specifically hypocritical bourgeois codes of conduct.
Les mœurs sont l’hypocrisie d’une nation.
—Honoré De Balzac
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Works Cited
Anglès, Auguste. André Gide et le premier groupe de La Nouvelle Revue Française. Vol. 2. Paris: Gallimard, 1986.
Apter, Emily. “Allegories of Reading /Allegories of Justice: The Gidean Fait Divers.” Romanic Review 80.4 (November 1989): 560–570.
Gide, André. The Counterfeiters. The novel translated by Dorothy Bussy, the journal by Justin O’Brien. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951.
——. Journal 1889–1939. Paris: Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 1951.
——. Journal des Faux-Monnayeurs. Paris: Gallimard, 1927.
——. Œuvres complètes. 15 vols. Ed. Louis Martin-Chauffier. Paris: Gallimard, 1932–1939.
——. Ne jugez pas. Paris: Gallimard, 1957.
——. Romans, récits et soties, œuvres lyriques. Ed. Yvonne Davet and Jean-Jacques Thierry. Paris: Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 1958.
——. Souvenirs de la cour d’assises. Paris: Gallimard, 1924.
Goulet, Alain. Fiction et vie sociale dans l’œuvre d’André Gide. Paris: Publications de l’Association des Amis d’André Gide, 1984–1985.
Pierre-Quint, Léon. André Gide——l’homme, sa vie, son œuvre. Paris: Librairie Stock, 1952.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2000 Tom Conner
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lambeth, J. (2000). Gide and Justice: The Immoralist in the Palace of Reason. In: Conner, T. (eds) André Gide’s Politics: Rebellion and Ambivalence. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-62532-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-62532-1_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-62534-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-62532-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)