If It Die - Softcover

If It Die is a record of Gide's childhood and early manhood, up until his engagement to his cousin. Written twenty years afterwards, it is a deliberately uninhibited and revealing exercise as well as a masterpiece of French prose, thus fulfilling the two criteria Gide set himself - to satisfy the demands of truth without neglecting the claims of art. It was said that in Gide 'les extr-mes touchent', a predisposition that was to characterize all his work, and these antitheses are clearly acknowledged and used in his narrative in order to add extra layers of resonance and meaning. At the same time If It Die is a delightful and memorable account by itself of childhood, of friendships and travels, and of sexual awakening. (2002-02-20)

Andre Gide's long life was spent in revolt against social, political and moral conventions. If It Die is a record of his childhood and early manhood, a tracery of the early influences and pressures that made him into one of the most influential of modern French writers. Written with 20 years hindsight, If It Die is a deliberately uninhibited and revealing exercise as well as a masterpiece of French prose, thus fulfilling the two criteria he set himself - to satisfy the demands of truth without neglecting the claims of art. If It Die is a delightful and memorable account of childhood, of friendships and travels, and of sexual awakening.