Si le grain ne meurt
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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If It Die…An Autobiography is the autobiography of André Gide (1869-1951) in which he tells about being given chloral hydrate as a boy for sleep problems by a quack doctor named Lizart. Gide states that "all my later weaknesses of will or memory I attribute to him." |
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Si le grain ne meurt is the autobiography of the French writer André Gide. Published in 1924, this work recounts the life of Gide since his childhood in Paris until his engagement with his cousin Madeleine Rondeaux, called Emmanuèle here, in 1895.
The book is composed in two parts. In the first part, the author recounts his childhood memories: his private tutors, his time at the Ecole Alsacienne, his family, his friendship with Pierre Louÿs, the start of his veneration of his cousin, and his first efforts at writing.
The much shorter second part traces his discovery of his homosexuality during a trip to Algeria, part of which was with English writer Oscar Wilde. Certain parts of the book, at the time of publication, shocked the public with its depictions of pederasty and for its detailed descriptions of Gide’s debauchery.
Gide later recounted the total failure of his married life with Madeleine in another autobiography called, Et nunc manet in te, written shortly after the death of his wife in 1938. It was published in 1951.
