André Gide
A French writer who championed radical honesty and personal freedom, challenging social and sexual conventions through his provocative novels and essays.
1869–1951 (age 82)·French author and Nobel laureate·Birthday: November 22·The Gilded Age
Biography
André Gide emerged from a strict Protestant upbringing in Paris to become one of the most complex and controversial literary figures of the 20th century. His early work, influenced by symbolism, gave way to a fiercely individualistic style that documented his own moral and psychological conflicts. Books like 'The Immoralist' and 'Strait Is the Gate' explored themes of desire, authenticity, and self-denial, often drawing from his own life, including his homosexuality and travels in Africa. His later political engagement saw him briefly sympathize with communism before publicly denouncing Soviet totalitarianism after a visit. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947, Gide's true legacy is his unwavering commitment to intellectual sincerity, making his voluminous journals as significant as his novels in understanding a mind that refused to be categorized.
The Gilded Age
1860–1882
Born during or after the Civil War, they built industrial America — the railroads, the steel mills, the first skyscrapers. An era of massive wealth, massive inequality, and the belief that the future belonged to whoever could build it fastest.
André was born in 1869, placing them squarely in The Gilded Age. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When André Was Born
The biggest hits of 1869
André's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1869Born
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1874Started school
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1882Became a teenager
First electrical power plant opens in New York
President: Chester A. Arthur
1885Could drive
Karl Benz builds the first gasoline-powered automobile
President: Grover Cleveland
1887Could vote
President: Grover Cleveland
1890Turned 21
Wounded Knee massacre marks the end of the Indian Wars
President: Benjamin Harrison
1899Turned 30
President: William McKinley
1909Turned 40
Robert Peary claims to reach the North Pole
President: William Howard Taft
1919Turned 50
Treaty of Versailles signed; Prohibition ratified
President: Woodrow Wilson
1929Turned 60
Wall Street crashes, triggering the Great Depression
Gas: $0.21/galPresident: Herbert Hoover"Singin' in the Rain" — Cliff EdwardsBest Picture: The Broadway Melody
1939Turned 70
World War II begins; The Wizard of Oz premieres
Gas: $0.19/galMin wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Over the Rainbow" — Judy GarlandBest Picture: Gone with the Wind
1949Turned 80
NATO founded; Mao proclaims the People's Republic of China
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,450Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Riders in the Sky" — Vaughn MonroeBest Picture: All the King's Men
1951Died at 82
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
Key Achievements
- Awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature for his comprehensive and artistically significant writings.
- Published 'The Counterfeiters', a landmark modernist novel noted for its intricate, self-referential narrative structure.
- Authored 'Travels in the Congo', a searing critique of French colonial practices that influenced public opinion.
- His extensive personal journals, published over his lifetime, provide a profound literary and psychological self-portrait.
Did You Know?
He was the first living author to be published in the prestigious French Pléiade library series.
Gide's father was a law professor at the Sorbonne and his mother came from a wealthy Norman family.
He founded the influential literary magazine 'La Nouvelle Revue Française' (NRF) in 1908.
He undertook a famous journey through French Equatorial Africa from 1925 to 1926.
““It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.””
