false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170718505m/70101.jpg 70101 32 With today's headlines and talk shows, it takes a lot to shock a reader--certainly more than was required in 1902, when André Gide's <I>The Immoralist</I> was first published. What was seen then as a story of dereliction translates today into a tale of introspection and fierce self-discovery. While traveling to Tunis with his new bride, the Parisian scholar Michel is overcome by tuberculosis. As he slowly convalesces, he revels in the physical pleasures of living and resolves to forgo his studies of the past in order to experience the present--to let "the layers of acquired knowledge peel away from the mind like a cosmetic and reveal, in patches, the naked flesh beneath, the authentic being hidden there."<p> But this is not the Michel his colleagues knew, nor the man Marceline married, and he must hide his new values under the patina of what he now reviles. Bored by Parisian society, he moves to a family farm in Normandy. He is happy there, especially in the company of young Charles, but he must soon return to the city and academe. Michel remains restless until he gives his first lecture and runs into Ménalque, who has long outraged society, and recognizes in him a reflection of his torment. Finally, Michel heads south, deeper into the desert, until, as he confides to his friends, he is lost in the sea of sand, under a clear, directionless sky.<p> What Gide's story lacks in sensationalism is fulfilled by his descriptive prose, which evokes the exotic nature of Michel's inner and outer journey: "I did not understand the forbearance of this African earth, submerged for days at a time and now awakening from winter, drunk with water, bursting with new juices; it laughed in this springtime frenzy whose echo, whose image I perceived within myself." --<I>Joannie Kervran Stangeland</I> 480721 book 1902 The Immoralist (Penguin Classics) total:1069|5:244|4:375|3:320|2:105|1:25| 1069 3915 1532 87 4 15 false false Tue Jul 21 19:13:14 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 20:13:01 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Feb 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:42:46 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 11:38:29 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Oct 07 19:37:53 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 07 19:37:59 -0700 2008
Michel is the titular Immoralist, a man determined to live life fully without the arbitrary constrictions of ...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jun 06 09:18:09 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 06 09:21:47 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Jun 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 08:07:28 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 08:45:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jun 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 18:33:39 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 18:24:49 -0700 2009 Death in Venice. It's really short and our protagonist has homosexual leanings, all though those leanings are more subtle in this story.

Michel starts out sick with Tuberculosis and has his wife, Marceline, acting as caretaker as the two of t...more...]]> 3 0 false true Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 21:19:29 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 20:10:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false true Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 28 12:45:38 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 12:52:42 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 19:27:15 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 19:43:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false true Tue May 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 22:22:02 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 19:31:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Tue Nov 13 18:16:42 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 16 21:28:34 -0800 2007 4 0 false true Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 1977 Mon Jun 22 11:41:07 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 11:31:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jul 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 19:47:30 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 18 18:43:52 -0700 2008
It's a short book, clocking in at 170 pages in big print. The story is simple but not really engaging. The leitmotifs of the book - pederasty, living the moment, hedonism - have all been done before and done better, by such authors as Oscar Wilde and Nietzsche. The book actually rea...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 30 09:13:34 -0800 2007 Fri Jan 04 21:33:53 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jul 01 08:01:59 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 08:19:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun May 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 15:13:06 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 15:21:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Dec 17 08:22:49 -0800 2007 Sat Nov 24 10:19:43 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 17 08:20:25 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Nov 20 15:19:42 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 20 15:22:57 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 28 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon May 18 02:49:59 -0700 2009 Mon May 18 02:50:49 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Apr 08 12:10:52 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 08 12:17:02 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=70101