This first published work lays bare the early brilliance and philosophical conflicts of André Gide, a towering figure in French literature.

Nobel Prize — winning writer André Gide lays bare his adolescent psyche in this early work, first conceived and published as part of his novel

The Notebooks of André Walter

, completed when he was just twenty years old. This profoundly personal work draws heavily on his religious upbringing and private journals to tell the story of a young man who, like the author, pines for his forbidden love, cousin Emmanuelle. This unique portrait of Gide as a young man presents the passions and conflicts, temptations and anguish he would explore in maturity.