The attempt at love
The attempt at love or a treatise on the futility of desire ( French La Tentative amoureuse ou Le Traité du vain désir ) is a short story by André Gide that appeared in 1893.
content
Luc "takes possession" of Rachel. He is asked by her to stay and stays.
Rachel asks Luc to tell her this and that story. Luc tells stories of parting, of the separation of two people. Then Luc expresses his intention. He wants to go - against her will. Luc and Rachel separate quietly and without a smile.
Not only Luc tells the lover stories. Even the narrator himself interrupts the narrative flow with a succinct address to a dear lady. It turns out the narrator and the lady have already split up. The narrator, in his opinion a happy person, hopes he and the person addressed will find each other again.
Self-testimony
- "... a little book that is very informative for the time and for me."
reception
- Francis Jammes wrote in Gide on February 7, 1896: "This representation of moral luxury and selfishness offends all who, like me, lead a bitter shadowy existence."
- Theis emphasizes the symbolism of this little work somewhere between fin-de-siècle prose and treatise . Gide reflects the love story Luc / Rachel in the botanical awakening, blooming, ripening and withering during the course of the year, which is spring, summer and autumn. In addition, the story can be used as evidence for Gides Mise en abyme . Because there is the above. Mirroring love story / course of the seasons. And then the book can still be listed in the book. In addition to the actual love story Luc / Rachel, the narrator also has to share about his own love for a lady. Theis observes conformity with works of the Nouveau Roman .
German editions
- source
- Raimund Theis (ed.), Peter Schnyder (ed.): André Gide: The attempt at love or a treatise on the futility of desire . Translated from the French by Gisela Kleineidam. Pp. 225-244. The basis of the translation was an edition of the Editions Gallimard / Paris from 1912. With an afterword by Raimund Theis: “To the attempt at love ”. Pp. 536-544. Collected works in twelve volumes. Volume VII / 1, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt Stuttgart 1991. 587 pages, ISBN 3-421-06467-9
- German-language first edition
- André Gide: An attempt at love and other short stories. Translator: Felix Paul Greve . Oesterheld & Co. Verlag, Berlin 1907. 96 pages.