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GIDE Andre - ALS 1934 sending a message of support to a German scholar

  • £450.00

André GIDE (1869-1951)

Autograph Letter Signed (“André Gide“) to “Mon cher Curtius” [the German literary scholar Ernst Robert Curtius], thanking him for a [news?] clipping and assuring him of his faithful affection.

1 page 8vo in French, Cuverville, 6 October 1934.

Trans: “Thank you for sending this clipping and I seize this opportunity which you give me to send you this message of my faithful affection.

Kindly give Madame Curtius my best regards; my wife joins me in sending you her best remembrance.

Unforgettably yours . . .”

Curtius, a philologist and literary scholar, traced the European literary tradition from the earliest classical texts, demonstrating the interconnectedness of the great literary works of all European literature. This work put him at odds with the nationalistic Nazi ideology, which had come to power the previous year, and the warmth of Gide’s greeting may reflect his understanding of the difficulties Curtius would face.

Gide himself was no stranger to controversy. The honesty of his search for truth and morality, be it in matters personal, sexual, or political – notably his criticism of both French colonialism and Russian communist totalitarianism – made him one of the twentieth century’s most important thinkers.


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