David H. Walker
236
the various parts of the Farm: the barns (les granges), the corn-loft (les
greniers), the dairy (la laiterie), the cowshed or shippon (l’étable), the
fruit store (le fruitier), the cider press (le pressoir), the still-room (la
distillerie), the toolshed (les remises) – or more precisely the shed
where equipment such as ploughshares and carts are kept. This last
place is the culmination of an increasingly intense – and systematic –
rumination on the products of the earth: from seeds, through the
growth cycle to the concentrated alcoholic essence of nature. So in the
“remise” the narrator becomes aware that it is time for new departures,
in search of “Vous toutes, possibilités oisives de nos êtres, en souffrance, attendant” and hitches up a cart to set off for pastures new: “La
dernière porte ouvrait sur la plaine” (RRS, p. 214), we learn. This interplay, or oscillation, between the sedentary agricultural life and that
of the nomad constantly in search of new pastures will be crucial for
Gide. Though this is not the place to go into its implications, it suffices to confirm the extent to which Gide uses “histoires de la terre” as
allegories for human activity and human attitudes. One could point out
also that his pioneering “sotie” of 1895, entitled Paludes, depicting a
writer’s attempt to extricate himself from the miasma of Parisian intellectual life, also adopts an agricultural metaphor for the process: the
“hero” signals his somewhat risible ability to retrieve something from
his plight by moving on to a book entitled Polders (RRS, p. 146).
If farming is at the heart of Gide’s early writing in this way, it
is partly because farming was an empirical reality for Gide while he
was embarking on his literary career. In February 1893 he made the
acquaintance of Eugène Rouart. The friendship quickly blossomed:
they shared many interests, literary, musical and artistic; both were
homosexual; and a distinctive personal chemistry formed a curious
basis for a relationship that had its ups and downs but was to last right
through to Rouart’s death in 1936.
2 Eugène was the son of Henri
Rouart, an industrialist, engineer, impressionist painter, and friend of
Degas. To escape from the overbearing dominance of this massively
successful father, Eugène decided to go into agriculture, and in August
1893 sat the exams for entry to l’École d’Agriculture de Grignon.
Founded in 1829 on an estate near Versailles, occupying a
chateau built by Louis XIII, Grignon was to be one of some twenty
___________________________
2 See André Gide - Eugène Rouart, Correspondance I, 1893-1901; II, 19021936 (Lyons: Presses universitaires de Lyon, 2006). Henceforth indicated in the text
by GR, with volume and page number.
236
the various parts of the Farm: the barns (les granges), the corn-loft (les
greniers), the dairy (la laiterie), the cowshed or shippon (l’étable), the
fruit store (le fruitier), the cider press (le pressoir), the still-room (la
distillerie), the toolshed (les remises) – or more precisely the shed
where equipment such as ploughshares and carts are kept. This last
place is the culmination of an increasingly intense – and systematic –
rumination on the products of the earth: from seeds, through the
growth cycle to the concentrated alcoholic essence of nature. So in the
“remise” the narrator becomes aware that it is time for new departures,
in search of “Vous toutes, possibilités oisives de nos êtres, en souffrance, attendant” and hitches up a cart to set off for pastures new: “La
dernière porte ouvrait sur la plaine” (RRS, p. 214), we learn. This interplay, or oscillation, between the sedentary agricultural life and that
of the nomad constantly in search of new pastures will be crucial for
Gide. Though this is not the place to go into its implications, it suffices to confirm the extent to which Gide uses “histoires de la terre” as
allegories for human activity and human attitudes. One could point out
also that his pioneering “sotie” of 1895, entitled Paludes, depicting a
writer’s attempt to extricate himself from the miasma of Parisian intellectual life, also adopts an agricultural metaphor for the process: the
“hero” signals his somewhat risible ability to retrieve something from
his plight by moving on to a book entitled Polders (RRS, p. 146).
If farming is at the heart of Gide’s early writing in this way, it
is partly because farming was an empirical reality for Gide while he
was embarking on his literary career. In February 1893 he made the
acquaintance of Eugène Rouart. The friendship quickly blossomed:
they shared many interests, literary, musical and artistic; both were
homosexual; and a distinctive personal chemistry formed a curious
basis for a relationship that had its ups and downs but was to last right
through to Rouart’s death in 1936.
2 Eugène was the son of Henri
Rouart, an industrialist, engineer, impressionist painter, and friend of
Degas. To escape from the overbearing dominance of this massively
successful father, Eugène decided to go into agriculture, and in August
1893 sat the exams for entry to l’École d’Agriculture de Grignon.
Founded in 1829 on an estate near Versailles, occupying a
chateau built by Louis XIII, Grignon was to be one of some twenty
___________________________
2 See André Gide - Eugène Rouart, Correspondance I, 1893-1901; II, 19021936 (Lyons: Presses universitaires de Lyon, 2006). Henceforth indicated in the text
by GR, with volume and page number.