David H. Walker
238
Paris home. Gide offered him encouragement, pointing out that Montpellier was a prestigious centre for the teaching of Viticulture; and that
his uncle Charles Gide, at that time a professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Montpellier, would be happy to welcome
Rouart to his home (GR, I, p. 117). In fact during the winter of 1893
Rouart attended Charles Gide’s lectures on “la solution sociale” (GR,
II, p. 498).
In the meantime, André Gide had embarked on his lifechanging trip to Algeria, where as is well-known he fell ill, came close
to death, and recovered with a new-found sense of the joys of existence, determined to throw off the shackles of religion and conventional morality in order to live a fuller life. Throughout his lyrical
convalescence, however, he is pursued by letters from Eugène who is
learning to tell a horse’s age from examining its teeth, and who recounts how he has groomed a cow: “– j’en repanserai une la semaine
prochaine, dégoûtant métier” (GR, I, p. 144, letter of 25 January
1894). In April 1894 Rouart finally enrolled at Grignon and continued
his studies as Gide, after a brief return to Paris, convalesced in Switzerland. In one of his letters addressed to Grignon, Gide points out
that he has gone up significantly in the estimation of the locals in
Switzerland since they have learned he is in correspondence with an
“agriculteur” (GR, I, p. 225). Soon, however, Gide is back in Algeria,
where in January he has a momentous encounter with Oscar Wilde
and confirms his homosexuality.
But at the same time he is receiving letters from Rouart about
his agricultural studies: notably on 19 February:
Puisque tu es à Biskra centre du Dattier, dans tes moments perdus de promenade ne
pourrais-tu me prendre quelques renseignements sérieux sur cette culture; et me
trouver des photographies de champs de dattiers, et aussi représentant les principales
opérations culturales; comme fécondation, récolte, etc.; aussi le plan d’une datterie.
(GR, I, p. 251)
Clearly Rouart needs help researching an essay he has to write. Gide
conscientiously carries out the task; and just as the request for information may have a familiar ring to all academics, so Gide’s response,
dated 10 March, is not without its contemporary pertinence:
Je me suis adressé à diverses personnes pas trop incompétentes; en particulier à
Monsieur Fau – qui m’a renvoyé à Monsieur Colombo qui m’a renvoyé à des livres:
un surtout écrit par quelqu’un précisément de Grignon. J’ai pu me convaincre qu’à
238
Paris home. Gide offered him encouragement, pointing out that Montpellier was a prestigious centre for the teaching of Viticulture; and that
his uncle Charles Gide, at that time a professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Montpellier, would be happy to welcome
Rouart to his home (GR, I, p. 117). In fact during the winter of 1893
Rouart attended Charles Gide’s lectures on “la solution sociale” (GR,
II, p. 498).
In the meantime, André Gide had embarked on his lifechanging trip to Algeria, where as is well-known he fell ill, came close
to death, and recovered with a new-found sense of the joys of existence, determined to throw off the shackles of religion and conventional morality in order to live a fuller life. Throughout his lyrical
convalescence, however, he is pursued by letters from Eugène who is
learning to tell a horse’s age from examining its teeth, and who recounts how he has groomed a cow: “– j’en repanserai une la semaine
prochaine, dégoûtant métier” (GR, I, p. 144, letter of 25 January
1894). In April 1894 Rouart finally enrolled at Grignon and continued
his studies as Gide, after a brief return to Paris, convalesced in Switzerland. In one of his letters addressed to Grignon, Gide points out
that he has gone up significantly in the estimation of the locals in
Switzerland since they have learned he is in correspondence with an
“agriculteur” (GR, I, p. 225). Soon, however, Gide is back in Algeria,
where in January he has a momentous encounter with Oscar Wilde
and confirms his homosexuality.
But at the same time he is receiving letters from Rouart about
his agricultural studies: notably on 19 February:
Puisque tu es à Biskra centre du Dattier, dans tes moments perdus de promenade ne
pourrais-tu me prendre quelques renseignements sérieux sur cette culture; et me
trouver des photographies de champs de dattiers, et aussi représentant les principales
opérations culturales; comme fécondation, récolte, etc.; aussi le plan d’une datterie.
(GR, I, p. 251)
Clearly Rouart needs help researching an essay he has to write. Gide
conscientiously carries out the task; and just as the request for information may have a familiar ring to all academics, so Gide’s response,
dated 10 March, is not without its contemporary pertinence:
Je me suis adressé à diverses personnes pas trop incompétentes; en particulier à
Monsieur Fau – qui m’a renvoyé à Monsieur Colombo qui m’a renvoyé à des livres:
un surtout écrit par quelqu’un précisément de Grignon. J’ai pu me convaincre qu’à