Dostoevsky and Gide: A Comparison Author(s): Tatiana Vacquier Reviewed work(s): Source: The Sewanee Review, Vol.

37, No. 4 (Oct., 1929), pp. 478-489 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27534448 . Accessed: 21/11/2012 09:04
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DOSTOEVSKY
A

AND GIDE

Comparison

in is steadily literature influence upon French Dostoevsky's In the first two decades of this century numerous new creasing. in France; more and old translations of his works were published of and more his influence seems to pervade the young generation It would be curious and profitable to study this influ novelists.
ence upon the whole of contemporary French literature. Un

fortunately, this study, the main object of which influence of Dostoevsky French author who upon a representative is considered by European critics as one of the pioneers of the new in France. Andr? Gide, hardly recognized by literary movement the conservative is looked upon part of the French literary world, by the more progressive literary group as a leader and guide on the new paths where the adventurous young spirit of modern
France tries to find new manners of expression.

such a tremendous

task

is not within the limits of is to try to demonstrate the

so widely inner affinities exist in the work of two writers at the first glance as Feodor Dostoevsky different and Andr? On first examining Gide? their work, one may fail to detect any of connection between them. Great indeed is the contrast points What between poor, rugged homely Russian writer?wretchedly struggling against terrible odds, suffering untold miseries, manag the rich, ing to keep alive against almost impossible odds?and all the pleasures of cul surrounded Gide, enjoying comfortably
tured environment and leading an easy, uneventful life. In ad

the

dition to the differences of external surroundings, there exists in the mental makeup of both men ideas and principles wholly op can there be in common between the militant Chris posed. What tian Dostoevsky, deeply religious and inclined to defend his creed
in a rather fanatical manner, and the elegant, supercilious, scepti

cal Frenchman, bereft of faith, destitute of any definite set of mor al principles ? How can one compare the huge works of Dostoevs in power and genius but lacking perfection ky, forceful, amazing of form, with the short fragmentary of the French productions author, carefully wrought out and clothed in artistic style, elabo

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Do s to ev sky and Gide

479

And yet, strange as it may seem, rately and artificially perfect? there does exist a certain amount of similarity between these two
men.

Many

critics,

as well

toevsky's personality was in his holding at the same ideas. Thus, the Humiliated, fering
Russian

as biographers, have stated that Dos dual. 1?his polarity of his soul resulted time different, opposed and composing The Oppressed love and pity for weak and suf Spirit, a mono As an eminent two entirely

at the time he was he worked

people,
critic

logue, showing

a novel breathing also at the Underground a trend of mind distinctly opposite.

:

remarks

All contradictions less depths, found

production was not

of Dostoevski's their reflection

in his case, as in

soul, all of its fathom in his works. Creative

the case of many others,

only secret
about

the means

regions he therefore,
man.1

of concealing all that was going on in the of his soul. He disclosed and everything, in making succeeded wonderful discoveries the contradiction Andr? He of opposed elements within to sense the enigmatic

similar duality,

his own

personality, helped soul of the Russian novelist. I cannot

these exist in every

Gide says :

read without
of man, at

a shudder
any time,

of dread
intimate two

and recognition
. . : There postu

sentences

Baudelaire's

diary. Simultaneous

is in this under lates, (all the importance of the sentence : one of these postulates lined word) tending towards God,
the other towards Satan.2

This work.

shudder when It was

er extent

of recognition and dread Gide felt to a still great he came in touch with the bulk of Dostoevsky's

not by chance that he chose as epigraph to his book on Dostoevsky a quotation from Nietzsche that expressed exactly his attitude towards the great Russian author:
1 Berdiaiev: Dostoevsky's Press. Praha. Morceaux Outlook 1923. Choisis, p. 115. N. R. F. (Nouvelle Revue upon Life, (Russian ed.) p. 2J. The

Y. M. 2 A.

C. A. Gicle:

Fran?aise.)

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48o
Dostoevsky. about pyschology.

The
. . .the ..

Sewanee

Reviezv
v/ho has taught been me for something me even

one only .his discover/

more

important

than that of Stendahl.3

was dynamic; it was always the battle Dostoevsky's mentality field of conflicting ideas, of the struggle of good and evil. His
most impressive characters were those in whom the raging con

flict of these dreamed Idiot), lived and

two forces was presented with greatest power. He of his positive of Prince Muischkine characters, (The or Aliosha, of Zossima but he (Brothers Karamazov), suffered

with the demoniacal figures of Stavroguine Ivan Karamazov, (The Possessed), Kirilov, (Brothers Karama This tendency in Dostoevsky's work could not fail to im zov). press Andr? Gide and to arouse similar feelings in his soul. He formidable author's sought in the chaos of the Russian produc tion elements that could respond to the greatest extent to the trend thought.4 was entirely absorbed with the problem of man and Dostoevsky The mystery of life held him spellbound; his place in creation. he accepted it with all its miseries and suffering and even wished to live several lives to exhaust all its possibilities. Andr? Gide, up in the same enigma, watching it, trying to penetrate wrapped it was
Russian

of his own

naturally
author.

attracted
An

by

the similar
love of life,

trend

of mind
to

of

the

inordinate

a desire

communi

cate with

all creation, with the source of life, may be read in Gide's a hymn is in Les Nourritures works. Terrestres, Already early to all that is living, to the humble, physical manifestations of sung to the sensations and desires. The quest for the higher spir life, itual life and its failure are portrayed in the Porte Etroite. Both Dostoevsky the sub-conscious and Gide were concerned with life of man ; they were addicted
realm of human but what consciousness. man can knozv

of the mystery to introspective

It was not him about

what

speculation man

in can

the

accomplish,

self that seemed the Immoraliste

the to 3 4 a same certain name)

to matter and

to them.
and of accepted Pion this

Both

the Underground
values,

Spirit

their heroes (Michel in the novel

leads

of of

experiment,

revaluation

experimentation to a novel

them

conception

Idem Idem

: Dostoevsky, : Dostoevsky,

title

page.

Nourrit,

1923,

Paris.

p. 282.

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Dostoevsky of man. In the name of

and Gide more

481

than all ac powerful They cepted moral laws they both proceed with their investigation. the limits of all human, social, and ethical laws ; they overstep sacred ; they trample ruthlessly upon feelings generally considered something can man do when to God and man. What fling their challenge he discards all accepted limitations, when he appears naked before the eyes of the wrorld? Both Dostoevsky and Gide in attempting to answer live in the this question show what terrible monsters man is. It of the human heart, what a demoniacal abysses being some modern that Gide, along with significance Russian critics, considers The Underground Spirit as the corner stone of Dostoevsky's the turning point in the great Rus work, In this novel The Underground sian's creative production. Spirit, the side of human mentality generally concealed from symbolizing the public eye, presents his ideas about life and society. First, he it is full of un asserts that human nature is irrational. Second, is not without explainable
together

contrasts
in a human

; for example,
soul at the same

two opposite
time. Third,

ideas can dwell

human nature

and rea human mind is not logically comprehensible, son, compared with the powerful urge of desire, plays but a second ary r?le in the economy of the human soul. A similar trend of mind can be traced in Gide's Immoraliste. In fact, The Underground Spirit and Michel (hero of the Im are in the clutches are brothers in spirit. Both men moralistc) and of a fixed idea, both experiment upon their own consciousness is free. The regardless of the suffering they cause. to action is familiar to both idea of opposing introspection and Gide. The former indicated clearly that ability Dostoevsky leads to inability of action, due to the in reasoning intelligently a definite set of laws and considering them in choosing hesitation that of others, The
as the final on the causes. other, Self-analysis, form two opposite on one side, and interest mental in action, tendencies in Gide's

Gide, together make-up. remarks that : Spirit We

active 5 A.

with

the hero

of

The

Underground and that

notice
ones are

that
fools.5

intelligent

people

are

crippled,

Gide

: Caracteres,

p. 30. N.

R.

F.

1925.

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482

The

Sezvanee

Review

Lately Gide made an effort to present this side of his mentality in the shape of a living being, a character in his latest novel, Les in the book, who the novelist Faux Monnayeurs. Edouard,
throughout the whole story is given to excessive self-analysis, ex

the principle of having people act without acting him emplifies sans agir). is opposed by the character of He self, (faire agir the active man?the of whom Gide Vedel, protestant minister drew men the bitterest,
and

most
Gide

wicked
are mocking

caricature.
such well-meaning characters,

Dostoevsky

who

have They

succeeded

their acts.
unreasonable,

for in finding a reasonable motivation to show that something monstrous, try wholly
upsets the most elaborate and convincing

invariably

principles?this
name and of where this you

factor
mysterious would

is the irrational
force expect one all human reaction,

principle
laws you are

of
are

life.

In the
con

overthrown, suddenly

fronted by an entirely different one. All considerations pertaining to good and evil are discarded ; the personality steps into the realm which lies beyond good and evil, where no human law or criteria subsist. There the man is revealed in all his primitive nakedness ; the demoniacal are brought to characteristics of his mentality It is as the opening of a grave, as the disclosure of some light. ancient mystery. And what makes it even more is the thought that this abyss of terror is opened by a staggering man strong in faith and love of Christ. Truly only in such a vast as that of Dostoevsky and limitless mentality could such a tremen dous antithesis dwell simultaneously ! But only such a man as the Russian writer could penetrate unscathed into these dark regions of the human heart, for he had the rock of his faith to rely upon ; his belief in Christ saved him from disaster. Not so with Andr? Gide. He had nothing to rely upon to save himself from despair ; of the secret sides of man's character only still, the contemplation whetted his desire for finding a moral law upon which he could
lean.

secret and weird

Some of the later works of Andr? Gide, as for instance Les Faux Monnayeurs, show Gide's inner, spiritual relationship with the creator of The Possessed. The demoniacal such a element, favorite with Dostoevsky, is especially in fact, Gide stressed; deems it necessary for every work of art : "There is no true work

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Dostoevsky of art without

and Gide

483

of the devil." Thus the ideal of the collaboration cannot the Madonna, using the example of Dmitri Karamazov, the ideal of Sodom. exist in the soul of man without men with highly developed intellect The heroes of Dostoevsky, or Kirilov like Ivan Karamazov, stage a fight (The Possessed)
God, wdiom their reason cannot explain, and in a subtle

against

way man the

pleasurable great facility, if he deems the transgression to himself. This conception of a superman found and profitable lines by later along different elaborated in Dostoevsky's works, Petr Verhoven is noticeable also in Gide's characters. Nietzsche, may find a kindred soul (The Possessed) sky and Stravroguine unites Indeed Passavant in Passavant (Les Faux Monnayeurs). the characteristic traits of both the above mentioned personalities. He makes people act while he stands aloof, he shows them the lurks way to perdition, he corrupts the young ones, he continually force behind the scenes, pulling the wires, he is a disintegrating who of his entourage. fans up all the latent demoniacal possibilities accuses Gide of It is curious to note that the famous critic, Massis, same tendencies, and of calling forth the that is, of ruining peace Traces of this state of mind the spirit of unrest in human hearts. are noticeable In the Nourri in many of the earlier works ?f Gide. tures Terrestres character subtle
ment to

cept laws with

Thus for the idea of God that of the Man-God. is and his judgment the final cause unto himself, becomes No law is recognized by him ex sole criterion of his actions. Such a man transcends all social the law of his own intellect. substitute

in the enigmatic the spirit of unrest is personified and his of M?nalque, who reappears in L'Immoraliste, to follow his dangerous influence prompts Michel experi
live "dangerously," to tread new paths, to make strange

following in the destruction of this attempt culminates in the sense of unlimited in the death of his wife, Michel's home, in the sense of total freedom acquired at so dear a price?and after reaching the goal is the This disillusionment bankruptcy. is felt throughout result of chasing after the shadow; this motif in the it is expressed In the Porte Etroite all of Gides's works. that all her before her death at the realization Alissa despair of sacrifice has been useless and that she has, perhaps, thrown away The result of her life in vain.

discoveries

instead

of

the common

rut.

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484
With

The

Sezvanee

Review

heroes who have chosen the path of the af Dostoevsky's firmation of self, this demoniacal pride and the attempt to substi tute for the law or principle outside the reach of human intellect as a final cause, laws and principles elaborated by the personality in The lead to utter bankruptcy invariably (Kirilov, Stavroguine or to the disin in Brothers Karamazov) Smerdiakov Possessed, But in madness tegration of the personality (Ivan Karamazov). this way of perdition Dostoevsky shows the way of redemp along tion and expiation, as in the case of Raskolnikov {Crime and Pun Gide's characters also follow the way of affirmation of ishment). self up to the bitter end, but without of redemption the possibility from all Gide has liberated himself given by the Russian writer. limitations, but has not found a way out of the under existing ground region ;he is a slave to his intellect, he aspires to be saved, Michel but he has nothing and Alissa to lean upon to help him in his dilemma. Thus are losers. Passavant and Edouard Faux (Les do not lose; they have lost their humanity, that is, of a struggle, the demons have devastated their

Monnayeurs) the possibility souls,

to Petr Verhovensky they are brothers {The Possessed), are like the possessed ones of the Bible, but there is no Christ they to drive away the demons. The belief in Christ is the point upon which both authors widely differ. While after a tremendous found Dostoevsky, struggle, in the haven of religion, Gide, unable to believe, yet longing peace for a faith as a result of his relgious disposition and early train and unsatisfied, hence the feeling of ing, still remains hesitating
uneasiness, so noticeable in his works. In an article in the Mer

cure de France as far back as 1902 F. de Miomandre spoke about Gide's and up to the present this in inqui?tude philosophique',
quietude seems to prevail.

has this in common with Dostoevsky that with him moral from the viewpoint of the relationship of questions are considered God and man, omitting society and its laws: Andr? Gide reveals in his works all the dreadful of mystery infinite space. Metaphysical enter with him into problems life. But the moral questions with which his char everyday
acters are confronted are

Gide

gard
0 L?on Litt?raires

to God,

sought

to

be

solved

not
:

in regard
"Andr? 1927. Gide

to society
and his

by

them

in

re

and

its laws.6
Les Nouvelles

Pierre-Quint n. 12, Fevr.,

last works",

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Dostoevsky What
ment, the

and Gide was the spiritual

of his

485
improve
heavenly

really mattered
elevation of man,

to Dostoevsky
that is, man's

recovery

patria; man should conquer the demoniacal principle within him, of the world would be stable. and then the peace and happiness of the inner man is precisely This stability, this equilibrium the of Gide's quest. this quest, social laws or morals If, during object are in the way, they must be brushed aside, for they do not mat
ter ; only man matters, i.e., his inner consciousness, the formation

of his outlook
Si le Grain

upon
ne Meurt,

life.

In this spirit one of Gide's

is written. Dostoevsky, after

last books,
an intense

inner struggle, in the relationship of God found this equilibrium and man : but Gide was unable to achieve this union, and at this becomes evident. point the break in his mentality Gide acknowledges the irrationality of life, he admits it escapes into a belief in God ;he is reason, but he is unable to force himself
too prone to reasoning and to self-analysis to accept a simple in

is his tragedy, his suffering wrhich has been with him since the time he wrote the Cahiers d'Andr? abiding his first youthful work, where he had expressed his aspir Walter, ations towards faith; it is also the cause of his attitude of open revolt against God, who persists in hiding His face. His is the of Saul (Said, a drama) for whom God remains silent, and plight who, unable to bear the burden of life without His help, succumbs to the Evil One ; it is the indignation before the useless sacrifice of tuitive faith. the disillusion of the pastor in the (La Porte Etroite), aware of the fact that what he Pastorale Symphonie becoming to be the love of God turned out to be only his carnal considered love of an innocent young girl ;?all this leads to open revolt against God as we see it in the character of La Perouse (Les Faux ; and that is very similar to what Dostoevsky Monnayeiirs) styles as the revolt against God, and it is akin to the trend of thought of Ivan Karamazov and of his mouthpiece, the Great Inquisitor. Both Gide's character and Ivan charge God with cruelty to men in behalf of and out of pity for man. But and revolt against Him
the discussion of Ivan Karamazov is only the expression of strug

This

Alissa

underwent himself before gle which Dostoevsky overstepping the barriers of discursive calls it the Euclidian reasoning (he ; whereas Gide stays on the other side of the barrier, Reason) unable to harmonize his reasoning faculty with his aspirations to

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486
ward
ering

The faith.
suffering

Sewanee remains

Review divided, this duality engend

Flis personality
and unrest.

are interested in the problem Gide and Dostoevsky in human beings. its limits, and its manifestation free-will, to solve this problem. The influence of Dostoevsky's Both attempt is felt in the works of Gide. admits a conception Dostoevsky certain freedom?the freedom of choice between Good and Evil. in surrendering The Good consists one's soul to God, the Evil in considering man as an object unto himself, a final cause. The Both Andr? of
proud adventurous characters who choose the latter way invariably

go to ruin, as we see it in The Possessed (Kirilov, who even com or in the Brothers Karamazov mits suicide to prove his freedom), of Ivan). (the madness Andr? Gide, on account of his uncertain position in the question on the matter. of belief, has no definite convictions His frame of mind is nearer to that of Stavroguine ; he, like this strange man in The Possessed, feels the attraction of action, feels the stirring of obscure forces within his soul, but lacks the necessary impulse to them into acts. Gide is inclined to recognize the possibility change
of unmotivated, therefore free action, only as a quality of exclu

to ordinary people it is unattainable. The sive, forceful natures; of the unmotivated, action so often found in subject "gratuitous" is traceable throughout many of Gide's works. We Dostoevsky notice it as far back as Paludes it forms the leading idea of ; may Prometheus Illbound and blossoms forth in the equivocal, many sided character of Lafcadio Lafcadio's {Les Caves du Vatican). state of mind is akin somewhat to that of Raskolnikov {Crime as supermen, and Punishment). to Both consider themselves whom general common laws do not apply; both despise the mob, to exalted person that a murder is permissible to assert their superiority. alities, provided such an act is necessary is the object of the superman, and it must be pur Self-assertion sued to the end. Raskolnikov, to Napoleon, himself comparing wonders whether the Emperor would have killed an evil person, if it were the condition to his subsequent glory. He decides in the affirmative and accordingly murders the money lender. Lafcadio is still more primitive in his motives. He murders a total stranger out of a whim, to prove that he could do it and not waver. The and both believe following actions of Lafcadio and Raskolnikov are very similar.

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Dostoevsky

and Gide

487

to They are tortured by the curiosity crimes produced ; they take risks ; they precipice with the sharp sensation that their wits prevent them from tumbling

know the impression their dance upon the edge of the and only their "sang-froid" into the abyss. If one com

and Raskolni pares Lafcadio's dialogue with Julius de Baraglioul kov's colloquies with Porfiry, the judge, one perceives at once the striking similarity between Gide's treatment and that of Dostoevs ky, and the influence of the latter upon the former. Raskolnikov's leads him to remorse and redemption experience for his crime through expiation, but Gide is reticent in the case of Lafcadio. Raskolnikov is helped upon the path of salvation by the self-sacrificing love of Sonia; Gide uses a similar motif but does not proceed so far with it as Dostoevsky. In the concluding pages of the novel, Gide gives the picture of the sun rising upon the united lovers, Genevi?ve and Lafcadio ; still the reader is kept as to the influence of this love upon the future of in uncertainty
Lafcadio.

and metaphysical aspects occupied Dostoevsky's during most of his life. Being interested in abnormal manifestations of personality, he naturally turn to the field where would abnormal tendencies could be studied ; the psychology a crime had a great of a man committing see in Gide a corresponding attraction for him. We interest in all question attention abnormal manifestations
terests him most in people

The

of

crime

in its social

of

life.
are

He
their

states himself
divergencies,

that what
their extraor

in

a book of essays about his exper He published dinary actions. ience as a juror, entitled Souvenirs de la Cour d'Assises (Nouvelle Revue Fran?aise, 1914). Sin and transgression have an invincible attraction for Gide. This fascination he renders powerfully in L'Immoraliste in the famous story of the scissors stolen by the Arab boy, or the episode of the hero's nightly excursions with the poacher. Dostoevsky considers the causes of evil and crime as metaphysical ones; they are the result of the estrangement of man from God and call for punishment,
inner one

whether
exacted by

it be an outward
the torments of

one

inflicted

by law, or an
Gide, however,

conscience.

evil and crime as a part of life's manifes although contemplating to define their origin ; he experiences tation, hesitates only their
fascination and feels a desire to penetrate the secret of their cause.

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488

The

Sewanee

Review

so often met with in Dostoevsky's The motif of love-hatred, see it in the Faux has noticeably influenced Gide. We works, between Lady Griffith and where the relationship Monnayeurs, and and in the Idiot, where the part played by Rogojine Vincent, In both cases passionate bear similar traits. Nastasia Filippovna, love not sanctified into hatred by a spiritual element degenerates in crime. element is evi and finally culminates The demoniacal In the Russian of both women. dent in the mental make-up hero
ine the life-force rages in a greater measure than in the sophisti

cated, sketchily portrayed for Alissa, Gide's women

ly a painter of male

character of the French are pale and not life-like;

The same may be

novel. Except he is essential

noticed in Dos

characters.

toevsky.
Gide, still,

Although
compared

his women
with his men,

are better
they are

drawn
weak

than

those

of

characterizations.

in the psy is interested Gide, as well as Dostoevsky, of young Gide's most novel. Les important chology people. or men hardly out Faux Monnayeurs, portrays chiefly schoolboys of their teens. The spirit of the creator of The Possessed lives Andr?
again this in Gide's novel may characters be considered in the as Faux a Monnayeurs. and Moreover, traces of Bildungsroman,

the influence of a similar work of Dostoevsky may be found in it. The Faux Monnayeurs is a story of a young man who, like his in Dostoevsky's novel The Young Man, dissatisfied with prototype starts life independently, his family surroundings, and after many trials learns to see not only the questionable sides actions in family but also the good qualities. Both boys, Bernard relationships, of the Faux Monnayeurs and the Young Man of Dostoevsky, sons and suffer from the hate their fathers, both are illegitimate shame of their birth. But life's hard lessons soften their dispo and they learn to be indulgent and to forgive wrongs. sitions, As far as analogies
novels and

in technique may
that of the Faux

be concerned,
Monnayeurs

the form of
offer strik

Dostoevsky's

Noetzel, ing similarit?s. had written Dostoevsky

the Russian seemed to

in his discussion of the manner in which The Possessed, notices that the spirit of
roam in an exalted region where he could

perceive
the novel.

at the same time all of

It was, so to speak, the

the plot,
platonic

all of
idea of

the characters
the whole work

of

before floating ored to realize

his mental eye; inspired by on paper the ideal conception.

it, he endeav But struggling

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Dostoevsky with
a rather

and Gide he succeeded

characters,

489
in producing
who proved

the

exigencies
tangled plot

of
with

form,

only
cum

numerous

bersome to the reader. This is exactly what happens in the Faux From the standpoint of what Gide qualifies as r?al Monnayeurs. into the realm of solid reality his it? id?ale, he tries to project The result is rather bewildering of this novel. ideal conception and gives the sensation of something not completed, left unfinished. Of the many characters brought out in the novel, some spring into the limelight for a short while and seem important and interest ing;
them

but with
to re-enter

a capricious
oblivon,

stroke
leaving

of
the

the pen
space clear

the author
for

forces

newcomers.

and Lady Griffith, who is, for instance, the fate of Vincent for an entire novel, but who ap have furnished material might too suddenly leave pear for only a short time and, in disappearing Such
the reader unsatisfied.

formal similarities have also their significance, still Although are not of such great value as the inner, the spiritual kinships they to trace in this study. The duality of which we have endeavored the soul, its polarity, its ability to shelter contradictory ideas, the utmost interest in the final fate of man as well as in his spiritual over what the pondering the Russian writer called the origin, that is, questions pertaining to the relationship questions, between God and humanity, the object of the creation of the uni verse, of the part Good and Evil play in the economy of the world, ?all these traits of resemblance between Dostoevsky and Gide help to clarify the rather enigmatic personality of the French author, and to give a better understanding of his very interesting and im
portant literary creations. Furthermore, Gide's manner of treat

accursed

lead us to believe that he is much in ing these absorbing questions debted to his great Russian in the realm of ideas if predecessor not wholly in the realm of art.
Tatiana University of Wisconsin. Vacquier.

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