Strait is the Gate (Tusk Ivories Series)

Rating:
Summary: The Cost of Restraint
Review: "Strait is the Gate" is a very short yet interesting novel by Gide, which tells the story of the relationship between Jerome and Alissa. Or rather it tells of the abortive relationship between the two, as Alissa never allows their love to be consummated, thereby frustrating and confusing Jerome profoundly.

Gide examines the cost of Alissa's self-restraint, and of her devotion to a religion which she believes makes a virtue out of self-denial. I suppose that in Gide's terms, Alissa is rejecting her own humanity, and preventing both herself and Jerome from experiencing the totality of their existence. Alissa's devotion to her beliefs creates no happiness for her or for Jerome.

In many ways, this novel could be seen as a companion to "The Fruits of the Earth", in which Gide recommended the people should experience all they can.

G Rodgers

Rating:
Summary: Like being punched in the gut...in a good way
Review: Before reading Strait is the Gate, I already considered Gide one of my favorite writers. Now, I am dedicated to reading all of his work.

Strait is the Gate hit me so hard with the agony of its characters that I felt pysically ill as the novel went on. Like Gide scholars say, the book is the counterpart to The Immoralist. While in The Immoralist, Gide portrays hedonism taken to an extreme, in Strait is the Gate, he takes self sacrifice to its heart-tearing conclusion.

The story's main characters, cousins Jerome and Alissa, grow up together reading poetry aloud in the gardens of their home. They fall in love with each other--both out of admiration for the other's religious devotion. However, they are kept apart for long periods of time and their love's fervor is lost entirely to religion.

While reading the story as told by Jerome, I can't help but want to scream out "don't just sit there--do something!" But it ends up being too late, and the helpless feeling of the characters--in being unable to regain what they were once on the brink of--hurts us as we read of its effects on Jerome and Alissa.

Not only is the content of the story meaningful, but the style is smooth and image-conjuring (at least in the Dorothy Bussy translation). This is a change from what I experienced in the first pages of the Dover Thrift Edition of The Immoralist (but don't let that keep you from The Immoralist!) Instead, Strait is the Gate is nearly as clean and clear as Justin O'Brien's translation of The Stranger by Camus.

I give the book 5 stars--quite easily. About Gide's other work...

I find "The Return of the Prodigal Son" to be absolutely brilliant. In his retelling of the bible story, Gide describes the feelings of the atheist towards God (to Gide "God" was not a creator, but the goal of humanity), the church, religious friends and family, and to other religious questioners. His story is so touchingly honest and subtle that I cannot read or even think of the end without tears coming to my eyes.

Five stars for all of Gide's stuff.

Rating:
Summary: The beautiful romance and the divine conclusion
Review: This novel is the tale of the romance and its beautiful abandonment.
At first a couple seems so intimate that can marry themselves. He has realized, however, that she began to detach him gradually. Naturally, he has suspected whether she has another boyfriend to be a little jealous, or has felt lonely because of her emotionless conversation. Abruptly she confessed her decision to be apart from him.
The conclusion is against my expectation. He never felt deeply heartbroken and she never loved no one except him in the world.
After finishing to read it, I felt mysterious of the fact that there was such a surprisingly pure lady in the world, who felt the world problematic. The strait gate, however, seemed strict and cool for a young school boy, while being regarding as divine and beautiful.