MARSHLANDS by ANDRE GIDE

Reading by Eileen Tabios

 

MARSHLANDS by Andre Gide, Translated by Damion Searls

(New York Review of Books, 2021)

 

I don’t often respond to books with affection. But I did so with Andre Gide’s MARSHLANDS, a charming metafiction by the acknowledged inventor of modern metafiction and autofiction. Throughout my reading I kept laughing—and though I laughed at it, not with it, my laughter remained affectionate.

Numerous gems are sprinkled throughout the book, like this timely reminder of why life is unbearable: “It could be different and it isn’t—and that is enough to make it unbearable.”

It’s an enchanting novel. The writing is charismatic but with a nuance of how charisma is not one ofthe author’s goals.

That said, it’s a paradox to say that I probably will not be moved to re-read it in the future. One gets it at one sitting. Perhaps I’m also suggesting that the book ideally should be read in one sitting. 

A Preface for this NYRB edition was provided by Dubravka Ugresic… and I can’t recall ever being as charmed by a Preface before as I was charmed by this one. (“Tityrus smiled.)

MARSHLANDS even jump-started my novel-in-progress where narrative energy was faltering at the time of my reading because Gide deftly shows how a story about nothing is an excuse to incorporate anything and everything.

It’s likely not for everyone. But I don’t care. I recommend MARSHLANDS to everyone.