Downloads and Free Reading Options

This 1906 collection of memories of Oscar Wilde is by friends. Wilde said that his genius was his life; only his talent was in his works. (Summary by david wales)

2Oscar Wilde: A Study

By André Gide

This is a 1905 memoir of one great litterateur’s latter days written by another great litterateur. This recording omits the numerous footnotes and two letters in French untranslated by the translator. -Summary by david wales

3Prometheus Illbound

By André Gide

There is a witty and absurdist character to this contemporary setting of the plight of Prometheus, in which Zeus appears as a tremendously wealthy banker, meting out gratuitous fortune. Prometheus' troubled relationship with his liver-devouring eagle provides a means of insight for those he encounters. Rather than a myth the story has the nature of a fable. ( Peter Tucker)

Un pasteur recueille dans sa famille une jeune fille aveugle et non éduquée. Un attachement, un sentiment naît. Cécité physique, cécité psychologique, amour, clairvoyance … et principes éducatifs …<br> Un magnifique roman psychologique dont les personnages principaux, Gertrude, le pasteur, Amélie son épouse, Jacques leur fils sont ciselés finement par André Gide.<br> Chaque phrase a son importance. Un texte superbe.<br> Voici le journal intime tenu par le pasteur…<br> (Résumé par Christiane Jehanne)

5Vatican Swindle

By André Gide

Set during the pontificate of Leo XIII, this book is a blend of humor and tragedy in the quest for understanding one’s place in a world marked by both enlightenment and faith. Could the Pope have been secretly abducted? 5 books come together, centered around group of fraudsters, who convince their wealthy victims that the pontiff has been imprisoned by freemasons. Farce, romance, even murder, this book is a send-up of conventional morality, most clearly in the character of Lafcadio, an adolescent boy who kills a stranger for no reason except personal curiosity about the nature of morality, and whose notorious behaviour in the novel provoked outrage at the time of publication. Though more light-hearted than Gide's usual fare, this unusual novel still questions how individuals should live their life when faced with the rigid social and ethical structures that surround us. (Summary by Jessie Percival)