Nobel Prize-winning writer André Gide marks his voyage toward
self-discovery in this imaginative allegorical work.
When Urien and his sailing companions begin their voyage, it is to
places unknown and, perhaps, only dreamed. This allegorical masterpiece
from André Gide, a key figure of French letters, deftly illustrates the
techniques and doctrine of the Symbolist movement - and the dual nature
of Gide's own psyche. Written at a crucial time in his artistic
development, this imaginative work signals his gradual abandonment of
acetic celibacy toward an embrace of pleasure and carnal desires,
revealing a Gide more transparent in this early work than in his mature
writings.
Translator and scholar Wade Baskin annotates the work, connecting Gide's
life and bibliography to the text.