Listed below is a chronological selection of significant or interesting events in the life and work of André Gide.
1869 André Paul Guillaume Gide was born on November 22 in Paris.
1880 Death of his father, Paul Gide, who succumbs to intestinal tuberculosis.
1881 Became immensely attached to his cousin Madeleine Rondaux, who was two years his senior.
1887 Befriended Pierre Loÿs and Marcel Drouin.
1890 Befriended Paul Claudel and Paul Valery.
1891 Publication of Les Cahiers d'André Walter. Met Oscar Wilde. Started to frequent the salons of Stéphane Mallarmé.
1893 Publication of La Traite' du Narcisse, Le Voyage d'Urien and Le tentative amoureuse. A journey to Algeria with Paul Laurens. During the trip he fell ill and was diagnosed with tubercolosis, but managed to regain his strength. In Sousse he had his first sexual encounter when he was seduced by a local boy, this experience made him begin to embrace his sexuality instead of repressing it.
1895 His second journey to northern Africa, where he encountered Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas. His mother Juliette Gide died of a cerebral haemorrhage. He married his cousin Madeleine on October 8, their marriage remains permanently chaste. Paludes was published.
1896 Political engagement, he was elected mayor of La Roque-Baignard, which is a commune in Normandy. André and Madeleine spent their honeymoon in Africa.
1897 Publication of Les Norritures terrestres.
1899 Publication of Le Prométhée mal enchaîne, Philoctète and El Hadj.
1902 Publication of L'Immoraliste.
1903 Publication of Saül and Pretextes.
1906 Publication of Amyntas.
1907 Publication of Le Retour de l'enfant prodigue.
1909 Publication of Le Porte etroite. Gide was one of the founders of Nouvelle Revue francaise. The other founders were Jean Schlumberger, Jacques Copeau, André Ruyters, Henri Ghéon and Marcel Drouin.
1910 Publication of Oscar Wilde.
1911 Publication of Isabelle and Nouveaux Prétextes. Also, the first edition of Corydon was privately printed, anonymously and as C.R.D.N.
1912 Publication of Le Retour de l'enfant prodigue anew, this time with five other traités.
1914 Publication of Les Caves du Vatican.
1916 The beginning of a religious crisis. Gide started writing his memoirs.
1918 Vacation in England with his lover Marc Allégret. This greatly upsets Madeleine Gide, who burns all her letters from her husband. He met Dorothy Bussy, who became his friend and translator.
1919 He began to write the second part of his autobiography, Si le grain ne meurt. Publication of La Symphonie pastorale.
1923 Birth of Catherine, the daughter of André Gide and Elisabeth van Rysselberghe. Publication of Dostoievsky.
1924 Publication of Corydon. Gide is elected honorary fellow by the Royal Society of Literature.
1925 Journey to Congo and Tchad.
1926 Publication of several major works; Les Faux-Monnayeurs and Le Journal des Faux-Monnayeurs, Si le Grain ne meurt and Numquid et tu...?
1927 Publication of Voyage au Congo.
1928 Publication of La Retour du Tchad.
1929 Publication of L'Ecole de femmes, Robert and Essai sur Montaigne.
1931 Publication of Oedipe.
1936 He visited the Soviet Union, going there made him stop believing in communism. Publication of Geneviéve and Retour de l'U.R.R.S.
1937 Publication of Retouches a mon Retour de l'U.R.R.S.
1938 His wife Madeleine Gide dies.
1939 Publication of Journal, 1889-1939.
1942 Beginning of a long trip to Tunisia and Algeria.
1944 Publication of Pages de Journal, 1939-1942.
1946 Publication of Thésée.
1947 He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
1948 Publication of Notes sur Chopin.
1949 Publication of Feuillets d'atomne.
1950 Publication of Journal, 1942-1949.
1951 André Gide caught pneumonia and died peacefully in his home surrounded by loved ones on February 19 and was buried on February 22.
